Sōngzhōu

Songzhou lay in the valley of the Yi River amid the mountains south of Luoyang. During the wars between Song and Jin, the former Yiyang County was raised to the status of a prefecture; the Jin later called it Songzhou. The Ming reduced the prefecture to Song County. In 1369 the commander Ren Liang rebuilt its defences, and the walls were repaired again in the early Qing. In 1476 land east of the county was separated to establish a new Yiyang County.