Ice Caves of China

Do you know there are many ice caves in China, around 50 of them, all are located underground beneath mountains. My wife and I had the opportunity to visit one of them a few years ago, the one we visited is in Shanxi, a province of China. I must admit that I have never heard of any ice caves before where there is ice all year round, even in summer where temperature outside can reach 40 degrees C. Elementary Science will tell us that Ice and Summer are mutually exclusive, I mean you won't fine ice in summer, only heat and plenty of it. So I had to visit one such cave in order to believe it. My friend researched on the Internet and found one such cave in Shansi, so a tour was arranged in the summer to visit Shanxi. Finally summer (I mean summer time in China, for it is summer all year round here in Singapore) vacation came and we were on our way to see the unbelievable.

During the briefing before departure, we were told to bring along winter clothes as the temperature inside the ice cave was below freezing. It looked rather strange when we packed our luggage for this summer tour of Shansi as we also included thick winter clothing like anoraks, gloves and scuffs.

Inside the ice cave

Road leading to Cave

When we were in Shanxi, the ice cave was not our first stop. We experienced the intense heat of the usual summer in China where temperature of 36 degrees are very common. When we reached the entrance of the ice cave, there was nothing special as it was still hot everywhere. Then the tour guide reminded us to take out the winter clothing and bring along with us into the cave. As we walked further and further into the caves, it got darker and darker and the temperature dropped dramatically to freezing temperature. We quickly put on our winter clothing and we began to see ice on the ground. Further down the cave, walls covered with ice appeared in front of our eyes. The scenery was extraordinary, not only to mention the beauty of ice under the different lighting. There were ice structures everywhere, all constructed of ice. They were huge and magnificent. You had to see it to believe it, ice structures in the midst of summer. A few minutes ago, we were still complaining about the hot weather. Then we saw ice, so much ice around us. It was incredible. These ice structures looked so firm and strong that they were not going to melt any sooner. The tour guide told us that the cave was formed millions of years ago, hence the local people called it the Million Year Ice Cave. Here are some photos to share:

Beautiful lighting

Look at the ice formation







                                                 Video on discovery of yet another ice cave

Incidentally more ice caves are being found in China. I recently found on You Tube news on such discovery. Hence I put it up for sharing. Although not many caves are open to tourists (yet to develop into a tourist attraction spot), it is good to visit the one in Shanxi. The authority has to limit the number of tourists allowed to enter the caves to preserve the caves. As every person is a heat mass itself, too many tourists might bring up the temperature inside the caves which may subsequently affect the stability of the ice structures.

Just to share with you a story told by the travel guide that how serious the authority is when treating this national treasures. A local chap was recently fined a million Yuan for damaging an ice structure. When he protested that it was merely some ice (not worth anything, he thought) but the fine was huge, then he was reminded by the Judge that this was no ordinary ice for it was formed millions of years ago, hence the fine had to be of equal magnitude. Anyway it is a duty of everyone to protect such treasures of the world. It belongs to the everyone, it is a world heritage, everybody has a duty to ensure such things should be kept in good condition/order for our future generations to admire.


My wife at the entrance

Look at the ice!

万年冰洞真神奇

长年结冰不须疑

尽管洞外炎阳天

洞内寒冷如冬季

A poem composed on the Ice Cave