Hézhōu

Hezhou lies near the Daxia River at a meeting of roads from Gansu, Qinghai and the Tibetan Plateau. Its position made the town an important market and a frontier centre inhabited by communities of different languages and faiths. Roads crossed the surrounding mountains toward Lintao and Xining, carrying officials and traders between the settled valleys and the highlands.

In 1374 the Ming established a tea and horse office at Hezhou. Tea brought from Sichuan and Hanzhong was exchanged for horses from the western borderlands, especially Tibetan districts. Officials regulated the trade and provided transport through a network of relay stations. In 1397 the exchange brought thousands of horses to the court, while Hezhou's market also supplied grain and other goods to local buyers. The trade linked the town's merchants with pastoral communities far beyond its walls. The tea and horse system changed over time, but the routes through Hezhou continued to carry goods between agricultural and pastoral regions. Muslim merchants were among those who contributed to the town's commercial life, and its markets remained a meeting place for the peoples of the river valleys and surrounding mountains.