Dishui Cave, Natural cave formation in Shaoshan, China.

Dishui Cave is a narrow valley about 5 km southwest of Shaoshanchong in Hunan, China, enclosed by Longtou Mountain to the south, Shutang Mountain to the west and Huxieping to the north, with the Shaoshan Reservoir at its eastern opening. A spring at the foot of Longtou Mountain feeds a stream; the cave that gave the site its name once lay by a small bridge there, and in 1957 it was submerged when the reservoir was built. The valley floor is red soil over slate, covered with dense secondary forest.

The cave was shaped over thousands of years by water slowly carving through the soft rock of the Shaoshan hills. In the 20th century, it gained wider recognition after Mao Zedong visited the site on several occasions during his lifetime.

The name comes from a stream that dripped into a cave, now submerged by Shaoshan Reservoir. Mao Zedong's ancestors are buried on the slopes, and his ancestral home and the Mao Zhengong ancestral temple lie below the valley mouth. In 1966 he stayed in Building No. 1 for over ten days; his letter from there called it "a cave in the west."

The site lies about 5 km southwest of Shaoshanchong, with the Shaoshan Reservoir at the eastern opening of the valley. Building No. 1 is a national cultural relic; the 1970 earthquake-proof room and air-raid tunnel are inside. The valley has a mild microclimate, cool in summer.

Mao Zedong reportedly used the cave as a retreat in the 1960s, spending time there to work and think away from public life. This personal connection sets the site apart from other geological attractions in the region and gives the visit a very specific layer of history.