Huángpíng

Huangping belonged to the mountain country on Bozhou's southeastern approaches. Under the Yuan it was organised as a prefecture; the early Ming replaced that institution with a pacification office subordinate to Bozhou. Huangping consequently formed part of a political landscape in which hereditary local authorities held recognised positions within an imperial framework.

The decisive change came with the Ming campaign against Bozhou in 1600. In 1601 the court abolished the Bozhou administration and divided its territory between the new prefectures of Zunyi and Pingyue. The former Huangping pacification office became Huangping Zhou under Pingyue, now attached to Guizhou. These changes replaced the older hierarchy with a system of appointed officials. They also show why present provincial boundaries should not be projected unchanged into earlier centuries: Huangping had previously belonged to a Bozhou establishment associated with Sichuan. Its history includes a specific transfer of jurisdiction and administrative authority alongside the continuity of communities living among the hills and river valleys.