Yánshān

Yánshān lies on the low plain near the Bohai coast, in the salt-producing country of the Changlu region. In the Ming it was one of the three counties of Cangzhou, the department of Hejian Prefecture that also ruled Nanpi and Qingyun. An old settlement in the district was called Qiantong, the City of a Thousand Children. Local tradition linked it to Xu Fu, the Qin envoy who sailed in search of the islands of the immortals with young companions. The Ming writer Xie Zhaozhe doubted that Xu Fu had departed from here, but the story endured in the place-name and local memory. In the Qing the county passed to Tianjin Prefecture.