Protected Sites :Gaxian Cave Site

The Gaxian Cave Site is located 10 kilometers northwest of Alihe Town in the Oroqen Banner of the Hulunbair League in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The site lies at the eastern foot of the northern peak of the Great Hinggan Mountains. The cave is located on a 100-meter-high granite peak and towers at about 25 meters. The mouth of the cave is shaped like a triangle 12 meters high and 19 meters wide. The cave contains a wide space stretching 92 meters from south to north, 27 to 28 meters east to west and reaching over 20 meters at its highest peak. It covers an area of over 2,000 square meters, resembling a grand hall. To the northwest is an oblique cave nine meters wide, six to seven meters high and 22 meters long. About 11 meters up in the east wall of the grand hall is a five-meter-wide cave that is over 10 meters deep. In the middle of the grand hall lies an irregular natural stone board about 3.5 meters in length and three meters wide, with a 0.5-meter-high stone supporting it that resembles a stone table.

Located about 15 meters to the west wall is a line of stone inscriptions containing 19 rows and 201 characters, written in a style typical of the Northern Dynasties (386-581). The discovery of the Gaxian Cave provides precious archaeological materials for study into the cultural origin of such ethnic groups as the Serbi.