Underground Village
 The depth of a cave courtyard is 6 to 7 meters, and each side of
the courtyard is 10 to 12 meters long. Usually eight to twelve caves are dug on
the four sides. In one of the caves located at a corner of the courtyard, a
slope corridor is built linking people to the outside above. The cave opposite
the corridor and with a sunny exposure is the bedroom for the elders. On the two
sides of the central cave are bedrooms for other members of the family. The
traditional cave usually holds a kang (a heatable bed built of earth bricks
usually seen in North China).
Usually there are separate caves serving as a kitchen, a barn, a henhouse and
a stable. In the courtyard there is often a well. Depending on the location of
the main cave, the cave courtyard is named in accordance with the Bagua
(the Eight Diagrams) theory by villagers.
In a cave house, the most important tasks are maintaining drainage and
preventing leakage. As a result, almost all the basic accessory facilities are
for this purpose. During celebrations or wedding ceremonies, these facilities
are the major parts for facelifts and restorations. The "cave face", the
standing wall facing the courtyard, is plastered with a thin layer of mud except
for the window. Bricks are used to strengthen the foot of the wall and are also
used to circle the courtyard. Big trees like Chinese parasol, pear and poplar
are usually planted inside the courtyard. A 5 to 7-meter deep well inside the
courtyard is a necessity. Today, well's the main purpose is to gather rainwater,
but in the past it was used as a source of drinking water for both humans or
livestock.
In order to prevent water leakage, the cave roofs are usually grinded and
rammed into a plain and solid ground on rainy days. The roofs also serve as
threshing grounds during harvest. On the ceiling of the cave that is used as
barn or shelter for livestock, there is usually a small hole called the "gliding
channel". Grains or animal feed can be fed to the animals through this "gliding
channel". This simple device has saved a great deal of labor.
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