Hánchéng

Hancheng stands on the west bank of the Yellow River at the Dragon Gate, where the river squeezes between cliffs, and the carp that leap them are said to become dragons. The Western Zhou made it the fief of the Marquis of Han; the Qin put a county here at Xiàyáng in 327 BC, and the Sui gave it the name Hánchéng. It is remembered as the home of the Han historian Sima Qian, whose Records of the Grand Historian gave later generations an account of China's early past. A shrine and tomb on a bluff to the south honoured him, while temples and stone inscriptions marked the long history of the district.

Scholars continued to visit and repair the shrine; an inscription recorded its restoration in 1536. The town possessed a Confucian temple, while villages to the north developed distinctive courtyard houses. Dǎngjiā village, said to have been founded in 1331, grew under the Dang and Jia families, who prospered through farming and commerce, including trade at Nányáng in Henan during the early Qing. Their brick and timber residences reflected the wealth and values of local families, with maxims carved above doors and on walls.