Ānzhōu

Anzhou lies in the upper Anchang River basin of northwestern Sichuan, where the hills at the edge of the Sichuan basin rise toward the Longmen mountains. Its old heart was An County, a rural district of fields, orchards and small market towns. Rivers supplied irrigation and transport, while roads connected Huagai and neighboring settlements with Mianyang and the routes toward northern Sichuan.

The administrative history reaches back to the Tang and Song. In 620, a new Long’an County was established near the old Jinshan county seat; during the Northern Song, parts of the district were organized under the Shiquan military prefecture. In 1264 the area was raised as Anzhou, and in 1374 the Ming reduced its status to An County. The repeated changes show a frontier district whose importance lay in routes and local government rather than in a large city.

Farming communities cultivated rice, wheat and vegetables in the Anchang valley, while nearby hills supplied timber, fuel and pasture. Market towns formed around temples, ferries and road junctions, drawing households from surrounding hamlets. The name Anzhou recalls that older county and prefectural identity, carried by a landscape of irrigated valleys, scattered villages and modest administrative centres.