Túnliú

Tunliu lies in the upland country of southeastern Shanxi, west of the old centre of Lu'an. The county had a long history: a place of this name was already counted among the counties of Shangdang in the Han period. Its local gazetteer describes waterways flowing past the county seat and eastwards toward neighbouring Lucheng.

In the Ming dynasty Tunliu belonged to Lu'an Prefecture, administered from Changzhi; the Qing retained the prefectural framework. The county gazetteer records institutions and monuments ranging from official buildings and schools to commemorative arches, revealing the local setting of government and elite commemoration. Tunliu formed one part of a wider upland region whose settlements and farmland were connected by routes through the Shanxi interior.