Having visited the Silver Cave, you will never be lack of money.

So does the saying goes. The Silver Cave is not a silver mine, it is a stalactite cave. Located within a inner range of 12 mountains in Yangshuo, the Silver Cave offers some pretty good views of a geological wonder. The tour will take about an hour or an hour and a half along a path inside the mountainous cave for 2 kilometers. The walk is pretty easy for a healthy adult, but it might be somewhat rigorous for the elderly, as there is some climbing involved.

The Silver Cave is the largest stalactite cave in all of Guilin. There remain parts of the cave that are not yet explored. The ones that are open to tourism are of significant scale already, and actually, toward the end, I found the experience to be a little overwhelming, and I will explain why below.

The Geology of the Silver Cave

In Chinese, a poetic word for beautiful natural scenery is made up of the characters for mountain and water, literally “mountain water.” The karst mountains and waterfront views are the very hallmarks of scenery that environ both the urban and rural areas of Guilin.

The exceptional landscape of Guilin is an example of karst landform. Its formation depends on two primary elements in nature, namely water and rock-formed mountains. Guilin’s famous peaks come from a long process of water seeping through and eroding rocks that contain soluble compounds. Examples of such compounds include carbonate rocks, sulphate karst and salt rock. Over time, this process results in the unique shapes of the karst peaks that we see in Guilin today.

In South China, the karst landform is also seen in Yunnan, Guizhou and Chongqing. Guilin’s karst peaks are, by far, the most well-known.

The water erosion process does not stop at the surface of the mountains. In mountainous caves, such as the Silver Cave that we visited, this process takes place under cover. The water source is the groundwater or underground river in this scenario. The caves that are formed are known as soluble caves or limestone caves, featuring grand appearances of stalactite mantles that can go on for miles.

A Tour of the Silver Cave

The Silver Cave is said to attract wealth and fortune for the visitors. At the long pathway that leads one to the entrance, stalls selling all kinds of Guilin specialties lined the sides.

There was a row of God of Wealth Statues. They were all painted bright red. The people there told us the story about these red Gods of Wealth. In the beginning days of the cave, visitor counts remained low. The local government hired a Hong Kong fortune teller for advice. The fortune teller said that, out of the five elements, the only element that is lacking in the cave is fire. Therefore he suggested that red Gods of Wealth be placed near the entrance to introduce the element of fire. Since then, tourism boomed at the Silver Cave.

My elderly uncle and aunt have said that they were not able to walk 2km inside the cave. Xiaohuang told me that this is a problem easily solved, for there are carriers that can take them on sedan chairs. By hiring these carriers, my elderly uncle and aunt could also enjoy the scenery inside the cave.

The cave is generally divided into three sections called “lower cave,” “the great living room” and the “upper cave.” The stalactites are amazing, as they come in a large scale and the views are grand. The rock formations reveal themselves in myriad folds like the ruffles of a cloak, in the forms of pillars, towers, mantles and stone waterfalls.

I had two issues when I toured the cave. The temperature was not right inside the cave for me. These caves are known for the special quality of “being cool in the summer and warm in the winter,” and surely it was quite warm inside during this cold day. After walking half of the way, I was sweating terribly and it felt stuffy.

On top of that, I found that the typical Chinese way of presentation was overdone. Large colored floodlights illuminated every scenic spot inside the cave. I became a little dizzy from the stuffiness and the lighting at the same time. Toward the end of the path, I felt like I had to fight through the crowd just to get out.

In terms of cave tours, I have previously visited the Jenolan Caves in Sydney. There was no effort to project any colored lighting onto the stalactites. With that experience in mind, I found the colored lighting at the Silver Cave to have done a disservice to the natural scenery.

The Ruyi Peak Cable Car

Meaning “may your wishes come true,” the Ruyi peak acquired its name due to its shape resembling the Chinese symbol of fortune, ruyi. There is a cable car ride that takes about 45 minutes up the mountains. Once you are there, you will be surrounded by a grand gallery of karst peak views. You may also spend some time walking the bridgeways there.

By the time we were done at the Ruyi Peak, we were exhausted. We would be saying goodbye to Yangshuo the next day.

Sources

The Wikipedia on Solutional Cave.

www.newton.com on the Silver Cave (Chin).

The Wikipedia on Karst Landform.