Báitán

Baitan lies among the hills north of the Great Wall, in the country of the Xingzhou River. A county of this name was established under the Western Han and took its name from Baitan Mountain. Later wars and administrative changes displaced the old county, but the name endured: under the Jin, Baitan was a town in Xinghua County. The old place-name recalls a long history of settlement in these northern valleys.