Bāmǎ

Bama, historically written with a character that adds the mountain radical to the first syllable, lies in the rolling country of northwestern Guangxi beneath Bama Mountain. The landscape combines limestone hills, deep valleys, small basins and the Panyang River. Springs, caves, forest and narrow fields shaped settlement, while roads followed valleys through the wider Hechi region. The broad Panyang valley remained the principal watered river corridor.

In 1528 Wang Yangming reorganized the former Tianzhou territory after local unrest. The Ming administration established the Bama native patrol office together with Jiazuan and Wangan offices. These posts controlled communities from the Zhuang and Yao borderland through local leaders, taxes and routes. The Qing continued a system of native offices alongside regular county administration, adapting central authority to dispersed mountain settlements.

Farming families combined rice, maize, beans and forest products, with river water used for irrigation. The river supplied fish and seasonal irrigation. Yao subgroups including Bunu, Nuomang and Nuonuo lived in different parts of the district, each with its own speech and customs. Bama Mountain and the Panyang valley long provided the shared frame for these communities, linking upland villages through markets, marriage and seasonal paths.