Hézhòng

Hézhòng lay at the source of the Daling River, on the passage that links the plains of Liaoxi with the hills north of the Great Wall. The Liao made it the seat of Yuzhou, and the Jin abolished the prefecture in 1143 and kept the county under Dading Prefecture. Under the Yuan, Hezhong was one of the counties of Daning Circuit.

Early in the Ming the district fell under the Daning Regional Military Commission, founded in 1387, whose garrison guards held the area. When the commission moved south to Baoding in 1403, the land was abandoned, and later it passed to the Mongol Doyan Guard. In 1635 it became pasture of the Left Wing Banner of the Kharachin. In 1738 the Qing set up Tazigou sub-prefecture here, which became Jianchang County in 1778.