Gǔshì Biésù Dòng: A Unique Cave on Gulangyu Island

Gǔshì Biésù Dòng is located on Gulangyu Island and is a distinctive cave with a unique characte[...]

Gǔshì Biésù Dòng is located on Gulangyu Island and is a distinctive cave with a unique character. It is flanked by stone walls that support the imposing granite boulders descending from the sky, giving the sensation of a great weight bearing down, creating an atmosphere of danger and steepness.
The four characters inscribed above, ‘古避暑洞’, were written by the late Qing Dynasty literati Shi Shijie.


The stone cave is bright, dry, and well-ventilated. Behind ‘古避暑洞’, there is an inscribed poem which reads, ‘Sunlight Rock, piles of stones, encircling the sea and ladder to the sky, forming a jade fortress, above is the vast sky wind, below is the vast sea.’ This poem was written by Jiang Dingwen, who, after ‘resolving’ the ‘Minbian’ initiated by the 19th Route Army, was full of pride and in high spirits, and thus wrote this somewhat literary inscription.


The cave is open all year round and accessible 24 hours a day.



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