The countryside around Qingyang is among the best places in China to see traditional loess cave dwellings in their natural setting. The eroded landscape of ravines and flat-topped plateaus is dotted with cave villages, some abandoned and decaying, others still occupied by farming families who maintain the old forms of architecture. Walking the lanes between a traditional cave village — where the houses recede into the cliff face rather than rising above the ground — gives a vivid sense of how profoundly the Loess Plateau shaped human habitation here.
The city itself has expanded rapidly over recent decades and much of the old urban fabric has been replaced, but the surrounding counties retain considerable numbers of traditional cave settlements. Local bus services from Qingyang reach several of the more accessible villages. The light on the loess cliffs in late afternoon, when the yellow earth turns orange and the shadows deepen the ravines, is particularly striking.