Finding China’s Lost Cave Village (30 years abandoned)

Hidden in the mountains of central China lies a centuries old cave village that today is totally abandoned. But who

lived there? And why did they leave?

I've got a tent and a backpack. Let's go

and find out. I actually don't know exactly where this cave is.

Why are you going up here?

This way.

Oh dude.

But first, after the uh various espionage accusations that I've had on my travels so far in China, I need to go and clear my head a little bit. I'm

feeling a bit anxious. I'm going to go for a drive.

Yay.

Hi.

Okay. Now, do you need some A [ __ ] Jesus Christ?

Uh, yingua.

I don't know what you're saying, my bro.

Why do you have a knife?

Okay. Yeah, let's take a picture. Oh,

there is a kid with a butterfly knife.

Wants to take a picture. We'll take

that.

Where are you from?

Oh, I'm from Yingua.

Okay, thank you so much.

I actually don't know exactly where this cave is at all, but I know a village that I can ask some locals and they can hopefully point me in the right direction. Uh, so I asked this chap, I

direction. Uh, so I asked this chap, I said, "Hey, is there a bus that goes to that village?" And he said he can take

that village?" And he said he can take me to the bus station.

Do you make videos?

I do make videos. This is cool.

That's very cool. This kid has got a translation device in his watch.

So, I'm currently in a city called Wangha. Uh, it's in Chongqing province.

Wangha. Uh, it's in Chongqing province.

You might have heard of Chongqing, the city. This is Chongqing province.

city. This is Chongqing province.

Chongqing is the capital and this is the second largest city in Chongqing. Uh,

never heard of it. I had never heard of it before I came here about a week ago.

Uh and it's just again it's just massive. Even these tier three, tier

massive. Even these tier three, tier four, tier five cities in China just absolutely enormous.

Here's this for you.

Here's this for me. I can't take this.

My brother. Okay. Sis, thank you.

The little kid's giving me one of his toys. Thank you.

toys. Thank you.

Uh, actually mayo. Mayo. I'll take a noodle.

actually mayo. Mayo. I'll take a noodle.

Dway. And this mayo.

This D. This one. Dway.

I'll sit here. This guy got the Beijing bikini on. How are you, my brother?

bikini on. How are you, my brother?

Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Yinga.

Yingua. Yingua.

London.

London. London.

That's a very difficult question to answer, my friend. Both countries are excellent.

There's no war in my country at the moment. There's some division between

moment. There's some division between the people, but there's no war in my country. I'm very lucky.

country. I'm very lucky.

This region Chongqing used to be a part of Sichuan which is famous very famous for his extremely cracking spicy food vlog.

I mean, but the bad thing is China is it's kind of hard to do anything because everything's written in a different language. No one speaks the language,

language. No one speaks the language, but you can basically ask anyone and they will go out of their way to try to help you this way.

People just kind of laugh at you and I like to think they're laughing with me.

Which bus should I take?

Okay. But do I NEED A NEW TICKET?

DO I NEED A NEW TICKET? OKAY. OH, I've

got no idea. Turns out the ticket that I bought to Maldo is not where I want to go.

Here.

Uh, wait.

Maybe. Could you pass the phone to some kind?

Yeah.

So, you might be wondering, Mike, how do you hear about this village? How do you know about it? How do you even know roughly where it is? Well, a friend of mine, she's a Chinese YouTuber. I'm

going to I'm going to do a video with her. She's fantastic. I'll put a link to

her. She's fantastic. I'll put a link to some of her content in the in the description. I reached out to her. She's

description. I reached out to her. She's

become a good friend of mine now and I said, "Hey, I really want to." She's

been there and she checked it out and it looks just stunning. So, I said, "Can you please tell me how to get there?"

And she kind of knows but kind of doesn't know. So, she's on the phone

doesn't know. So, she's on the phone right now.

Hi.

She lo the thing about getting to these um a lot more rural areas in China. People

can be really nice, but they can also be quite wary of you. So, uh, you got to approach it a bit differently.

I know what I'll do. I'll stick a camera in someone's face. Uh,

are there motorbike taxis in this town?

So, this lovely lady over here is uh is she's called me someone that can take me up there. It's about another 30 minutes

up there. It's about another 30 minutes into the mountain. The weather's not looking very good. It's going to be a bit of a rainy one, I'm afraid. There's

going to be a bit of slipping and sliding through the jungle, I'd imagine.

But this is Loju Town. Loju, long Jew.

People are incredibly curious when you get into places like this.

The idea of travel for leisure is a a fairly fairly new thing in China, I mean relatively. So like to see the foreigner

relatively. So like to see the foreigner coming to these parts just to look at a cave isn't something that they would think is normal. Uh which is not normal.

Ah yes Kama showing me a picture of uh our prime minister.

He is the leader of my country. I've

been in the I've been in Chinese news recently and on so Chinese social media.

So uh anytime people try to mention politics I get a little bit a little bit too scared.

I'm trying to go here. I'm trying to reach this cave, abandoned cave village in the mountain. It's about 27 minutes away. I've got a the location of the

away. I've got a the location of the village and then I will ask the villagers where the cave is. So, I need to get to the village.

I've asked this lovely family if they wouldn't mind just cooking up some really basic food for me. Some rice and some tofu.

Thank you, boss. Boom. See you, madam.

Goodbye.

Right. Do you know where we're going, my friend? Because I bloody don't. Wait,

friend? Because I bloody don't. Wait,

let me get my maps out. I'm searching

for this cave village in the mountain.

Do you know anything about these cave villages?

Yeah, I think when I go up there, I will uh see if I can ask some of the locals around the mystery about why these cave

villages became abandoned. What do you think?

So, we are now on a onetrack road, one a single single lane road up into the mountain. Now, uh, it's getting a little bit chilly. I didn't realize how cold it was going to be. And I

didn't bring any rain, any warm stuff with me. I've got a raincoat.

with me. I've got a raincoat.

I hope this chat doesn't turn around and say, "Why the [ __ ] are you going up here?"

here?" So, we're we're far out.

There you go.

Far out in the middle of nowhere now.

So, um, I'll pay you now. Also, I have one more request. Can you help me ask these villagers where this cave is?

Uh, I have a picture, right?

Wait, wait wait wait.

Okay.

Okay. Okay, my friend.

This way. Ah, I can think it's down.

It's down there somewhere. Okay, thank

you so much.

Okay, I'm going to go speak to that man. Let's

see if we can get any info about him, about this cave that I'm going to go and sleep in. I'm really excited. Can you

sleep in. I'm really excited. Can you

tell?

Right, rain coat is on.

Dry. I'm getting We're going to be dry.

And we've got a bit of a a bit of a trek down to the bottom of this mountain.

Let's go and see if we can speak to this man. Nha.

man. Nha.

Uh, wait. Can I come here? Wait. Right. This

wait. Can I come here? Wait. Right. This

is trying to communicate with someone in a completely foreign language on a step when they're six feet above you is uh

not easy. Let's go and talk to them. The

not easy. Let's go and talk to them. The

cave village. Why is it abandoned? And

who lived there before?

Okay. I tried my hardest to ask them about the people. Oh, [ __ ] hell. I'm

gonna break my [ __ ] leg. I can't even walk down the bloody stairs outside the house. You want to come with me?

house. You want to come with me?

You want to come?

Yeah. Okay.

He is laughing at me.

I was going to say I probably picked the worst day to do this, but actually the rain isn't too bad. It's just that everything's bloody wet. But hopefully

by the time we get down there, well, when we do get down there, we're going to be in a cave. We're just going to be protected from the rain. This way.

It's not easy to climb down wet, slippery stairs with a camera in one hand and a meal in the other. This way.

Yeah.

[ __ ] hell.

Ah, my lighter and my phone. [ __ ] hell. My lighter and my phone just fell

hell. My lighter and my phone just fell out my pocket. Yeah.

It is [ __ ] soaking wet and slippery.

Right, I'm going to put the camera away while I climb the rest of the way.

I'm also sweating my absolute nuts off.

Can you imagine living down here in a village that is completely shut off from the rest of the world?

The only way you can get in and out is by climbing these hills. Oh, [ __ ] it.

Now, think about getting supplies in.

Think about your kids going to school. I

haven't figured out exactly why they why they left the cave, but Oh, dude.

Oh my goodness. Look at this.

Wow.

Holy [ __ ] This might be the craziest view I've ever seen in my entire life.

Wow. My god, dude.

Look at this place.

Oh my god.

This is absolutely incredible.

Thank you so much, dude.

Look at this place. There is a waterfall. The water is rain is pouring

waterfall. The water is rain is pouring off the mountain right there. And look

at this place, man.

Oh my god.

Oh my god. Yeah.

Ah. Oh. So, it's actually listed as a historical building in Lichuan in 2004.

How long ago did the people leave and why did they leave? Why is it abandoned?

So everyone that lived here left because they wanted to work. Is that correct?

How many years has it been empty like this?

More than 20 years. Can you show me around a little? I'm going to set up my tent here tonight and camp here because it's dry. Nice and dry here.

it's dry. Nice and dry here.

For me, it is not inconvenient and lonely. For me, this is my dream. I've

lonely. For me, this is my dream. I've

traveled a very long way to come and sleep and just camp here. Inconvenient

and lonely is my middle name. It goes

Michael. Inconvenient and lonely. Tommo

Kennedy.

Wow.

Wa.

Look. See, it's just been stuff's been left here.

Wow.

I can sleep here.

Okay. Maybe it's uh I think he wants me to sleep in this bloody room, which I don't feel like doing.

I have my tent with me, so I can sleep outside. It's okay.

outside. It's okay.

Wow, look at this. That's incredible.

Ah, cold.

Ah, no, it's okay.

Good water.

Wait, let's have a quick look down here.

Wait one minute, sir.

This looks There's a workstation here.

Someone's That looks quite new. Work

boots. Children's. Looks like children's shoes there, but it could just be a Chinese man's shoes. Stuff there that they've been working on. What is this?

Another room here.

Looks like uh maybe a room for cooking.

Right.

Yeah, this is definitely this definitely would have been some kind of not restaurant but maybe this was a community where one house would have done all the cooking, one house provided

some other things, one house provided some other things.

This looks like uh something. This looks

like a thing. That looks like a a thing.

I won't really feel settled until we've until we've left this dude. We also need to set up camp.

Where's my friend gone?

I don't know where he's gone. Niha.

Niha.

I think my friend's just effed off.

Wow, this place is creepy, dude.

I can't I can't quite reach those newspapers, but I bet they're bloody old.

So this would have been another place where animals would have been kept. Pigs

I expect. So really, I mean, this was probably a totally self-sufficient village. They would have had their own

village. They would have had their own pigs. I'd imagine looking at the size of

pigs. I'd imagine looking at the size of it where there are 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 nine or 10 households here. Each household

maybe had four. This is probably a community of 40 people, 50 people.

And I would imagine that they were completely self-sufficient.

Little farm here. They would have had a place to grow vegetables, probably out in the bush somewhere.

And uh each This is all just me assuming. I'm assuming each family would

assuming. I'm assuming each family would have taken on Ah, so what does this say?

I wonder what these say. Let me see if I can translate it.

say. Let me see if I can translate it.

That says travel. That says great. And

that says transformation.

So I wonder if it means travel brings travel brings great transformation.

Travel brings great enlightenment.

That's literally I think what it might mean. That's what those three things at

mean. That's what those three things at the top there. But it could be written down. I don't know. Uh we've got about

down. I don't know. Uh we've got about an hour and a half until the sun goes down. So we need to set up set up camp

down. So we need to set up set up camp and then look around what we can. And

then we're going to have an extremely scary, nerve-wracking anxietyinducing sleep

in this totally abandoned cave village.

Did you hear that?

N was trying to bloody get a little thumbnail action going on and I heard a knocking.

I'm going to [ __ ] my pants tonight. I'm

going to [ __ ] my pants tonight. I'm

going to [ __ ] my pants tonight.

Camp is set up. Food is ready to go cuz we've already got that which is nice.

We've now got about an hour and 5 minutes until the sun goes down. I would

absolutely love to show you the inside of these, but that's closed.

from the inside is covered with bags and and various materials.

Oh god.

Just looks like uh Oh, dude. Can you see that? I swear to God there is what looks

that? I swear to God there is what looks like a noose hanging from the roof. I swear to God.

Let me try and get on my phone. I think

it's uh where they would hang up dried meat and stuff like that. Doesn't look like a noose, which is good. Can't get into these places. They're all completely

these places. They're all completely locked up. The only one that was

locked up. The only one that was accessible was that one that we already went in. These are all totally locked.

went in. These are all totally locked.

And I ain't trying to get in any more trouble in China right now.

What do you guys want to do then? What

do you lot want to do? We're here for the bloody night. I mean, there's only there's only spiderweb. Scary spiderweb.

What are the chances that this place is filled with ghost demons and that's why everyone Oh, that's what that old guy

was saying to me. Oh, I just remembered.

Oh, he said um I said, "Can I stay here?" And he went he went, "Are you

here?" And he went he went, "Are you joking?" And I went, "Yeah." And he

joking?" And I went, "Yeah." And he went, "No." I went, "No, I'm not

went, "No." I went, "No, I'm not joking." He said, "There's a curse on

joking." He said, "There's a curse on this village.

Chinese zombie ghosts come out every night at midnight, which is why everyone left.

Chinese ghost zombies, dude. It is [ __ ] scary in there,

dude. It is [ __ ] scary in there, dude. Look at this.

dude. Look at this.

Oh, I'm scared.

Oh my god.

Look at these bats. Look at these [ __ ] bats.

Dude, there's about 800 bats.

That was like a [ __ ] Dude, it was like a horror. looked down and there's just [ __ ] all over the floor. And I was like, "Is that bat shit?" And I went,

"Does that affect our sleepover?" Right.

Do bats bite?

Don't know. Do bats scratch?

Don't know. Do bats have rabies? Don't

know. Let me just ask the uh 200year-old ghost woman I saw sleeping in the uh sleeping in here in her rocking chair.

Yes. Do you know if um do you know if bats bite?

I can't speak Chinese, can I? I can't

speak Chinese, so I don't know. Never

mind. Right, the bats have started flying.

The bats have started flying. They're

flying around in there, dude.

Look, they're flying around.

Right, man up, Michael. Man up.

I'm going to eat some food. I'm going to have a drink and I'm going to have a Chinese siggy like a bloody man because men don't get scared of bats in

abandoned villages on bloody in Chinese mountains.

So I did some googling and the main concern is the bat poop.

the bat's poop and then inside the poop there is um like fungus or something or like some harmful [ __ ] Uh and I know that in

about uh 30 minutes those bats are going to start coming like a stream out of their nest

straight over me. So I want to eat now because what I don't want is I'm so smart, dude. I don't want fats pooming

smart, dude. I don't want fats pooming in my food.

Dude, I was not expecting to eat this good tonight. I never do.

tonight. I never do.

When I camp, I usually eat like biscuits and cans of tuna, but this is absolutely banging.

I mentioned in Japan that maybe someone might be working on on their own backpack. And if I knew that someone,

backpack. And if I knew that someone, you would probably say that starting a business, starting a backpack brand, designing a product from

scratch with no investors, no outside help, just him and his best friend, he would probably say that starting a business is one of the most stressful things you can do. All I know is, and I

don't know the guy, but all I know is you're going to find out very, very soon, and it's going to be available to you hopefully later this year. I don't want

the sun to go down. I'm really scared.

But there's only one thing to do now.

And trust me, if you were in my position, you would agree with me.

advis you there is something about sleeping in scary places.

Bring a little bottle with you and the fear just kind of dissipates.

It's very strange. It's almost like there's a correlation between alcohol and losing your inhibitions.

the people that lived in these houses, they were part of the tu the Tuja people. The Tuja are one of China's

people. The Tuja are one of China's biggest ethnic minorities. There's 9 or 10 million of them. And they're

concentrated in this part of China.

Sichuan, Hub, Chongqing. They've been

living here for thousands of years.

well, over a thousand years. And they've

been for most of their existence, they were totally self-governed. They would

live in places like this. So, they would find caves or hidden parts of the forest mountains and they would come and they would

settle here. The 21st century kind of

settle here. The 21st century kind of caught up with them, right?

And living somewhere like this just became so inconvenient. Why live here when you can go and work in the city which is an hour away or the town which

is half an hour away or the village which is 5 minutes away.

these incredibly unique ways of living.

You know, nomadic life for example, or you know, communities that live in cliffs and and caves becoming increasingly sparse

because of modern life.

How difficult it would be to live here in the 21st century, you know.

Right. The time is 7:46.

The sun is going down. This is what separates the boys from the men, as they say.

It's 9:00 p.m. The sun is down. This

place turns into a very different environment when the sun goes down.

Let's take a look.

Right, I'm going to bed.

I'll see you in the morning.

I slept pretty terribly. I didn't have a pillow with me.

Wasn't very comfortable.

got a few hours, but that doesn't matter at all because this might be one of the coolest places

I've ever woken up in my life.

There's something you so unique but strange about this place. The Tuja people, the people that

place. The Tuja people, the people that lived here, spent generations building this, building their homes

underneath in a cave.

And now they're gone and it's starting to be swallowed back up. The trees are growing in. The bats have now outlived

growing in. The bats have now outlived them. This cave, this cave belongs to

them. This cave, this cave belongs to the nature. It always has. But for that

the nature. It always has. But for that tiny little window, that tiny little window of history, the two of people got to call it home. And for one night, we

did. And I'm sure one day this is going

did. And I'm sure one day this is going to be uh some bloody tourist attraction.

But I'm uh I'm really glad that you and I got to do this together.

Thank you so much for joining me. Uh I

appreciate you a lot.

See you.