Jīnchāng

The country now called Jinchang belonged to the Yongchang section of the Hexi corridor. Its earlier political centre was Yongchang, where a princely residence under the Yuan became the seat of a route administration. The later city's name should not obscure this older geography of fortified centres, cultivated ground and roads through the corridor.

In 1372 the Ming general Feng Sheng conquered the region and replaced the Yuan administration with Yongchang Guard, based at the former princely compound. The district thereby entered the Ming military organisation of the northwestern frontier. Ningyuan Fort, in the country of present-day Jinchang, formed another part of this defensive landscape and retained a military command into the Qing period. Settlement and government were consequently tied to guard establishments and the protection of movement through Hexi. The area's early modern history concerns these older forts and their surroundings, long before mineral development produced the modern industrial city. Yongchang's institutions supplied the framework within which this part of the corridor was governed.