Bóxìng

Boxing lies on the Yellow River plain under Binzhou in Shandong. Much of its land formed within the last few millennia as river sediment accumulated, producing a young alluvial landscape. Repeated floods made settlement difficult, so the area still remained sparsely populated for long periods.

The river created the land while unstable channels limited farms and villages. People settled on broad natural levees, used floodwater to irrigate fields and rebuilt after each change of course. Wheat, millet and reed gathering sustained rural households, and roads joined local markets to the wider North China plain.

Putai was established here in 596 and remained an important older unit of local geography. Its territory and the surrounding floodplain later passed through various county arrangements, but the basic landscape continued to be organized by waterways and cultivated ground.