Xiāngyuán

Xiāngyuán was founded in 455 BC, when Zhao Xiangzi built a walled town north of the Gan River and named it Xiangyuan. It stands in the Zhuozhang River basin of southeastern Shanxi, in the hills on the plateau west of the Taihang range, and the county has kept the name for twenty-three centuries.

In the Ming and Qing the county belonged to the Lu'an administration centred on Changzhi. The county seat had a City God temple founded in 1370, with halls and a stage for performances. Villages along the river honoured Zhaozewang, a deity whose worship spread from around Xiangyuan; temples to him were founded or repaired repeatedly over the centuries, among them new village shrines in the Ming and at the beginning of the Qing.