Standing at the bottom of spacious and dark grottoes, one cannot help thinking of a quarry, because most of the walls' arched patterns have been proved to be the traces left in the quarrying process. Zhou Shaoxiong, a Vice Professor from Hangzhou Normal University who was the first expert to arrive at Longyou Grottoes, holds the view of Longyou Grottoes being quarries.

However, only common sense challenges this supposition. Why would the ancient people go to caves to quarry? Wouldn't it have been much easier to just dig up the stones in the open air?

According to experienced local stonemasons, this is because the stone beneath the surface is easier to cut, and after it is air slaked, it becomes as hard as the surface stone; scientific experiments have proved this. In addition, there are a number of underground quarries on the south of the Yangtze River.

In Wenling of East China's Zhejiang Province, there was a 1,500-year-old quarry, but the 1,300 caves are mostly horizontal and in different shapes. It is obviously that the stonemasons did not think about the shape of the caves after being dug out. All they wanted were the best stones and simply carried them out. The Flower Mountain Grottoes in Tuixi County of East China's Anhui Province have more than 30 caves and all of them are linked and in different and irregular shapes.

Page:

1

2

All rights reserved. Reproduction of text for non-commercial purposes is permitted provided that both the source and author are acknowledged and a notifying email is sent to us.