Jishou
It was not until the third year of Emperor Shenzong's Xining reign (1070) that Jishou first established Zhenxi Fort, from which the name Zhenxi originates. It was another 327 years before Jishou changed from being called Zhenxi to Suoli—in 1397, the 30th year of Hongwu in the Ming dynasty, when the former Zhenxi Fort established a military garrison of a thousand households. According to historical records, Zhu Yuanzhang once told a man from Jiangxi named Duan Wen: "I have a bullet..."
This article is compiled from the original travel notes on the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com); it is a record of trips from earlier years. Time-sensitive information such as ticket prices, schedules, and accommodation prices is subject to the latest announcements from scenic areas and transportation authorities; the itinerary ideas and attraction introductions still have reference value.
It was in the third year of the Xining reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song (1070 AD) that the place called Jishou first established Zhenxi Fort. The name Zhenxi originated from this.
It was another 327 years before Jishou changed from being called Zhenxi to Suoli. That is, in the thirtieth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty (1397 AD), a Zhenxi Military and Civilian Thousand-Household Office was established at the original Zhenxi Fort. According to historical records, Zhu Yuanzhang once said to a man from Jiangxi named Duan Wen: 'I have a tiny plot of Miao land, and I command you to go and establish a thousand-household office there... your sons and grandsons will enjoy it endlessly.' The name of the thousand-household office was too long, so the local Miao people simply called this place Suoli.
It was another 556 years before the name Suoli was changed to Jishou. That is, in 1953 AD, when the 'Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Region' was established (changed to Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in 1957), it was then that Suoli was renamed Jishou according to Miao language meaning. In the Miao language, 'ji' is a directional function word, and 'shou' means to raise or support; its original meaning is explained as 'the place that relies on us for support.' The Miao people also call Jishou 'Maru Guode,' meaning 'a very good and beautiful place.' Therefore, people now generally interpret Jishou according to the latter meaning.
From a village in the Song Dynasty to the eve of the founding of New China, Jishou had only developed into a township under the jurisdiction of Qiancheng County. How is it that in just a few short decades after the founding of New China, this place underwent earth-shaking changes and leaped to become a famous mountain city of Xiangxi with buildings scattered everywhere and a population of over 100,000?
Tracing its roots, a major development opportunity during the War of Resistance played an indispensable role. In 1937, with the needs of the War of Resistance, a major artery spanning the Hunan-Sichuan border — the Xiangchuan Highway — was completed. This highway passed through Qiancheng County territory, running right through Suoli. Along both sides of the highway, shops, inns, and bus stations were built, and from then on Suoli had its first thatched street, one li long. Soon afterward, the War of Resistance broke out in full force, and Xiangxi became the rear area of the war effort. Large numbers of refugees from the fallen areas in the front poured into Xiangxi, and many government offices and schools from both this province and other provinces also retreated to Xiangxi. The small area around Suoli was suddenly crowded with displaced people. Various types of housing built in Suoli increased, and Suoli's economy, trade, and commerce began to flourish as never before. Even merchants from America, Japan, and Britain opened 'Yirui Company' and 'Zhengda Company' in Suoli, doing business with the refugees. There were even more merchants from this province and other provinces, such as 'Jinyu Store,' 'Yiyongfeng Cloth Store,' 'Hecheng Southern Goods Store,' 'Zuoji Store,' and 'Sauce and Pickle Shop' — all fairly well-known businesses. The prosperity of commercial trade greatly promoted Suoli's economic development, and the construction of this mountain city laid its preliminary foundation at that time.
In 1953, when the Xiangxi Miao Autonomous Region was established, Qiancheng County was renamed Jishou County, and the county government and autonomous region government were seated in Jishou, the renamed Suoli. This undoubtedly played an epoch-making role in the development of Jishou city. A small township-level administrative unit was suddenly elevated to the seat of both county and regional (prefectural) government, and its pace of construction inevitably accelerated greatly. Because so many government organs and units needed to be established, the attention and support from all sides that this brought were obvious. Every organ and every unit needed to enclose a plot of land and build several buildings — how much would just this type of construction add? How much would need to be added in terms of public streets, shops, hotels, cinemas, schools, kindergartens, libraries, plazas, parks, and recreational venues? And also water supply, fuel supply, grain and vegetable supply, and so on. Only after all these facilities were initially completed could the prototype of a city basically take shape. And this process took at least twenty to thirty years in Jishou before it gradually took on the scale of a prefectural seat.
The construction of Jishou city on a relatively large scale should be dated to after the early 1980s. By then the country had reform policies, which injected momentum into urban construction development everywhere. The two great wings that supported Jishou's urban takeoff were the expansion of its transportation infrastructure and the prosperity of its commercial trade. In terms of transportation construction, the Zhi-Liu Railway completed in the 1970s passed through Jishou, bringing tremendous vitality to the city's development first. Once Jishou Railway Station was built, Renmin Road, running north-south through the urban area, was completed in succession, and Jishou and Qianzhou were soon connected as one. In addition, the city newly built and expanded more than 30 street sections including Wuling Road, Tuanjie Road, Guangming Road, and Wenyi Road, greatly improving the poor traffic conditions within the urban area.
Jishou's commercial trade had a solid foundation even before the founding of New China. Because this place is situated in the border region of Hunan, Sichuan, and Guizhou provinces, it is very convenient for various goods to be traded here, so Jishou has been a commodity distribution center for the three-province border region since very early on. The Hunan-Sichuan-Guizhou border area is also rich in various mountain products, such as tung oil, camellia oil, green ramie, cowhide, gallnut, tea, and so on, numbering in the dozens to hundreds of varieties. These mountain products are traded out through the Jishou market, while cloth, kerosene, salt, and daily necessities are purchased and transported in from elsewhere, traded in Jishou or further transshipped and wholesaled to various places. This trade pattern continues to circulate to this day. The difference is that the scale of trade now is larger and greater than before, and the variety of goods traded is more complete. In recent years, Jishou mountain city has held border trade fairs almost every year, and during each exhibition, merchants from various places number in the tens of thousands, with transaction volumes ranging from over a hundred million to several hundred million yuan each time.
Jishou has a rich cultural and educational heritage. After all, it is the seat of both county and prefectural government, and after decades of development, its achievements in this area are quite considerable.
Even during the War of Resistance, the influx of large numbers of Nationalist government organs and schools from the interior brought unprecedented development opportunities to Suoli at that time. Especially in education, schools from fallen areas of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui provinces moved inland to Xiangxi in large numbers. Famous ones included the main campus of National No. 8 Middle School, the Jiangsu Provincial Temporary Middle School in Hunan, and the Jiangsu Commercial College. These schools were all located in Suoli. Moreover, the schools had strong faculty, with the longest-running ones operating in Xiangxi for 8 years, enrolling many students of Xiangxi origin and cultivating a large number of talents for Xiangxi. After the victory of the War of Resistance, these schools withdrew one after another, and Suoli became desolate again. After the founding of New China, when Suoli was renamed Jishou and became the seat of Xiangxi Prefecture, education once again received large-scale development. The most noteworthy is the founding of Jishou University. This university was first established in 1958, originally located at Datianwan in the eastern suburbs of Jishou, covering an area of only 140 mu. When first built, there were no buildings, and classes were initially held in two buildings borrowed from Jishou Normal School. After the Datianwan campus was completed, its scale was still not large. In 1984, Hunan Provincial Party Secretary Jiao Linyi visited the school for inspection and discussion, and made the decision to relocate Jishou University, with the new campus site designated at Shaziao Village in Jishou. After the new campus was completed, it greatly improved the appearance of Jishou University. In 2001, Zhu Rongji visited Xiangxi and, after inspecting Jishou University, fully affirmed the school's educational development. Today, through decades of effort, the school has become the second comprehensive university in China's ethnic minority regions.
With the determination of the national policy for major development of the western regions, Xiangxi has also been included in the scope of western development. As the seat of Xiangxi's capital, Jishou, riding this favorable wind, has undoubtedly encountered another golden opportunity for development. The decision-makers of the Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture government and Jishou City government are also planning new grand construction projects. The future Jishou mountain city, like a plump and mature beauty, will surely reveal an even more charming appearance in the new blueprint.