Cave Dwellers

There are thousands living in the hillside in this area. This cave house is occupied by a 93yr old woman - bedridden - she is laying on the tiled platform just beyond the person sitting. This platform is their bed - for the family. It is heated by the stove at one end using the underspace to capture the heat and radiate it thru the tiles. Ladies - that it for a cookstove once the wood or coal is lit.
This is looking into the back of the space - on the imediate left is the kitchen work table and shelf for cooking ingredients. Beyond that I don't know what's under the tarp. On the right are some things stored, and back towards the front they had two old dressers and a small wooden kitchen table with 3 chairs. I figure she lives here alone and her daughter and husband live in the next cave as seen in the next picture. There must be other members of the family living in their same compound. What I mean is they have an outdoor courtyard with 4 cave entries, the courtyard is fenced with a high wall of brick. a large steel gate for the entry door. Note there is electricity - although they didn't have it on and I never saw evidence for any plugs. The washroom or rather outdoor toilet is a communial thing set on the edge of the bank and wide open on one side with 3 sides of approx. 6 ft high brick. The air freshener was not working the day we were there.
This is in the inner court - this face is only face deep and the carved out caves behind. I found it very damp and musty inside. The floor was made of brick with sand joints. Not sure what they used to smoothen the walls and arched ceiling.
The hills are alive with the sound of . . . . . . well anyways they have hundreds of these structures in this area for as far as the eye can see. Some are abandoned. I was told that Chairman Mao spent time here with his army befoer he took control. They all lived in these type of structures.