4/14/2018 Zhongdong, Guizhou Province, China.
A resident of Zhong cave herded his cattle out to pasture past some of the cavern's newer homes, built with wood, rather than woven bamboo.
The small community of residents of the Zhong cave in the rural eastern mountains of China's Guizhou province have lived an isolated farming existence for at least three generations, when their ethnic Miao great grandparents and great great grandparents fled to the caves of the region, fleeing the violence and banditry that was common in the area during the Kuomintang era. Today, the future of the 18 families that still reside in the cave is uncertain, as tourism to the cave increases, and pressure from the local government has increased on them to move to newly constructed housing in the valley floor.
4/13/2018 Zhongdong, Guizhou Province, China.
Wong Quicai worked in the terraced fields below the Zhong cave (pictured behind). Residents of the cave subsist primarily off of what they can farm, and the livestock they raise, including millet, and pork.
4/13/2018 Zhongdong, Guizhou Province, China.
A resident of the Zhong cave walked through the cavern's interior, in Zhongdong, China.
4/13/2018 Zhongdong, Guizhou Province, China.
A resident of the Zhong cave fed her grandson as her granddaughter ate wild berries, in the Zhong cave, in rural Guizhou province, China. The village's elementary school closed in 2011, forcing the elementary aged residents of the cave to go to boarding school a two hour walk away from the cave.
4/13/2018 Zhongdong, Guizhou Province, China.
The partially constructed terminus of a cable car that was scheduled to open last year, in Zhongdong, China. Built by a private investor with an eye towards making it easier for tourists to reach the Zhong cave, the cable car would have cut the roughly 1 mile, 1 hour hike to the village significantly. Some local residents say that the investor ran out of money, halting the projects completion.
4/14/2018 Zhongdong, Guizhou Province, China.
An aerial view of the cave-village of Zhongdong, China.
4/13/2018 Zhongdong, Guizhou Province, China.
A young resident of the Zhong cave, back from a week at boarding school, sat with her mother as she prepared dinner at their home in the cavern. Children as young as 5 now spend most of the week away from home at school, a common practice in China's rural communities.
4/13/2018 Zhongdong, Guizhou Province, China.
Young residents of the Zhong cave did their laundry during their weekend break from boarding school. Much of Childrens weekends at home are occupied by housework and farming.
4/12/2018 Zhongdong, Guizhou Province, China.
The interior of the Zhong cave was illuminated by resident's electric lights after sunset. Frank Beddor Jr, an American businessman from Minnesota who visited Zhongdong for the first time in 2003, donated the cave's electrical infrastructure as well as it's school, which is now closed.
4/13/2018 Zhongdong, Guizhou Province, China.
Residents of the Zhong cave sat on the small lookout at the mouth of the cavern where they can watch the children walk through the valley as they returned from a week at boarding school, in Zhongdong China.