Dūchéng

Dūchéng lies on the south bank of the West River in western Guangdong, facing the town of Deqing across the water. Its name goes back to the Southern Dynasties, when the counties of Duluo and Wucheng were joined as Ducheng County, which the Tang placed under Kangzhou. In 972 the Song folded Ducheng and Jinkang into Duanxi, and the place became a market town on the river road to Guangzhou.

The Southern Song renamed Kangzhou as Deqing Prefecture in 1131, and the Yuan made it Deqing Circuit, so that Ducheng lay under Deqing throughout the Yuan. In 1577 the Ming made Luoding a department directly under the province, and set up the new county of Xining in the country south of the river, with its seat at the walled town of Jiancheng.