Liǔlín

Liulin lies beside the Tao River at Chone, beneath the mountains of southern Gansu. Its old town stood between the slopes of Taori and Zuona, facing the river, with a Buddhist monastery to its north. The irregular outline of the town, higher at either end and lower in the middle, earned it the name of the boat-shaped city. Chone became the centre of a hereditary Tibetan chieftaincy under the Yang family. In 1418 the Ming court granted its founder Xiedi an hereditary military title. The sixth chieftain, Yang Zhen, oversaw the building of the old town in 1538. The neighbouring monastery, later called Chanding, was an important religious centre, and the chieftains held authority over both their people and its affairs.