Abstract：The Longyou Grotto, locating in the center of Jinqu Basin, west of Zhejiang Province, is a rare type of red sandstone grotto in southern China. Its formative cause is still debated, which limited its further conservation and possible utilization of the Grotto. Based on the adequate literature review and field works, this essay investigates the formative cause of the Longyou Grotto from a much wider study area, namely the Longyou County and even the western part of Zhejiang Province. The results show that: (1)There are plentiful records related to the Longyou Grotto and the history of utilization of red sandstone in local chronicles; (2) The spatial overlapping of the distribution of red sandstone and similar relics of quarry in the Longyou County indicates that there is a historical tradition of quarrying of red sandstone in this region; (3)The local micro-topography explains why some relics of quarry in the Longyou Grotto adopted the way of underground quarrying whilst some sites in other parts of the region took the way of open air quarrying; (4)Private land ownership in ancient China and consideration of cost-saving in quarrying makes it clear why most of caves in the Longyou Grotto have small outlet and bigger inner space. This paper analyzes the unique characteristics of the Longyou Grotto after comparing heritage properties characterized by its grottoes and related mining heritages in the World Heritage List. According to the criteria of world culture heritage in The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, this paper finds out heritage values of the Longyou Grotto: The Longyou Grotto has an immense amount of work and represent a masterpiece of human creative genius; The underground quarrying and other techniques adopted in the formation of the Longyou Grotto have a lesser impact on local environment compared to the modern quarrying industry, which means that the Longyou Grotto is a fine example of sustainable resource and land utilization in ancient China.
戴湘毅, 阙维民, 李辉, 樊星, 杜春兰, 席辉. 龙游石窟的成因及遗产价值分析[J]. 人文地理, 2012, 27(5): 42-47,127.
DAI Xiang-yi, QUE Wei-min, LI Hui, FAN Xing, DU Chun-lan, XI Hui. ANALYSIS OF THE FORMATIVE CAUSE AND HERITAGE VALUE OF THE LONGYOU GROTTO. HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, 2012, 27(5): 42-47,127.
