Jīshízhōu

Jishizhou was a border department on the upper Yellow River, seated at present-day Xunhua. Under the Yuan, the Salar chief Ghalem, whose people had migrated from Samarkand, became its darughachi.

In 1371 the Ming made Jishizhou a battalion under the Hezhou Guard. In 1373 Ghalem's grandson Han Bao received a hereditary centurion's post, founding a native officer line that continued under the Qing as an external tusi. In the 1670s the Sufi Afaq Khoja preached among the Salars. The Jishi pass guarded the route between Gansu and the Tibetan plateau.