Ming-dynasty walls on the Tibetan frontier — horse treks, jasmine tea and ancient trade routes
Songpan is a walled Tang-dynasty garrison town tucked in a steep river valley in northern Sichuan, where the Han Chinese world ended and the Tibetan plateau began. Its white-washed watchtowers and five intact city gates date to 1379; outside them, Tibetan, Hui Muslim and Han cultures blend in a lively market town that serves as the gateway to Jiuzhaigou and the Min Shan grasslands.
Founded as a military outpost in the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) to control the frontier between China and the Tibetan kingdoms, Songpan became the most important horse-trading market in western China — silk and tea flowed out, Tibetan horses and medicinal herbs flowed in along what is now called the Tea Horse Road. The Ming dynasty rebuilt the stone walls and gates in 1379 that still define the old town today.