Bāzhài

Bazhai lies in the southern Yunnan mountains, in a frontier country of valleys and scattered settlements. Under the Ming it was the seat of a native chieftaincy whose rulers bore the surname Long. Their influence reached beyond Bazhai, and stories of a chief known as the King of the Eight Villages survived among communities throughout the borderland. In the late Ming, however, the Long family's original stronghold was taken by another local family. By the beginning of Qing rule, Li Chenglin held Bazhai.