Fǔgǔ

Fugu stands above the Yellow River on the northern edge of the Loess Plateau. Its old walled town guarded a crossing where the river separated neighbouring frontier territories. For generations the Zhe family, a military house of Tangut origin, held Fuzhou here, defending the district through the shifting alliances and wars of the Five Dynasties and Northern Song.

The family lost its position amid the wars between Song, Jin and Western Xia in the twelfth century, but its memory endured in local accounts. The old town's defences continued to change: under the Ming an additional gate was built outside the southern water gate on the river side. Walls and gates followed the rocky riverbank, making the town both a fortified frontier post and a point of passage across the Yellow River.