Nánshíquán

South Shiquan lies in the mountain country northeast of Maozhou, in the valleys that descend toward the Sichuan Basin. Shiquan County was established under the Tang in 634, taking its name from the springs and stony landscape of the district. The rugged routes through these mountains joined the basin to the borderlands beyond, and the county was administered as part of a succession of frontier prefectures. Its name distinguishes this Shiquan from another county of the same name farther north in Shaanxi.