Huáilái

Huailai's importance on the approaches to the Ming capital is visible at Jimingyi, the walled relay station below Jiming Mountain on the north bank of the Yang River. Built in 1420 and repeatedly repaired under the Ming and Qing, it formed an important station serving the Xuanfu frontier command. Official couriers needed fresh horses at intervals, making such installations essential to communication across long distances.

The surviving enclosure combines brick facing with a rammed-earth core. Gates on the east and west carried towers, while corner platforms and projecting wall defenses supported observation and protection. These features gave the relay station the character of a small fortified settlement. Its position brought together the road through the mountains toward Beijing and routes toward the northern frontier. The history of Huailai therefore includes the maintained infrastructure behind imperial communications: walls, gates, horses and a settlement organized to keep travelers and official dispatches moving.