Héqū

Hequ lies in the mountain country of Wuding in northern Yunnan. Before the Yuan conquest it belonged to the Luowu domain; the Yuan renamed the district Hequ and established a prefecture with Yuanmou under its authority. The Ming retained it under Wuding, where hereditary local rulers and imperial officials governed a country of valleys and hills. In the sixteenth century the prefectural seat was moved to the newly built Wuding town, bringing the two administrations together behind the same walls.