YANAN (China): While environmentalists in the West are still scratching their heads for answers to energy-efficient, eco-friendly living, some Chinese have had the solution for thousands of years - cave dwelling.
Whereas cave dwelling in the West conjures up images of prehistoric men, for many millions in parts of China it is just a matter of tradition, and sheer common sense.
Besides, these days cave homes come equipped with all mod-cons such as cookers and refrigerators and are even wired for cable TV.
“Yaodong”, as cave homes are known here, can be found mostly on the vast loess plateau of northern China where the unique soft, yellow earth in the mountains is not only easy to dig but so tightly packed that it holds together without any built support.
Throughout dry and mountaineous northern China, an estimated 40 million Chinese still live in caves or subterranean dwellings.
For these people, there is nothing more natural and ordinary than to live in the dugouts: their homes are easy and cheap to construct, warm in winter and cool in summer, and shield them well away from the strong winds and harsh weather.
In the new fast-living era, Chinese people love anything modern from flash cars and mobile phones to digital cameras. But cave-dwelling is one thing that the people of Shaanxi province swear they will never give up on their road to modernisation.
Most people in this former communist revolutionary base of Yanan have lived in a cave at some time in their lives, and even for those who now live in modern flats, they still say they miss cave-dwelling.
By a hillside not far from a 1930s communist guerilla army base lives Zhang Xiaoqun, a construction worker, and his family.
Their humble cave house is simply dug into the side of a hill with a facade coated with bricks but is wired with an electrical supply and cable television.
In the 70 square meter (753 square feet) space under arched ceilings, he and his wife sleep, watch television, cook and have family dinners with their grown-up children, who live in a cave home further up the hill.
“The advantage of a cave is that it is cool in the summer and warm in the winter,” he says. “There is no need for fans or air-conditioning in the summer, although it can get a little damp after it rains.”
One very practical advantage of cave-dwelling, Zhang says, is that rents are relatively cheap.
Zhang, who earns just 500 yuan (60 dollars) a month when work is available, pays a monthly rent of 110 yuan (13 dollars) — less than half that of conventional flats in central Yanan.
Utility bills are also less, with no air conditioning and less heating costs.
Although the temperature in Shaanxi can drop to as low as minus 20 degrees centigrade in the winter, the natural insulation of the earth can keep temperatures in the cave at a constant 10 degrees with the help of a “kang,” a huge stone bed that is linked to an indoor stove warmed by the heat of cooking.
For others, cave dwelling is a matter of emotional attachment.
“Of course I prefer living in a cave. I don’t know how to explain it, it just doesn’t feel quite right in an ordinary flat,” says taxi driver Tian Ping.
Standing by a well dug by guerilla communist soldiers in the 1930s, Liu Chaoying, 46, a folk singer and dancer who lives in a modern flat in central Yanan, talks fondly of the peace and traquillity of cave-dwelling in the hills.
“Caves are more primitive, but the air is nice and fresh by the hillside,” Liu says.
“People in town, when you close your front door then you don’t talk to your neighbours. There, people sit outside and eat, you chat with your neighbours, your children play together, it’s a much more friendly setting.”
Shaanxi people’s pride in its heritage can be seen manifested in Yanan city’s cave-inspired architectural style, from shops and garages to a recently-completed government-subsidised housing estate for low-income families where ordinary buildings they are shaped like caves.
Lu Hai, 70, who lives in one of the 698 cave-shaped teracced houses on a hill slope at Dongsheng Gardens — touted as the biggest group of caves in the world — said the modern design is much more civilised than the traditional earthen dwellings, where he lived until recently.
“These brick built caves are good, they are much harder wearing than the old ones. These caves have kitchen and toilets indoors, they have central heating, that’s much better,” he says.
