Du’an: A Hidden Eye of the Earth

Written by Tang Yi / Translated by Wei Yingling

The karst landscape in Guangxi hides innumerable favors of nature. And Du’an Yao Autonomous County, Hechi, Guangxi, where there surround lush mountains and lucid waters with geographical advantages, has presented abundant and unique natural wonders of karst landscapes and created a magical and hidden world beneath the river. 

With the mountain as the brows and the water as the eyes, the picturesque scenery of Du’an are just like the deep eyes that everyone would fall for. Diving in the blue water in Du’an is like opening a box of unpredictability and being transported to another magical world where surprises are delivered one by one along the way of your exploration.

The mysterious underground river

Du’an is a county in Guangxi blessed with beautiful mountains and waters. While strolling through Du’an, those impressive mountain peaks rising from the ground will leave you resonant with nature’s uncanny — this is the closest place to natural beauty. People built houses along the river for thousands of years, living long and prosperously. 

Guangxi has the most concentrated and complicated distribution of underground rivers in China, among which the Du’an Underground River is undoubtedly the one with the most extended length and the most significant and stable water volume. The mainstream of the Du’an Underground River originates from the Qibainong Mountain area of Hechi, flows through the townships of Qibainong, Bao’an, Dongmiao, and Disu, and finally into the Hongshui River in Disu Town’s Qingshui Village.

In 2019, the Du’an Underground River in Guangxi was promoted to a national geopark. The park, located on the slope of the transition from the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to the Guangxi Basin, is in the middle and western part of the exposed karst area in northwest Guizhou, covering an area of 210 square kilometers. The geological relics in which are of various, complete, and typical. Based on middle Devonian and upper Permian carbonate rocks, they are linked by the mysterious underground belt of the Disu subsurface river system, with the spatial form of “one river, one hundred skylights, and one thousand valleys,” forming an underground river skylight group.

Amazingly and beautifully inlaid on the land of Du’an and connected to the underground river system, these skylights have earned themselves a reputation as “the eye of the earth”. In the fields, by the houses, the bluegreen lakes of the skylights show their extraordinary grandeur. There are many skylights in different forms in Du’an Underground River Geoparks, which are combined into the Du’an skylights group and distributed in a linear and beaded manner in the Disu underground river system.

The groups are accompanied by world-famous peaks, caves, and karst landforms where the mountains are green, the waters resemble jade belts, and the views are breathtaking. The “stone kingdom” formed by the particular structure in the caves is a true escape from the hustle and bustle of city life, outlining the magical natural scenery.

Through the skylights, explore the world beneath the river

Under the ground of Du’an slowly flows an underground river. If you want to reveal its “mysterious veil”, you need to go through those skylights on the surface of Earth — they are the entrance to the hidden scenes of nature. In the 241km section of the Su Dixia River in Du’an, more than 300 skylights vary in size.

For thousands of years, few people have dared to dive into the caves, and only a few brave cave divers have dared to confront the deep. This is because people often believe that some mystic power is hidden underground. It’s from the fear of the unknown and the awe of nature. However, the more mysterious the place is, the more attention it attracts. As diving experts from France, Britain, Australia, and other places overcame their fears and plunged into the bottom of the river, they opened the mysterious new world under the Du’an skylight. Among these experts, the world ice diving queen Mia Piticana from Finland has been to Du’an five times in just a year and a half.

The river, as blue as the ocean, also removes your worry and invites you to delve into the skylight. 

In 2022, director James Cameron’s Avatar 2 took viewers on a dive into the ocean of alien worlds. The immersive 3D visual effects incisively and vividly highlighted the mystery and destiny of water to people. In fact, as long as you are willing to summon up your courage and try it, you may find the world under the skylight is better than the movie.

In late spring and early summer, when everything rouses up from sleeping, the underground water welcomes its wet season, signaling the best time for diving. When you scratch the ripples of this “window,” it’s as if you’re starting a “bright conversation” with the subterranean world.

At present, there are nine recognized world-class skylights in Du’an, with the Tunbang skylight listed among them. It is known as one of the top three diving resorts in the world. Holding your breath and diving into the water, the waves and lights will guide your direction and lead you forward. 

Dreamy rhythms of life, unknown ancient secrets...tens of possibilities converged into this cosmic torrent in this mysterious underground world, calling people to roam, explore, discover, and experience.

The Peach Blossom Jellyfish Skylight Group in Dongmiao Township is one of the most famous skylight groups cave divers cannot leave behind. As you make your way through the emerald-green waters, you will encounter yet another surprise. The skylight was called Badin Pool, but the name was changed after the discovery of the peach blossom jellyfish, also known as the “living fossil” and “panda in the water”. The peach blossom jellyfish is mostly pink and white, 1~2 cm in diameter, transparent, headless, tailless, and round in shape. Tentacles encircle its transparent and silky body, resembling a peach blossom floating in the water.

The water in the skylight of the Peach Blossom Jellyfish is so clear that it can almost be described as “floating in the sky with no supporting”. Clear as it is, the difficulty of diving into it should not be underestimated. To get a glimpse of the jellyfish, you must familiarize yourself with their “routine”.

Every year from April to October, a massive population of peach jellyfish appears in the Du’an underground river. These wonderful creatures from the deep skylight seem to have just woken up, wriggling their bodies from the bottom of the river and moving rhythmically with the water. When a flashlight is shone on them, their transparent body resembles a “lampshade,” enveloping the light and transforming it into their own lightening style, displaying it vividly.

During those warm months of the year when the peach flowers are in full bloom, the jellyfish flock to the surface within reach. When the weather turns cool, they move to depths of up to 20 meters. That means one must go for a more difficult cave dive for a chance to encounter the jellyfish during the cool days. Water is the source of everything; thus, exploring the deep cavernous waters may reveal the secrets of the Divine creation. High as the sky and wide as the sea, the mysterious underground caves in the karst landscape are the most hidden wonders. 

In addition, the Jiudun Skylight, reputed as the “Underwater Everest” is a paradise for divers who love to explore. The bottomless North Caves and South Caves, once probed by sonar to over 300 meters, are perhaps one of the deepest full caves known to be diveable.

Tips: Cave diving is the practice of scuba diving in a cave that is entirely or partially filled with water. It is recommended that only divers with certain qualifications attempt it, as it involves primitive and unexplored natural environments as well as complex diving challenges.

A place where blessing live: Anfu Temple

In the Disu town of Du’an, a section of the river emerges from the Anfu River underground. In the middle of the Anfu River, there is an island called Gu Song with one large and two smaller islets, on which sits the Anfu Temple. 

Anfu temple was built in the first year of Hongwu’s reign in the Ming Dynasty (1368). When Fan Anfu, a geography master from Guangdong Province, visited Anding Ancient City ( Today’s Disu Town, Du’an County), the idyllic scenery of noble peaks, lush pines, and crystal water aroused his benevolence, so he decided to build a temple and placed Buddha statues for the people to pray for. The locals appreciated Fan’s merit for building the temple, so they named it after Anfu in memory of him. Today, Anfu Temple has become a symbol of the local cultural landscape, bringing spiritual consolation to the people.

Surrounded by mountains, the temple forms a lotus seat at its center, making it a rare sacred place for pilgrimage, blessing, spirituality, and enlightenment. The most incredible thing is that the mountains opposite the temple are shaped like four “Pure Vases”, echoing the statue of the Guanyin statue that appears in the natural landscape pagoda behind it. Guanyin, a Bodhisattva who wields the Pure Vase and uses the willow branch to reveal his vast magical powers of inspiration to alleviate suffering and shower compassion on the Earth.

The entire Anfu Temple gives visitors a sense of simplicity. It is not as tall and lofty as those famous temples, and there is no crowd of visitors to fill it with incense, but you can’t help but feel worship when you step into the temple. The pagoda, which resembles a gourd, has a golden and white color that adds to the overall sense of solemnity. It is surrounded by the world’s largest group of underground river skylights and is embraced by green hills, waters, bamboo, and auspicious clouds, making it a natural paradise.

Every spring and summer, when the underground river gushes from the ground, the Gusong islet is like gold floating out of the water with a magical “A rising river rises the islet” scene. At this time, the whole islet will be stainless, peaceful, and secluded, resembling a true paradise.