Yáncháng

Yanchang stands among the hills and river valleys of northern Shaanxi, east of Yan’an. The county takes its name from a Tang-era administrative seat, and its long history is recorded in local gazetteers. The country around it belongs to the loess uplands, where streams cut valleys through soft yellow earth before joining the Yellow River system. Under the Ming and Qing dynasties Yanchang belonged to Yan’an prefecture. Its county seat and surrounding villages formed part of a landscape in which cultivated valleys were separated by hills and ravines. Local gazetteers preserve the names of its officials and administrative changes across the centuries.