Tang Dynasty Caves and Longqingxia Ice Festival, 2026/02/15

We travelled out to Yanqing District to check out the caves at Guyaju, and then headed on to the ice festival at Longqingxia—see 24 photos.

At the caves

Nobody is certain exactly who it was that established the cave dwellings, only that they were made during the Tang Dynasty (618-907AD) and inhabited for approximately 200 years. The cave dwellings were carved from the sandstone cliff and are extensive and well-designed, connected by tunnels and stairways, and featuring heated “kang” beds, temples and meeting rooms, and animal shelters on the lower levels. Most of the rooms are three to four cubic meters in size, and some are high up on the cliff face.

At the festival

The Longqingxia Ice Festival is sort of a mini-Harbin Ice Festival – smaller in scale, but closer to Beijing … and usually not -40°C!