The Cliff-dependent Caves
3 min readThe cave dwellings are developed according to the unique geographic location and features.About 20 million years ago，the northwestern monsoon in winters would blowtoward southeast with dust and dirt.The dust and dirt would gradually land in such areas as today’s Gansu，Shaanxi，Shanxi and Henan provinces.After a considerableperiod of time，more and more dust and dirt had been gathered to form the Loess Plateau，so the Loess Plateau is called as”the blown plateau”.The Loess Plateau is made of mineral crumbs and clay granules which become hard in dry condition and provide advantages to building and digging cave dwellings.The dry climate，the inconvenient transportation and underdeveloped economy in the Loess Plateau make the cave dwellings the most convenient and economical way in locality.In the drainage area of the Yellow River there are about 40 million people living in cave dwellings.
They account for nearly 80%of the local residential architectures in Mizhi，Shaanxprovince，and are mainly distributed in the six cave dwelling areas of northwestern China，namely Shaanxi，Gansu，Ningxia，Shanxi，Henan and Hebei provinces or autonomous regions.
According to distribution denseness of the cave dwellings，there are cave dwelling areas in middle and south of Shanxi province，in Shaanxi province and the east Gansu province.According to building materials，the cave dwellings can be divided into earthen caves，stone caves，sun-dried brick caves，brick caves and wicker rafter caves.However，the cave dwellings are often divided，according to the architectural layout and the structure，into cliff-dependent caves，sunken caves and independent caves.
The cliff caves refer to the caves dug inward in the natural earthen cliff，which are mainly in hillside and cliffs.The cave is 3-4 meters in length，2.2-3.2 meters in height and 6-9 meter in depth，and the roof is often the semi-round，round or pinnacle-round barrel vault.If one single cave is used，the cave is often divided into front and back rooms.Inside the cave，a side wall is dug to form a niche to store goods.If many caves are used，they are 2.5-3 meters away from each other，and the inner parts are connected with tunnels.The two caves form an H shape，and one cave is used as the main house.Inside the cave people can dig in the sidewall a hole 2 meters in width and height，and 1 meter in depth for bed，and the cave is called Kang cave.In the cave various kinds of turn cave are dug to store goods.The top of caves should be thick enough to assure that the cave won’t sink.
The cave entrances of different families have different structures.The poorer families would use the sun-dried mud brick walls to envelop the house，while rich families would build walls with strip bricks on the front earthen walls，or with carved bricks.There is still another cave called sky cave，which is just suitableto be built at higher point of cliff.And the upper and lower caves are connected with stairs dug between them.
The cliff-dependent caves are mainly distributed in the six areas of east Gansu province，north Shaanxi province，middle Shanxi province，west Henan province，north Hebei province and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.The most famous one is Kangbaiwan Cave-house Manor in Gongxian county，Henan province.The cliff-dependent caves reduce the quantity of earthwork and are built in accordance with the landscape，making the impression of being harmonious with the environment.
