Āmí

Ami lies in a basin east of Jianshui, at a meeting of roads through southern Yunnan. Its name recalls an older Yi community, whose hereditary chiefs governed the district under the Yuan and Ming. The Ming restored Ami Prefecture in 1382, subordinate to Lin'an, and officials and local rulers shared authority in an arrangement that could be uneasy.

In the fifteenth century a magistrate established a new seat across the hills from the chief's residence. For generations native and appointed officials governed side by side, a division remembered in the saying that the little town had two prefects. The walls were rebuilt in brick in 1617, damaged during the wars of the Ming collapse, and rebuilt again in 1670. Roads and relay stations brought travellers and caravans through Ami as the town grew.