Grottes et karsts de Chine
Sur les traces de Xu Xiake

Leave Houping on the main road past the school and drop down on it for around 200m until you can see the large entrance to the Arch part of Chuan Dong. A few metres further along the road, the smaller but still obvious first entrance to the main Aqueduct section of Chuan Dong is visible.

Arch Cave

Arch cave is a huge (20m wide, 10m high) but short (50m long) section of passage with daylight visible throughout. Entering from the road side, an old, disused stone aqueduct runs high along the left wall. A river starts near the right wall, goes to the middle of the passage then sinks near the right far entrance under a pile of massive boulders. This sink has not been investigated properly so there may be a way through this choke [QM B].

Aqueduct Cave

From the first entrance to Aqueduct cave there is only around 20m of passage, mostly filled with over-welly-height water, until a 4m high concrete dam is reached with all the water entering from it and daylight visible. The main way to enter the cave is from the second entrance which enters just above the concrete dam. This is reached by taking a path through the next field on the right as you walk back the road to Houping from the first entrance. A small path leads up on the right to a concrete aqueduct which is followed to the entrance. The aqueduct is in use and its flow seems to be regulated by the farmers.

From the second entrance, the river can be followed upstream in tall passage for about 80m until a skylight is seen. Here huge boulders mostly block the passage. The way on is up on the left, next to the aqueduct. There is a strong draft out of the cave at this point. The passage soon opens out and the third entrance is reached. It is easy to exit here into fields. Before the third entrance, the river is audible but not visible, low on the left of the passage.

After the third entrance the passage widens considerably though the roof remains relatively low, with the passage hading up to the right. A stooping passage leads up on the right. This initially has little draft and is much smaller than the previous passage but it quickly turns left and drops back down into large river passage again. At this junction, there are two ways on in the opposite wall. The first, lower passage has obvious signs of wear and quickly leads along awkward walking passage for around 40m until a 3m climb down to large passage carrying a moderate sized stream is reached [QM A]. The second is a possible opening higher and further right in the same, far wall [QM B]. At the junction, turning right an inlet with a moderate-sized stream can be followed upstream through 1m wide attractive, scalloped passage for around 70m until the fourth entrance is reached. This was blocked by thorns and undergrowth so would be difficult to exit. Near the start of this inlet, a narrow cross-rift intersects [two QM C's]. Back at the junction, turning left to go downstream soon reaches the main water which was last visible before the second entrance. An opening on the left allows you to follow this main water a short distance downstream before it becomes over welly-height. Continuing to follow the main river upstream, a ledge on the right wall allows you to stay dry. The passage turns to the right and two possible leads are visible up on the right wall [both QM B]. The cave is still drafting out. Shortly after this corner, a major inlet enters fairly inconspicuously from low on the left wall (described just below). The main passage continues gradually upwards then goes up a climb on the right of a small waterfall to a large pile of huge boulders. After the waterfall, it is easier to follow the water lower on the right than to climb up over the boulders. All the water comes from a 2m waterfall with daylight visible beyond. This can be climbed (damply) to reach the fifth entrance.

Back down the main passage, the major inlet on the left is initially an easy crawl but very soon opens up to large passage. This continues for around 70m to a point where an easy scramble up the right wall leads to a vantage point over the inlet leading to the fifth entrance. Ignoring this to continue up the inlet, the draft is still going out of the cave. The route continues past large boulders with an obvious path on the left. A rock bridge over to the right wall leads to behind a very large boulder and then immediately to the sixth entrance up the slope above. A small inlet enters on the left here but the passage soon narrows to become too tight. The sixth entrance is easy to exit and is 5-10 minutes walk down to Houping, heading just to the right of the two mobile phone masts. The fifth entrance is visible on this walk back. Back underground at the sixth entrance, the water continues upstream in passage well below the level of the huge boulder but disappears into a boulder choke [QM C]. A passage continues above this boulder choke for a short distance before reaching a too-tight drafting crawl that might be possible to dig [QM C].