Zhanggong Cave is located on Yufeng Mountain, about eighteen kilometers southwest of Yixing City. It is a limestone cave and is known as one of the ‘Three Wonders of Yixing Caves (Qí)’ together with Shanjuan Cave and Linggu Cave. The characteristic of Zhanggong Cave is that there are caves within caves. The cave is extremely cool and suitable for summer retreat. This is also a Taoist holy land. You can pray for blessings and safety at Donglingguan on the mountain.
The general tour sequence in the scenic area is: Liangyi Pavilion – Hehe Square – Liangji Pavilion – Zhanggong Cave – Xiuguan Cave – Haiwu Square – Sea King Hall – Shuibi Cave – Overpass – Wanfulaichao – Tunnel Cave – Cave within Cave – Blessed Place – Ladder – Donglingguan – Underground River Adventure – Drifting – Pottery Art Museum. The Zhanggong Cave scenic area is not large. In addition to visiting the cave and Taoist temple, you can also enjoy drifting and underground river exploration. The tour inside Zhanggong Cave is about 1500 meters. Entering from the lower cave is the ‘Haiwu Square’, where stalactites, stalagmites, and stone flowers are in abundance and colorful under the illumination of lights. Ascending the steps to the Sea King Hall surrounded by smoke, also known as ‘Tianpeng Square’, is the essence of the entire cave. This is also the shooting location of the CCTV version of ‘Swordsman’. Then, ascend via the ‘Ladder’ and exit through the ‘Heavenly Cave’ to reach the top of Yufeng Mountain. After entering Zhanggong Cave, you will find that it is colder than ordinary caves, but it gets warmer as you go up. It’s very wonderful. Another major characteristic of Zhanggong Cave is that there are caves within caves and the caves are connected but different. It is said that there are a total of 72 caves of different sizes here. In addition, Zhanggong Cave is also a famous shooting location for film and television dramas. ‘Swordsman’, ‘The Legend of Cat Demon Consort’, ‘My Bratty Princess’, ‘浣花洗剑录’, ‘Tracks in The Snowy Forest’ and others have all been filmed here. Zhanggong Cave is one of the ‘Seventy-two Blessed Lands’ of Taoism. The Taoist temple ‘Donglingguan’ built on the mountain was famous across the country as early as the Tang Dynasty. Later, it was destroyed by repeated wars. Although the current Donglingguan is a modern reconstruction, with the help of this ‘Blessed Land of Zhanggong’, one can still feel the pure Taoist cultural atmosphere. Legend has it that Zhang Daoling, a celestial master of the Han Dynasty, practiced and preached in this cave in the early days. In the Tang Dynasty, Zhang Guolao also lived in seclusion here, hence the name ‘Zhanggong Cave’. After descending the mountain through Donglingguan, you can go for underground river exploration. For this project, 2 to 3 people need to wear helmets and paddle their own rafts to enter the underground water cave. Exploring by rowing under the low cave ceiling is very interesting. In addition, you can also enjoy a rafting project of about 1.5 kilometers, which is also quite exciting. However, if you only buy a 70-yuan ticket, these two projects are extra charges, while the 160-yuan package ticket already includes them. After descending the mountain, there is a pottery bar. Here you can make pottery products with clay by yourself. However, if you want to dry and mount your work, you need to pay extra. There are staff in the scenic area who will take pictures for tourists and print them out directly. There are photo spots inside the cave and for underground exploration and drifting outside the cave. If there are few people, you can try to bargain with the staff.After visiting Zhanggong Cave, if you still have an interest in karst cave landscapes, you can also go to Linggu Cave, which is about six kilometers southwest of this place. This cave has another unique feature.
Opening hours: Open from 08:00 to 16:30 from December 1st to January 28th; open from 08:00 to 17:00 from January 29th to September 30th; open from 08:00 to 17:00 from October 7th to November 30th; open from 08:00 to 20:30 from October 1st to October 6th.
Preferential policies:
Children: Free for those under 1.2 meters (excluding 1.2 meters); half price for those between 1.2 meters (excluding 1.2 meters) and 1.4 meters (excluding 1.4 meters).
