Dǐzhài

Dizhai lay on the road between Guizhou city and Bozhou, amid the hills north of the provincial centre. A relay station was established here on the route opened in 1329, allowing messengers to travel between the two centres by stages. Under the Ming, Dizhai was also the name of a hereditary chief's office attached to the Guizhou native administration. The station and the local office stood within a landscape where imperial roads crossed the territories of established communities and their leaders.