Sūzhōu

Suzhou belonged to the mountain frontier around Mianning in southwestern Sichuan. Under the Yuan it was a dependency of Jianchang, within an administrative network that linked this country with Yunnan. The Ming reorganized Suzhou as a guard command and subsequently called it Ningfan. The garrison held the valley of the Anning River, while the mountains around it were the country of local chieftains. The road northward and the Lugu passage gave this frontier district strategic importance.

The guard town gained a substantial wall in 1405, when commander Li Xin faced its defenses with brick and stone. Four gates opened toward the surrounding country, while a central drum tower marked the crossing of the principal streets. In 1728 the Qing abolished the guard and established Mianning County under Ningyuan Prefecture. Military settlement thus gave way to county administration, although garrisons continued around it. The wall was repaired in 1827, and the drum tower, destroyed early in the nineteenth century, was rebuilt in 1835.