Shuǐhuì

Shuǐhuì was a Ming fortified post in the Li country of Hainan's mountainous interior. Officials seeking to extend their administration into the island's uplands established a garrison town here during the Wanli reign. A contemporary account imagined it as the centre of a network of roads, with officials, soldiers and a market serving the surrounding country. In practice, maintaining such settlements was difficult: the government faced resistance, financial pressure and the failure of military farming schemes in the interior.