Sōngmíng

Songming lies northeast of Kunming, among the basins and wooded hills of the Yunnan plateau. The Yuan organised the region as Songmeng, with Yanglin and Shaodian counties under its authority. The Ming retained the prefecture but gradually absorbed both counties, leaving their lands governed directly from Songmeng. In 1482 the name was changed to Songming. The old county seats and their surrounding villages remained part of a district linked by roads to the provincial capital and the eastern approaches to Yunnan.