A karst cave in Guangnan County, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, has been occupied by a group of people for many generations. It is known as the world's largest existing cave village -- Fengyan Cave Village.

The cave, which is 200 meters in diameter, was home to a total of 300 people living in 60 households. The house walls are mostly made of rattan whips instead of wood or bricks, and there is no roof on each individual home. The big cliff served as a shared "roof" for the entire village to keep out of wind and rain. The entrance to the cave offers a clear view of all household furnishings, complete with livestock, and all houses are linked by a "zigzagging flagging." It is not dark inside the cave since sunlight creeps in every afternoon for as long as five hours.

The earliest dwellers of Fengyan Cave Village were members of the Li family who lived there for nine generations. It is said that they first lived in the cave during the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). After about 100 years, people surnamed Li, Zhou, Xu, He, Tang and Ren lived there as a big family. The simple and impoverished cave life is balanced by the warmth of human relations, and villagers still retain the 300-year-old tradition. Roofless houses are separated only by fences and food is hung in the alleyways between houses. There have been no incidences of theft at Fengyan Cave Village even though villagers never lock their doors. Thousands of bats live harmoniously with villagers and no flies or mosquitoes can survive in the cave.

Even though the residents carry on ancient traditions and live in seclusion, they have shed the tradition of illiteracy. In recent years, however, many young cave dwellers have become college graduates.