Dàzhú

Dazhu lies in eastern Sichuan, on the edge of the Sichuan Basin where the plain gives way to low ridges, and it takes its name from the large bamboo that grows there. The county was first set up in the Tang dynasty, in 700, when territory was split from Qu County in Pengzhou. Over the following centuries it was repeatedly merged into neighbouring Linshan County and re-established; in 1035 it was reduced to a town under Liujiang County, and in 1133 it was restored as a county under Quzhou. In 1283, under the Yuan, Linshan and Linshui were merged into Dazhu, the county seat moved to Mumen town, and in the early Ming the seat was moved to the new city at Zhuyang.

The county is known for three products, ramie, glutinous rice and giant timber bamboo. Ramie can be woven into cloth, glutinous rice supports dense food production and festival cooking, and the bamboo provides building and craft material. The three crops needed different soils, water and labour, encouraging households to work several kinds of land within the same locality.