This cave lies halfway up the steep face of Xiling Mountain about ten kilometers northwest of Yichang. Legend says that three great poets of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Bai Juyi (772-846), Yuan Zhen (779-831), and Bai Xingjian (776-826), once came to visit the cave together. Each of them wrote a poem in praise of the scenery there, and then Bai Juyi (Bai Xingjian’s brother) wrote a “Preface to Poems Written when Three Friends Visiting a Cave” and that is how the cave got its name. The interior of the cave is an irregular rectangle, about 30 meters long, 23 meters wide, and 9 meters high, with jagged rocks that give the cave an element of mystery and wonder. Huge stalactites hanging in a row like pillars separate the cave into two parts. The front part is bright and spacious, its stone walls covered with poems and inscriptions by visitors. The rear part is dark and serene, with a narrow side passage leading to the outside. The smooth, round ceiling of the rear cave resembles the face of a clock; and when struck with a stone, it sounds like a chime. When the stone falls to the ground, the sound is more like that of a drum. This phenomenon has been called the “heavenly clock and earthly drum.” |
