Qujing.

Huize’s copper connects mining and metalworking with Qing coinage, guild halls and the people who moved materials through a town. Xuanwei ham introduces another production chain, shaped by salt, drying and controlled fermentation. The geological record changes the timescale again: Huize’s Devonian fish and Luoping’s Triassic marine fossils belong to different ancient seas. These histories sit within Qujing without becoming one interchangeable story of the eastern Yunnan highlands.

Both sides of a worn brass square-holed Daoguang Tongbao coin, with the Chinese characters visible around the central opening. — Obverse and reverse of a one-cash Daoguang Tongbao coin attributed by the Commons source to the Dongchuan mint in Yunnan, circa 1821–1825. It is a regional coinage comparison for the article’s ore-to-mint account, not a Huize find or a product of the Huize mint.

Qujing

Two views of a square-holed brass cash coin show the Daoguang Tongbao inscription on one side and mint marks on the reverse.

Huize Copper and Qing Coinage

Copper’s journey from Huize to Qing mints joined mining country to imperial finance.

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Under the Eaves of Huize’s Guildhalls

Huize’s guild halls joined commercial migration, worship and civic life in a mining town.

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Work Behind Huize Copper and Qing Coinage

Mining was a chain of work, not simply a source of imperial revenue.

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Figure 2 pairs a photograph of the fossil holotype with a labeled interpretive drawing of its dorsal armor plates.

A Devonian Sea Preserved in Huize

A fossil from Huize shows how a preserved head shield can revise a family tree.

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Luoping landscapes; the waterfall photograph is identified as Jiulong Waterfalls.

Luoping: From a Triassic Sea to Karst Peaks

In Luoping, a fossil assemblage records marine life about 244 million years ago; the county’s present-day karst belongs to a much later landscape.

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Xuanwei ham, as identified in the source titles.

Wind, Salt and Time in Xuanwei Ham

The ham’s identity rests on a controlled process as much as a place name.

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Elevated view across tiled roofs and a street in Huize’s old town, with the surrounding hills beyond.

The Marks of Fire in Huize Spotted Copper

In Huize spotted copper, a surface pattern is the result of repeated heat, hammering and careful finishing.

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Passing on a Copper Craft in Huize

The apprenticeship story in Huize is not a single line of inheritance.

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Places

Huize

Copper links Huize to mining, metalworking, Qing coinage and transport. Spotted-copper craft and Devonian fossils open separate material histories within the county.

Huize Old Town

Huize’s guild halls connect commercial migration, worship and town life. Named buildings such as the Jiangxi Guild Hall make that network visible in surviving architecture.

Luoping

Luoping’s Triassic fossil record preserves evidence of an ancient sea. Today’s karst peaks and waterways belong to a later landscape with a different geological history.

Xuanwei

Xuanwei ham connects a protected place-name with a sequence of shaping, salting, drying and fermentation. Standards and dated production accounts explain different parts of the process.

Photo credits and rights

Obverse and reverse of a one-cash Daoguang Tongbao coin attributed by the Commons source to the Dongchuan mint in Yunnan, circa 1821–1825. It is a regional coinage comparison for the article’s ore-to-mint account, not a Huize find or a product of the Huize mint.Jean-Michel Moullec · 2013-03-29 · CC BY 2.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.
The entrance of Huize Jiangxi Guildhall (Wanshou Palace), one of the county-town institutions named in the article’s account of the social world around copper trade. It is a guildhall, not a mine or smelter.Zhangmoon618 · 2022-08-30 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.
Photograph (A) and interpretive drawing (B) of the holotype Tongdulepis concavus (IVPP V33248), collected from a Middle Devonian fossil site in Luna Township, Huize County. Figure 2 in the 2025 open-access paper; the drawing is part of the research figure.Yanchao Luo (figure author; article by Luo, Pan and Zhu) · 2025-03-05 · CC BY 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.
Luoping landscapes; the waterfall photograph is identified as Jiulong Waterfalls.Fanghong · 2013-02-23 13:39:37 · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.
Xuanwei ham, as identified in the source titles.Amin · 2024-08-11 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.
Huize’s old-town roofscape in 2004, providing the county-town setting for its copper-craft history.Gandhara-Bactria-Centralasia · 2004-05-05 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.