The 52m-long cave was carved into a small rock face on the side of Mt. Wandou (萬斗山), high above the tiny hamlet of Taziwan (撻子彎), by a retired local, Chen Ching Chuan (陳清泉), over a period of ten years between 1969 and 1979. Step inside the entrance and beyond lies a complicated web of tiny chambers, dead-end side turnings and shortcuts.

This place is definitely not for anyone who suffers from claustrophobia. You’ll need to bend over double to get through the entry arch, and although it’s possible to stand in many places inside, the later stages of the tunnel (as it nears the exit, which is punched out of the rock a few meters to the left of the way in) are much lower, and it’s necessary to crawl much of the way.

A brief introduction to the cave is posted next to the entrance, and a quick glance at the sketched map reveals the complexity of the network of tiny passages inside the hill. The various tunnels connect a series of miniature rooms with fanciful names such as the ‘Conference Hall,’ ‘Pass of the Milky Way’ (天河關), and ‘Sun and Moon Caves.’

Enter the cave and one of the larger chambers, the ‘Living Room,’ is on the left; daylight streams through a ‘window’ lighting the rounded cave, which has rough chairs and a table painted yellow hewn out of the rock. Venturing any further in requires a torch, a set of old clothes (it’s muddy in there!) and a liking for narrow, low, enclosed spaces. An arch on the right leads into the largest chamber in the cave, the “Conference Room,” after which the passage splits into a confusing labyrinth of tunnels.

Pick the correct way and the passage, with a ceiling high enough to stand comfortably, veers round to the left to the circular “Cave of the Sun,” which on my visit had a foot of water in the floor of the cave from recent torrential rains, blocking all forward progress. So I backed out the entrance and went in through the exit to the left to continue my intrepid exploration. Only the limber should apply as the passage, barely high enough for hobbits, slopes steeply downwards on slippery steps.

After an effortful scramble, I found myself in a chamber that widens into a tiny concave room, grandiosely christened the ‘Cave of the Moon.’ A couple of active bats convinced me to conclude my visit here.

If exploring this miniature labyrinth of passages and chambers is something of an adventure, then getting there is almost as exciting.

The cave lies off the road between Nantou City and the town of Jiji (集集). Leave Freeway 3 at the Nantou exit and follow route 139 through the pleasant rolling hills of western Nantou County for about six kilometers, past the delightfully named hamlet of ‘Banana Town’ (香蕉市). Turn right at a small, easy-to-miss signpost just after passing through the next tiny settlement, Taziwan, onto a narrow, one-lane road that winds uphill for several kilometers while following the hand-painted junction signs. It’s a slow and tricky job negotiating the two kilometers up to the cave, but eventually there’s a small parking area on the left.

Leave the vehicle here and walk the last few meters uphill to a solitary house with Feng Ling Sun Moon Cave cut into the small rock face next to it. The son of the cave creator lives in the house, and he’s pleased to give ‘guided tours’ of the cave, complete with a detailed account (in Chinese) of how his Dad set to work creating this remarkable labor of love.

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