Méngzì

Mengzi lies in a basin of southern Yunnan, surrounded by mountains from which its name is said to derive. The fertile ground has long supported orchards, including the pomegranates for which the district is known. The Yuan established Mengzi County in 1276 and appointed a local Yi chief to govern it, beginning a line of hereditary magistrates.

Under the Ming, a Confucian temple was founded in 1394, and an earthen wall with four gates was built around the town in 1484. Local hereditary office continued through much of the dynasty. Nearby Xin'ansuo grew from a military settlement, and pomegranate cultivation became a part of the agricultural life of the basin. The temple, town walls and orchards each marked a different strand in the history of Mengzi.