Longyou Caves
The Longyou Caves (), also called the Xiaonanhai Stone Chambers (), are a group of 24 artificial sandstone caverns located at Fenghuang Hill, near the village of Shiyan Beicun on the Qu River in Longyou County, Quzhou prefecture, Zhejiang province, China. Created more than 2,000 years ago, they were not recorded in any historical documents and were rediscovered by farmers in 1992. Discovery. In June 1992, four farmers in Longyou found the caves when they drained the water of five small ponds in their village. The ponds turned out to be five large manmade caverns. Further investigation revealed 19 more  caverns nearby. They have been determined to be more than 2000 years old, and their construction is not recorded in any historical documents. About 200km to the Northwest, the Huashan Grottoes at the riverbanks of the Xin'an River somewhat resemble the Longyou Caves, but have likely been built more than 1500 years later during the late Ming Dynasty (1552–1667 AD). Description. The caves are notable in several respects: