Located in a remote village in Fangshan District, southwest of Beijing, Silver Fox Cave was discovered by chance in July 1991. It is on the site of a small village-run coalpit that is still operating today. Local miners used to put debris such as rocks and earth into a hole they had dug there. To their surprise, the hole never seemed to fill up. Therefore, a miner scooted down the hole and discovered the cave.
The cave is believed to be about 6,000 metres long and is the largest of its kind in North China. Only half has been explored and opened to tourists. Walking down 120 metres of stairs, visitors reach a coal-mine corridor. Leading deep into the cave, the corridor is about 650 metres long, but less than two metres high. The facilities in the cave, such as lighting, railings and walkways, are not very good because of a shortage of funds. But that makes it even more challenging for visitors who enjoy exploring. However, the most marvelous likeness in the cave is the silver fox which gives the cave its name. The fox hides in a small hole in the side of the cave. It is a two-metre-long crystal covered with 'throns' that makes it look just like a furry silver fox hanging upside down from the cave wall. The fox's head is hidden in the rock and its bare tail swings in the air.
Another wonder is called e' guan (goose's neck) or soda straws. They are long, hollow tubes that look so brittle that visitors think a gentle breeze would shatter them. Some experts say, they grow only one centimetre a century. There is one soda straw alone that measures two metres long.
A subterranean river also runs through the cave. A 350-metre section is wide enough for a boat and visitors can take a fantacy boat ride on the river. As they float along the imaginative underground landscape, they will notice how clear and transparent the spring-fed water of the river is, and will long remember their unusual experience.