Longyou Grottoes

The Longyou Caves, also called the Xiaonanhai Stone Chambers, are a group of 24 artificial sandstone caverns located at Fenghuang Hill, near the village of Shiyan Beicun on the Qu River in Longyou County, Quzhou City, Zhejiang Province [1]. In June 1992, four farmers in Longyou found the caves when they drained the water of five small ponds in their village [1]. The ponds turned out to be five large manmade caverns [1]. Further investigation revealed 19 more caverns nearby [1]. The caves are very large for human-made excavations: The average floor area of each cave is over 1,000 m2, with ceiling heights of up to 30 m, and the total area covered in excess of 30,000 m2 [1].