Classification of caves in Shanxi

Shanxi cave dwelling is one of the traditional dwellings in Shanxi. Cave dwellings are generally built on a hillside facing south, facing the sun, facing the mountains and facing the open area, with few trees sheltering them, which is very suitable for living and living.

Cliff-leaning caves include mountain-leaning caves and ditch-leaning caves, which are often arranged in curves or broken lines, with harmonious and beautiful architectural artistic effects. When the height of the hillside allows, sometimes several terraced caves are arranged, which are similar to buildings.

Sinks are underground caves, mainly distributed in the Loess Plateau-areas where there are no slopes and ditch walls to use. The practice of this kind of cave dwelling is: first dig a square pit on the spot, and then go to the cave dwelling with four walls to form a quadrangle. On the flat land, people can only see the treetops of the courtyard, but not the houses.

Independent cave dwelling is a kind of arched house covered with soil, including adobe arch cave dwelling and brick arch cave dwelling. This kind of cave does not need to be close to the mountain and cliff, and it can be independent without losing the advantages of the cave. It can be a single story or a building. If the upper floor is also a hoop kiln, it is called "kiln on kiln"; If the upper floor is a wooden house, it is called a "kiln house".