Gǔzhàng

Guzhang lay within the mountain country governed by the hereditary Yongshun authorities during the Ming period. Different parts of its later territory belonged to native jurisdictions including Shirongzhou, Tianjiadong and Maizhehuangdong. The locality's history therefore reaches beyond the boundaries of the administrative unit eventually named Guzhangping.

Qing reforms in the Yongzheng era replaced hereditary rule with appointed officials. In 1729 a deputy prefect responsible for policing was stationed at Guzhangping, supervising security across eighteen bao of Yongshun. A further reorganisation in the early 1820s created Guzhangping ting under Yongshun prefecture, with a deputy prefect charged with administering the population. The new jurisdiction comprised six bao and 228 villages, including 58 identified as Miao villages in local administrative history. The changing offices mark the development of a distinct administrative centre within a country of numerous mountain communities.