空山洞

Kongshan Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Jingshan, Hubei, Jingmen, Hubei 431823. South of Jingshan City. (30.975958, 113.034804)
Open:	APR to OCT daily 7:30-18. NOV to MAR daily 8:30-17:30. [2025]
Fee:	Adults CNY 55. [2025]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	Incandescent Coloured Light
Dimension:	L=1,548 m.
Guided tours:	D=1 h.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Kongshan Cave, Jingshan, Hubei, Jingmen, Hubei 431823, Tel: +86-13387609593.
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

Description

空山洞 (Kōng shāndòng jǐngqū, Kongshan Cave, Sky Mountain Cave) is located in the 绿林山风景区 (Lùlín shān fēngjǐng qū, Green Forest Mountain Scenic Area) south of Jingshan city. Lulin Mountain is the birthplace of the second famous peasant uprising in Chinese history, the Lulin Uprising. It is also the birthplace of Liu Xiu, the founder of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The cave name is often translated as Empty Cave, for example by Google Translate, but we guess this is a mistranslation. Kong translates as empty or nothing, but also as air, sky, or even leisure. Shan is mountain, and dong typically cave, so we translated the whole name as Sky Mountain Cave.

The cave has a huge main passage which reaches a height of 48 m and a width of 26 m. It is about 910 m long, and with the various side passages the cave has a length of 1,548 m. There are numerous spectacular speleothems, mostly stalactites, stalagmites, bacons, but also rimstone pools and calcite crystals. Like always in China the formations have spectacular names.

One formation has numerous rips which are used as a sort of organ. A group of girls in local traditional garb plays a tune by hitting the right stalagmite rib with a hammer. The sound is similar to a xylophone. Their repertoire includes a dozen chinese songs, and there are audio CDs sold with the music they play. Similar things were quite common in European caves but have been discontinued to protect the speleothems. The danger that they will break is rather high.

Kongshan Cave Scenic Area is a 4A-level tourist attraction. It is mainly composed of Kongshan Cave, Ganquan Cave, Liren Lake and Jieshiming Memorial Hall. Kongshan Cave is the main attraction located in the mountains 11 km southwest of the city. The main cave passage has three branch passages connected in series, with a total length of 1,588 meters. The show cave shows 13 halls of the cave system. The cave is a resurgence which produces water all year. The cave entrance is closed by a red pagoda, the water emerges from under this building and forms a river.

Outside the cave, there are clusters of flowers and green trees, with gatehouses, pavilions, Jieshiming Memorial Hall, and more. It is known as the "No. 1 Cave in Central Hubei". The nearby Ganquan Cave, Liren Lake and Kongshan Cave attractions are connected as one, and the mountains, waters, pavilions and caves complement each other, forming a beautiful and wonderful paradise on earth.