Guǎngníng

Guangning emerged as a separate county in the wooded hill country northwest of Sihui during the Ming dynasty. In 1559 the government detached four districts from Sihui to create the new jurisdiction. These were Taiping, Ganlan, Dapu and Yongyi. The division gave the upland country its own county administration within the wider Zhaoqing region.

The county's name expressed an official aspiration to widespread tranquillity. An account of the name connects its creation with the suppression of resistance around Daluo Mountain. Guangning's establishment thus belonged to the Ming government's effort to extend administration into a mountainous part of Guangdong. The new county boundary recorded a political decision about how that country should be governed, while the inherited district names preserved connections with the older Sihui jurisdiction.