Yuánqǔ

Yuanqu lies among the mountains north of the Yellow River, in a district long associated with copper. A local gazetteer describes old workings in the hills and records a mint at Tongyuan, where copper coins had been cast since the Tang. The Song scholar Ouyang Xiu investigated the resources of the area and noted its mines and mint. Mining later declined; in 1740 the Qing authorities closed a mine at Maojiazhen.