"From afar, no traces of human beings can be found except a bunch of treetop. Walking nearer it, you can hear dogs barking, cocks crowing and can see smoke from chimneys. But only when you enter it can you find a village composed of clustered cave dwellings lying beneath the ground." This local ballad about the unique underground village on the Loess Plateau along the Yellow River has been sung for many centuries.

The Yellow River is the cradle of Chinese civilization, and the cave dwellings on the Loess Plateau alongside it have nurtured many generations of Chinese people. Du Fu, one of the greatest Chinese realistic poets during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), was born in one of the cave dwellings in Gongxian County of Central China's Henan Province. There are generally three kinds of cave dwellings: cliff, ground and hoop. When the most unique kind of cave dwellings, ground caves are clustered together, an underground village is formed.

Having adapted to the local geological, topographical, climatic and economic conditions, people of the Loess Plateau have been living in the underground villages for thousands of years. The Chinese philosophical theory that man is an integral part of nature is very well imbedded in this unique form of residence.

  Structure

The ground cave dwelling is a square or rectangular pit dug out of the level ground on the tablelands to form a ground courtyard. Most of the cave courtyards are in square shape.

To build a ground courtyard, first a pit has to be dug. A cave is then dug horizontally in the pit walls, usually in sections lacking a natural precipice. From the ground level one can only see the treetops roofs but not the houses.

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