Jízhōu

Jizhou stood in southwestern Shanxi, near the Yellow River country of the present Ji county. It belonged to Pingyang prefecture under the Ming. Its town occupied a setting of hills and the Qingshui River, and its defences expanded in response to threats from the west. During the early Jiajing reign, the local official Bao Zhong began an outer enclosure because of disturbances associated with Fu prefecture across the river.

Magistrate Jiang Yang subsequently enlarged the works. The local gazetteer describes a stone-built circuit, gateways with towers and a protected entrance outside the eastern gate. The older inner enclosure remained part of the town's defensive arrangement. Such additions were intended to protect a small administrative centre as insecurity reached beyond the northern frontier into Shanxi's interior. In the Qing, Jizhou's administrative rank and affiliations changed again. In 1724 it became directly administered by the province, although later revisions reduced its jurisdiction. The town's history combined these administrative adjustments with the continuing use and repair of a constrained riverside site.