Dàchéng

Dacheng lies on the eastern central Hebei plain, within the broad Bazhou country between Beijing, Tianjin and Baoding. The area belongs to the Haihe plain and takes part in the dense rural and urban network encircling the North China capital region. Wheat fields, flat ground and roads characterize this low, open landscape. Earlier administration divided the locality among Anci and Fangcheng counties under the Sui dynasty, before it moved through a succession of frontier and regional regimes.

In 936 the area fell to the Khitan. After Later Zhou forces recovered the southern Yijin Pass in 959, the Bazhou administrative name was established alongside Yongqing County. During the Ming dynasty Bazhou was attached first to Beiping Prefecture and then to Shuntian Prefecture.

It retained that role in the Qing order, although its direct control over subordinate counties later changed. Dacheng shares in this long plain history of county boundaries, transport and dynastic reorganization. The locality remained rural and plain-bound while administrative names above it were repeatedly reorganized.