Grottes et karsts de Chine
Sur les traces de Xu Xiake

WEI DONG: IN PRAISE OF LIMESTONE LANDSCAPES

By Dave Williams

It was my first trip to China, and I wasn’t disappointed. The people and places were exciting and full of energy. The poverty was sometimes apparent in the countryside but less so in the towns. Tian’e was a bustling place; something different on every street corner. The Hong Shui River, the life blood of the town, provided a beautiful setting amongst the rugged limestone of the Longtan Gorge. The first day we got a chance to climb high up a winding road behind the town. As we approached the top we parked near an imitation temple adorned with decoration. A small park area gave access to a cave area where a local man wanted us to see a family of monkeys which was kept in a large cage. The zoo arrangement seemed quite incongruous amongst this beautiful natural area.

Next day we travelled along the river edge towards a cave we wanted to explore called Wei Dong. Here limestone shapes of every type and colour could be viewed on the water margin. Small lizards were basking in the early morning sun amongst juniper and thyme, along the small streams feeding the river. This is real karst on a scale I’d never seen before. The river cut through the terrain giving the place an energy and purpose. Lines from W H Auden’s poem “In Praise of Limestone” came to mind:

“If it form the one landscape that we, the inconstant ones, Are consistently homesick for, this is chiefly

Because it dissolves in water. Mark these rounded slopes With their surface fragrance of thyme and, beneath,

A secret system of caves and conduits; hear the springs That spurt out everywhere with a chuckle,

Each filling a private pool for its fish and carving

Its own little ravine whose cliffs entertain

The butterfly and the lizard; examine this region

Of short distances and definite places:

What could be more like Mother or a fitter background

For her son, the flirtatious male who lounges

Against a rock in the sunlight, never doubting

That for all his faults he is loved; whose works are but Extensions of his power to charm? From weathered outcrop To hill-top temple, from appearing waters to

Conspicuous fountains, from a wild to a formal vineyard, Are ingenious but short steps that a child's wish

To receive more attention than his brothers, whether

By pleasing or teasing, can easily take.”

We rounded a few corners and struggled up a road more like a river. This was the stone washing plant, spilling onto the road. The cave entrance was located in a working quarry, the quarry men intrigued that we should want to explore the cave used to drain their workings!

We set up and rigged the entrance pitch. This was a photographers’ feast. Cameras were clicking every- where. The cave descended canyon-like to narrower, shiny, water worn passage. This place would be a turbine in wet weather. It was bit like Ireby Fell Cave; short but pleasant pitches. After the third pitch we encountered a pool. The Chinese cavers took their boots off; we got ours wet. We arrived at the top of a splendid pitch, just like the big pitch in Hurnel Moss Pot.

Bruce rigged this pitch and set off. At the bottom was a big choked area full of flood debris, but, as we discovered, it wasn’t the final bottom. Through a few boulders we arrived at the top of an enclosed loose pitch.

We descended to a sandy floor and a huge chasm beyond. This looked promising. The chasm descended uniformly. The boulders were so big it was difficult to determine whether they were part of the cave’s I infrastructure or separate to it! Route finding in this land of giants was interesting, weaving in and out of the boulders.

A few further climbs and we arrived at water. Bruce announced it was the sump. The water was blue, and as we waded in catfish surrounded us. Bruce used a welly to catch one for analysis. The sump was probably not far from the Hong Shui river level since the fish had eyes.

[Dave Williams]