Tiānzhù

Tiānzhù lies in the wooded country of the Qīngshuǐ River, near the meeting of Hunan and Guizhou. The Ming established a military post here in the late fourteenth century and converted it into a county in 1597. The river carried a growing timber trade: merchants from Hunan came upstream to buy fir, while fish, salt and other goods passed through new riverside markets. By the early Qing, timber taxes were being collected at a series of posts along the river.