天星洞

Tianxing Dong

Useful Information

Location:	Tianxingqiao Scenic Spot, Anshun, Guizhou 561399. (25.949876, 105.673610)
Open:	All year daily 7:30-17:30. [2025]
Fee:
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	Incandescent Coloured Light
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Tianxing Dong, Tianxingqiao Scenic Spot, Anshun, Guizhou 561399, Tel: +86-400-800-9998.
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

天星洞 (Tianxing Dong, Celestial Star Cave) is located 6 km south of the popular Huangguoshu Waterfall. It is located in the 天星橋景區 (Tianxingqiao Scenic Area) which actually has three major sights. They are the show cave, the stone forest and the natural bridge. The whole area is crossed by the Baishu River, which also flows through a stone forest, at least a side branch. The huge limestone pillars stand in the calmly flowing water, the trail is a series of flat stone in the water. It takes a little surefootedness, as the stones are surrounded by water and there is no railing.

As always in China there are poetic names which sound good, but are extremely misleading and even wrong. The Scenic Area is named after a natural bridge which actually does not exist. There is actually a bridge across a narrow gorge in the stone forrest, which is often mixed up by the visitors. But it is not a natural bridge, it is artificial and part of the trails. The natural bridge exists in a way, but it is not a bridge at all. The Baishu River has a rather massive set of rapids at the northern end of the scenic area, right east of the ticket office. At the end of those rapids, which are wrongly called a waterfall, the river sinks and flows underground for about 700 m as the crow flies, and reappears at the southern end of the park. This quite spectacular river sink and the resurgence are more or less omitted in all descriptions of the park. As far as we know there is not even a trail to thos spectacular sites. The bonsai garden and the names of the speleothems in the cave are of much bigger importance. They even have dates chiseled into the rocks, and if you find your birthdate you can make a wish. Its obvious that the priorities of the chinese visitors differ from those of cavers.

And again, no hard facts, only poems. And nonsensical statements like this "4 stone pillars of more than 20 meters high support the cave’s roof."