长寿水晶宫

Changshou Shuijinggong


Useful Information

Location: Guangxi, Hechi, Bama Yao Autonomous County, Jiazhuanxiang, Poyuecun, 西侧 邮政编码: 547514.
(24.305791, 107.006839)
Open: All year daily 8:30-17:30.
[2025]
Fee: Adults CNY 180.
[2025]
Classification: SpeleologyKarst Cave
Light: LightIncandescent LightColoured Light
Dimension:
Guided tours: L=1,500 m,
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address: Changshou Shuijinggong, China, Guangxi, Hechi, Bama Yao Autonomous County, Jiazhuanxiang, Poyuecun, 西侧 邮政编码: 547514, Tel: +86-778-622-1069.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
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History


Description

命河·水晶宫 (Mìng hé·shuǐjīnggōng, Life River Crystal Palace) is also known as 长寿水晶宫 (chángshòu shuǐjīnggōng, Longevity Crystal Palace). They changed the name some time ago, it was once known as Minghe Crystal Palace or simply as Crystal Palace. Ming He or Life River is the name of the river which flows through Nashe. Now it is called Longevity Crystal Palace, but many websites including Google Maps still use the old name. However, the Chinese names actually differ, but the terms Life River and Longevity have a lot in common. The cave is also sometimes called Bama Crystal Palace as it is located in Bama County, and Nashe Crystal Palace as it is located in Nashe village.

We guess the reason for the name change was the fact that Bama is the center of esoteric healing with negative oxygen, the smell of plants and other fantastic nonsense. They have a full page of comparisons of the cave with longevity, for example, "stalactites are stacked, arranged and stretched out like old centenarians." And of course, the content of negative oxygen ions in the cave is also very high, reaching about 30,000 per cubic centimeter, which is ten times that outside the cave.

The name Crystal Palace is definitely deserved, the cave has not only a lot of speleothems like stalactites and stalagmites, it also has numerous calcite crystals, aragonite, helictites, and much more. Another quite spectacular sight is the entrance area, which is actually a roofless cave. The narrow gorge which leads to the cave entrance is covered by speleothems, which are quite well preserved. Probably a result of the climate, without frost there is no frost weathering. Inside the cave is quite spectacular, and of course there is colourful light, but it is at a comparably low level. That’s quite fortunate, because it allows one to see the actual colour of the crystals.

The cave is, despite the general size of caves in this area quite narrow at several spots. So it is definitely not for people with claustrophobia. Its also quite dangerous for the speleothems, people touch them either intentionally or accidentally. However, the passages were rare minerals are close to the trail have a sort of plastic tunnel. So the visitors can see but not touch.