九天洞

Jiutian Dong - Jiutian Cave - Nine Openings Cave - Zhangjiajie Sangzhi Jiutian Cave - Jiutiendong


Useful Information

Location: Shuidong village, Sangzhi County, Zhangjiajie, Hunan, Tel: +86 744 679 1234
126 km from Zhangjiajie City.
(29.323586, 110.119243)
Open: All year daily 8-18.
[2021]
Fee: Adults CNY 35.
[2021]
Classification: SpeleologyKarst Cave Permian limestones
Light: LightIncandescent LightColoured Light
Dimension: L=5,726 m, T=15 °C, A=380 m asl.
Guided tours: L=1,200 m.
Photography:  
Accessibility:  
Bibliography: J. Masschelein, Zhang Shouyue, editors (1990): Teng Long Dong, the Longest cave of China, report on the First Belgian-Chinese Speleological Expedition in 1988, Belgian-Chinese Karst and Caves Association, 46p. (14 fig. et plans, photos couleur) English pdf
Address: Jiutian Dong, Zhangjiajie, Sangzhi 416900, Hunan, Tel: +86-533-3680164. Tel: +86-744-679-1234.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1987 cave explored and partly surveyed by the Institute of Geology.
1987 identified as “the first cave in Asia” after three on-site investigations of over twenty experts.
1992 developed and opened to the public.
1995 declared an Exploration Base of International Limestone Cave Association, show cave extended.
1997 show cave extended.
2001 light system modernized (more colours!).

Description

九天洞 (Jiutian Dong, Nine Openings Cave) is often dubbed Asias #1 cave, and is said to be the largest cave of Asia, however largest may be defined. It is rather strange to give the size of the cave in hectares, 250 hectares or 2.5 million square meters, to be correct. However, it is neither the longest cave in Asia nor in China, although it is of impressive size. The whole nonsense seems to be based on an international caving expedition in 1987. According to legend a team of twenty cavers from 17 countries discovered, explored and surveyed the cave. Actually that seems to be a blatant lie. As far as we could determine there was a visit by the Belgian Tenglong Dong Expedition in 1988. In 1987 the cave was explored and only partly surveyed by the Institute of Geology from the University Beijing. The cave is rather big, more than 5 km of passages, but that’s not enough to be listed on the Longest Caves list.. Developed is a main passage or chamber which is 518 m long and between 5 and 18 m high. The trail winds through the various formations and is in total 1,2 km long.

And another impressive event happened in 1995. The cave became member of the "International Limestone Cave Association" and was "designed an Exploration Base". We have no idea if the cave descriptions make any sense in Chinese, the translation is sheer madness. However, we have an idea what this means. The show cave became a member of the ExplainInternational Show Caves Association (ISCA) which is a rather weird organization of show cave owners. This cave entered the ISCA with numerous other Chinese show caves.

The cave is really impressive for its wealth of speleothems. There are stalactites, stalagmites, draperies, frost work, box work and hydromagnesite balloons. With its nine openings it is easily accessible for bats, and thus it is an important home to several species of bats. The coloured light is pretty annoying but actually quite common for Chinese show caves.