Píngnán

Pingnan stands on the northern bank of the Xun River, looking across the water toward fields and hills. Founded in the Tang, it was once the seat of Gongzhou before becoming a county under Xunzhou. The early Ming built an earthen wall around the county town, which had previously lacked defenses. From its gate towers a traveler could look over the river, the cultivated plain and the mountain ridges beyond, a landscape celebrated in local verse.