The cave has unusual formations which have been imaginatively named by the Chinese. After walking deep into the cave we took a boating trip which runs on a stream 106 meters below ground level. The average temperature in the cave is 14 degrees centigrade. The most-noted likeness there is the silver fox which gives the cave its name. The fox "hides" in a small hole at the side of the cave. It is a two-metre-long crystal that looks like a furry silver fox hanging upside down from the cave wall. Next we took a coal miners train about halfway to the surface and then climbed 102 meters up stairs to the exit. The cave was beautiful but the most fun for me was the ride on the coal miners train. After our tour of the cave, we had lunch at a local restaurant with a variety of Chinese foods.
On Thursday, I took a tour of the Tap Water Museum and the Underground City.
The museum reviews the history of tap water in Beijing since its beginning in 1908. Previous to that people used local wells, or had to travel far to fetch their water. The exhibition is set in an old high, strong and spacious building, formerly a pump house. Exhibits include special coupons issued for people to fetch buckets of water from public water stations in town, wooden carts for sending flasks of tap water to people's homes, a US-imported stethoscope used for listening for water leaks from pipes, water quality control examination facilities, and a miniature, active tap-water filtration system. Outside the museum there are bigger exhibits such as huge tunnels, steam engines and ancient stone wells. The architecture is well worth a look too, especially a German designed pavilion where water was filtered before being pumped off. We were told there is a vast underground reservoir in Beijing as well as one above ground. Beijing is surrounded by several rivers and there are plans to bring water in from other areas through a pipeline. We were assured that there is plenty of water to meet the needs of Beijingers and water levels aren't expected to go down for another 20 or 30 years. We all use bottled water for drinking, and brushing teeth, etc. However, I rinse my toothbrush and dishes with tap water and have not had any ill effects.
There are plans for several apartment buildings to be torn down to make way for expansion of the museum. However, it makes one wonder who will visit this museum as while we were there we saw no other visitors. Apparently, there is an abundance of funds to build these types of projects and while the money is there it is being used in all sorts of ways to enhance and expand various projects.
Later we went to the Beijing Underground City where the tunnels are dark, damp, and genuinely eerie. A portrait of Mao stands amid murals of ordinary folk volunteering to dig tunnels, and fading but catchy slogans (Dig The Tunnels Deep, Accumulate Grain, Oppose Hegemony, and For The People: Prepare for War, Prepare For Famine). Apparently the workers only knew about the section they were working on and never realized the scope of the project throughout the city.
Built during the 1960s, with border skirmishes with the USSR as the pretext, the tunnels were planned to accommodate all of Beijing's six million inhabitants upon completion. However, as built, they could accommodate about 300,000 people. The rest were on their own to literally run for the hills! Army engineers were said to have built a secret network of tunnels connecting the residences of Party leaders to the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square and to the numerous military bases to the west of the city. The plans for the tunnels included munitions storage, hospital, restaurants, shops, movie theaters, areas for socializing, etc. They also had water and sewage systems. We also saw some secret entrances which would have been well hidden on the surface.
The recent construction boom means that this is the only remaining entrance to the non-secret tunnels, and it may disappear soon. The entrance is within a hutong that from all appearances is being torn down. Once construction is begun on the new buildings, it is unsure as to if and how much of the tunnels will be preserved for history. Many of the Chinese, especially the older generation, are not interested in the tunnels since they are the ones who labored on them. They seem to be of more interest to tourists. The entrance is about a 15 minute walk from my apartment.
Some of the above information was obtained from the Chinese Culture Club website.
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