Fūzhōu

Fúzhōu lies in the valleys of the Luò River on the Loess Plateau, south of Yán'ān. It gave its name to the Song frontier circuit of Fúyán, which faced the Tangut kingdom of Western Xia. Its poetry is older still: in 756 the poet Du Fu left his family in the hills of Fuzhou and wrote of the moon over the town as he imagined his wife watching it. Its territory included the counties of Luòchuān, Zhōngbù and Yíjūn; at Zhongbu stood Qiáo Mountain, said to hold the tomb of the Yellow Emperor.

In 1341 the prefect built a Confucian temple and school, placing education beside government. Fuzhou submitted to the Ming in 1369. Flood and famine struck the district: in 1562 the Luo rose so high that it swept away the city walls and inundated houses. The local gazetteer compiled in 1584 recorded the region's history and geography. Under the Qing, Fuzhou was raised to a directly administered zhou in 1725, retaining its three counties.