Zhanggong Cave
Zhanggong Cave, also named Gengsang Cave, is a famous limestone water-eroded cave in China. The cave is located at the foot of Yufeng Mountain, 22 km to the southwest of Yixing City. It has more than 72 inner caves and the inner temperature of the caves varies, which still remains a mystery. You may experience the coldness of winter or the warmth of spring and autumn in the cave in summer. It is a fairyland on earth. Meanwhile, Zhanggong Cave is famous as a holy land for Taoism due to the fact that Zhang Daoling, the founder of Taoism, once practiced Taoism here, and Zhang Guolao, an immortal being in Chinese folklore, also once lived here in seclusion. Since Tang Dynasty, celebrities of different periods have visited the cave. Some of them wrote plentiful poems of praise for it. Some left precious inscriptions.
The cave has an area of 3200 square meters. It is divided into the upper and the lower sections. Commonly, visitors enter the lower section and go out of the cave from the upper section. It has 1500 man-made stone-steps which form a fantastic stairway. The stairway seems to start from a benthic palace and stretch gradually to the Heaven. Entering the lower section, you will find Haiwu Great Hall in front of you. The hall is fairly huge and can hold thousands of people. The bottom of the cave in the left side of the hall is dim, the depth of which seems to be immeasurable. Walk through Xiuguan Cave and go up three floors, and then Haiwang Hall appears in your sight.
Haiwang Hall is the core of the cave and it looks like a magnificent benthic palace. On either side of the palace stands a stone stairway. In the hall hangs a pair of palace lanterns which are carved from hanging rocks. There are two age-old stone pines standing loftily in the hall. Under the stone pines is a stone male lion with his mouth widely-opened and his head and trail highly-raised. Looking at the pool in the middle of the hall, which came into being due to the erosion by dripping water, you will see the reflection of the cave mouth joining together with the blue sky on water, which is an extraordinarily excellent attraction. The attraction is named Blue Sky in Cave. There is a spring in Shuibi Cave, which is located in the left side of Haiwang Hall. Go through the exit of Shuibi Cave, and you will find a bridge which is lost in the cloud and mist. If you cross the bridge, you can enjoy more attractions.
