The original intention of traveling to Chaohu in Anhui was for its landscape as "one of China's five largest freshwater lakes." However, upon arriving at Chaohu, a friend drove me straight to Ziwēi Mountain and the Zǐwēi Cave in Chaohu. I was immediately led into the Zǐwēi Cave. To be honest, I had little interest in cave landscapes because over the years I had visited many caves, and they all seemed similar—mostly just stalactites illuminated by colored lights. What new features could this Zǐwēi Cave possibly offer?
Similarly unexpected was the river inside the cave. Judging from the water color illuminated by wall lamps, the river must have been deep. Looking around, there were no other pathways except the waterway. We boarded a small boat that floated on the river inside the cave. There were no bamboo poles or oars; we relied solely on pulling ropes tied to the cave walls to move the boat forward. Where did the river come from? Where did it lead to? The tour guide said: "We conducted an experiment where we released a marked duck into the river, and later found it in Chaohu Lake." But we didn't follow the trail of the wild duck. Instead, we disembarked when appropriate and walked out of the cave.
The Zǐwēi Cave is known as the "largest cave north of the Yangtze River," with a depth of 1.5 kilometers. As many familiar caves faded from my memory, the Zǐwēi Cave left a deep impression on me, thanks to its "distinctive features." From this perspective, the saying "without uniqueness, there is no scenery, and without scenery, there is no tourism" is largely correct. Indeed, there were once again the familiar formations like stalactites and stone straws, and massive curtains formed by calcite deposits. Just as I was about to fall into the trap of thinking everything was the same, the cave suddenly opened up. Looking up, I saw two round vertical holes in the mountain body, with sunlight piercing through the thick cave walls onto us. We became frogs sitting at the bottom of a well, gazing up at the sky. The tour guide said: "This is exactly where the Zǐwēi Cave was discovered during the Anti-Japanese War. A few herbal farmers used ropes to explore the secrets of the large underground cave. Later, during the time when the local people of Chaohu hid from the Japanese invaders, they used baskets to lower refugees into the cave, causing the Japanese soldiers to be baffled by the sudden disappearance of the Chinese." The advance team for the development of Zǐwēi Cave tourism also entered the cave from here, then cleared the debris and dug the entrance we just came through, while hiring professional engineering teams to excavate the exit passage.
I felt the cave walls on both sides gradually closing in. In no time, I touched the iron chain railing by the path. The guide announced we had reached the "chilly iron chain bridge." With the help of dim lighting, I vaguely saw that the mountain road ahead was broken, replaced by a swaying iron chain bridge made of iron chains and wooden planks. As soon as I stepped on it, my whole body began to sway uncontrollably, and sweat broke out on my forehead. Someone ahead threw a bottle of mineral water down, and after a long while, we heard the dull echo of the bottle hitting the ground. The guide said the bridge was over a ten-thousand-foot-deep pit. To this day, I still don't understand how I, suffering from acrophobia, managed to cross this chilly iron chain bridge that day. I never expected there would be an iron chain bridge inside the Zǐwēi Cave.
Hot Spring QQ Group: 184568782
Related theme articles: Huashuibay Hot Spring Group Buying, Huashuibay Hot Spring Resort, Donghuli Island Hot Spring Club_Donghuli Island Hot Spring Group Buying