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Jiuxiang Scenic
Resort
 Jiuxiang,
a beautiful large scenic resort inhabited mainly
by the Yi and Hui nationalities, is situated in
Jiuxiang Township, over 70 kilometres away from
Kunming and 47 kilometres away from the county
town of Yiliang.
In Jiuxiang, mountain ridges
stretch and peaks taper. Rivers and streams crisscross.
Shady trees are wide-spreading. The relative height
from the highest peak of the mountains to the
lowest valley is about 200 metres. The elevation
ranges roughly from 1,750 metres to 1,900 metres.
The topography is typically of a karst type, so
Jiuxiang is called the village of karst caves.
There are more than one hundred karst caves in
Jiuxiang scenic resort. It has been found that
the caves in Jiuxiang are the largest cave group
system with the most numerous karst caves in China.
The stalactites in the caves take on many forms
and shapes in different colours. Found in the
caves are numerous natural bridges, valleys, rivers
and waterfalls, which constitute a wonderful subterranean
world.
With a total area of about 200
square kilometres, it consists of five smaller
scenic areas, namely, the Triangular Caves (Sanjiaodong),
the Overlapping Rainbow Bridge (Diehongqiao),
the Upper Big Cave (Shangdadong), the Long Sandy
Bank (Dashaba) and the Bright Moon Lake (Mingyuehu).
Sixty-six karst caves in the area are estimably
worthy of exploitation. The first phase of the
exploitation project centres upon the Overlapping
Rainbow Bridge which lies 45 kilometres away from
the town of Yiling County. This area consists
of the White Elephant Cave (Baixiangdong), the
Sleeping Dragon Cave (Wolongdong), the Palace
of the Goddesses (shennvgong), the Gods' Fields
(Shentian) and a 600-metre long Shady Green Gorge
(Yincuixia) along which tourists can have a boat
ride. The entrance into the Sleeping Dragon Cave
is called the Terrestrial Gate which overlooks
the very depth of cave from a height of 120 metres.
A spiral steel staircase of 9 windings is constructed.
The waterfall in the cave has a drop of 30 metres.
The Lion's Hall within the White Elephant Cave
is 200 metres wide. There are a stage and a subterranean
ballroom of 2,000 square metres in it. Outside
the White Elephant Cave, a bridge lies 200 metres
above the cave. The Palace of Goddesses is ornamented
by beautiful stalactites. Shady Green Gorge winds
through verdurous mountains. It is vety pleasant
to have a boat ride on the stream here.
HISTORY
 According
to the results of investigation and demonstration
made by cave experts both at home and abroad,
Jiuxiang cave group developed from shallow-sea
deposit in Sinian Epoch and dolomite in siliceous
belt 600 million years ago. In the caves there
are many hydrogeologic spectacles and scenic spots
of flyover and multi-layer caves consisting of
stromatolithic rock which is the fossil of microbe
in paleocean and called as "prehistoric spectacle"
by the experts, bioherm, stone border pool groups,
underground plaza and hall, underground river
and gorge, as well as fish-back rock, curly rock
and vortex pot. Some of them are rare spectacles
in the world. Some are cases never taught in any
geological textbook. A cave expert from the former
Soviet Union called it as "a matchless attraction
in the world and a mystical legacy of the earth".
GEOGRAPHY
Inhabited mainly by the Yi and
Hui nationalities now, Jiuxiang township where
the Jiuxiang scenic resort is situated was a residential
place for the forefathers of the Yi people. The
climate in Jiuxiang is temperate. The air temperature
is similar to that in Kunming and the yearly average
temperature is 14.6 centigrade. The yearly average
frost-free period has 234 days and yearly rainfall
is 1064mm. The yearly average sunshine time is
2,123 hours. The altitude of the earth's surface
without too many rolls and swells ranges roughly
1,750 to 1,900m. Maitian River, a tributary of
Nanpanjiang River, flows southwards through the
whole region. The gradient of the river bed is
great and the river valley is very deep. There
are many V-shape rock cliffs and narrow gorges,
and knick points along the river that corroded
seriously. There are sporadic survivals of two-stage
etched terrace which are 10m to 80m higher than
the present river bed, forming a geological spectacle
in China.
ANCIENT REMAINS
Jiuxiang is one of the birthplace
of human civilization. The historical and cultural
background is very long. At Zhongkoudong Cave,
the place where ancient people lived 10,000 to
50,000 years ago, or even earlier in the Paleolithic
Period, forty-one ancient teeth and more than
two thousand pieces of Paleolith were unearthed.
It is the first time in China that so many stone
artifacts have been unearthed. In addition, more
than 1,000 fossils of ten kinds of ancient animals,
including eastern stegodon, Chinese rhinoceros
and panda, were found. In 1985, archaeologists
found many primitive carvings on cliffs in Dabizhe
and Alulong villages, the Alulong valley. These
carvings of donkey, buffalo, plouph and symbols
of character, were made by the forefathers of
Yi people.
FESTIVAL
The local people hold various
activities to celebrate the Hunting God Festival
every year to express their happiness and thanks
to the God, and pray for good harvest. The activities
include wresting, bullfighting, singing folk songs
in antiphonal style, and national dances accompanied
with Dasanxian, a national musical instrument.
FLOWERS
Jiuxiang, a flowering township,
is very beautiful when camellia, Rhododendron
delavayi, bannana shurb are blooming there. Southern
Magnolia is not only beautiful but also suffusing
fragrance far away. What is deserved to be mentioned
is the orchid in Jiuxiang whose family is so great
that no orchid in other places can be comparable
with it.
BLIND MACKEREL, a precious
fish
 The
fish was found in Xiaogoudong Cave by the bank
of Maitian River in the lower reach of the exploited
Diehongqiao scenic area. This is the largest fish
of such species in China. The fish has a full
transparent body and the organs in the body are
clearly visible. Since the fish llives in dark
cave for long time, the eyes have gradually degenerated
and became two white dots. They use other sense
organs to look for food and alert the attack of
enemies.
Scenery in Jiuxiang is a beautiful
and mystical place just like the Peach Garden
describe by Tao Yuanming in his poem. The scenery
everywhere, mountains and rivers, exploited and
non-exploited scenes, presents a natural and wonderful
beauty. Grand, precipitous, mystical, beautiful
and secluded are the right words for the description
of scenery in Jiuxiang.
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