银子岩

Yinziyan - Silver Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Maling, Lipu, Guilin 546601. Ligui Road, Maling town, Lipu County, Silver Cave Tourist Scenery Area. Leave Guilin-Lipu Highway 85 km from Guilin, 20 km from Yangshuo. 10 km north of Maling Town along National Highway 321, Ligui Highway, east side. 85 km from Guilin City Center. (24.644230, 110.433507)
Open:	All year daily 8:30-17:30. [2025]
Fee:	Adults CNY 60, Children (120 cm-139 cm) CNY 25, Children (0-119 cm) free, Seniors free. [2025]
Classification:	Karst Cave Middle and Lower Devonian limestone
Light:	Electric Light Coloured Light
Dimension:	L=2,000 m.
Guided tours:	L=2,000 m, D=90 min. Audioguide
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Silver Cave, Yinziyan Scenic Spot, Maling, Lipu, Guilin 546601, Tel: +86-773-2387668. E-mail:
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

1996	begin of development.
MAY-1997	Guilin Lipu Yinziyan Tourism Co., Ltd. established.
1999	opened to the public.
2005	rated a national 4A scenic area.
2023	Vivid Lotus created.

Description

银子岩 (Yínzǐ yán, Silver Rock) is a cave of multiple names. It seems, currently the most used is actually Silver Rock, not 银子洞 (Yinziyan Dong, Silver Cave). Another name is 银子岩溶洞 (Yínzǐ yán róngdòng, Silver Rock Karst Cave), which is generally also translated Silver Cave. It’s also called Lipu Silver Cave, because it is located in the village Lipu, and as there are numerous silver caves in China, this makes the name unique. And of course some use the partial translation Yinzi Cave. In English the names Silverstone and Silver Ingot Cave are also used. A big fail is the Chinese coin with the quadratic hole, which is used as the entrance portal to the cave: this is a gold coin!

The extensive Silver Cave "crosses twelve karst towers and has 10 different levels." That’s one of those Chinese fables, invented numbers counting uncountable. More likely is, that the cave actually has three different stages of cave formation aka three levels. Two levels have been developed with a two kilometre long tourist trail. As a result, the cave tour has three main parts, the lower cave, the hall with the ascent, and the upper cave. It is known for its astonishing formations and the annoying coloured light. They use audio guides, which is rather uncommon in China for some reason. They even have their own homepage, but to keep up the miserable information policy it is empty except for the government text and the online booking. But as always the cave is part of a scenic area, and it has a cable car, a lotus sculpture, a small museum, and 4 A’s.

The cave was, according to lore, named after the crystal clear and flawless speleothems, which are as silvery as the Milky Way. And they always cite the local proverb, "Anyone who has been to Silver Cave will never be short of money". Our guess is that both is the invention of the marketing team of Guilin Lipu Yinziyan Tourism Co., Ltd., which manages the cave. We are not sure if the following legend is actually a legend or if it is marketing too. At least its entertaining.

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, a general of the King of Pingxi, one of the Three Feudatories, was entrenched in the Guilin area. When his rebels were about to be defeated by the Qing army, they could not take away the large amount of gold, silver and jewelry they had plundered, so they hid it all secretly in a nearby cave.

This story was definitely exaggerated by later generations, and it caused some treasure hunting. Deep inside the cave the inscription "five people entered the cave, three people came here" was discovered. Nearby was the date "Kangxi ×× year", which was the fourth emperor of the Qing dynasty, who reigned 1654 to 1722. If this inscription is real, it is most likely from the first exploration of this cave.