Huáirén

Huairen stood south of Datong on the northern Shanxi plateau. Under the Yuan it belonged to Datong Circuit; in 1369 the Ming placed it under Datong Prefecture, an affiliation retained by the Qing. Its county town formed one of the defended settlements behind the northern frontier, and its local history records repeated investments in walls, gates and military posts.

In 1383 the commander Sang Gui enlarged the old enclosure. Yu Zhong repaired it in 1411, and further works followed in 1465 and 1555. When frontier troops threatened the town in 1570, the magistrate Liu Bangyan and the garrison officer Ye Jiwen heightened the walls and gave the parapets brickwork. A larger brick-and-stone facing project began in 1573 and continued the following year under Yang Shoujie and Di Ran. The county also contained fortified villages and relay facilities, including Xi'an Fort, first established as a post in 1464 and later rebuilt. Huairen's farming hinterland thus supported a landscape of transport and defence, where civil magistrates and military officers repeatedly worked on the same fortifications.