Wǔjǐng

Wujing, the Five Wells, refers to the salt-producing country of Yunlong in western Yunnan. Brine rose in the Bi River valley, where communities boiled it with firewood from the surrounding mountains. In 1382 the Ming established a salt administration at Nuodeng to oversee the wells. Salt production supported villages and markets linked by roads used to carry salt and horses through the highlands. By the sixteenth century the district's network of wells had grown beyond the original five.