Longqing border markets

Timeline

1. c. 1540–1566Datong and Xuanfu frontier garrisons · North ChinaFrequent northern warfare during the Jiajing reign left the court urgently in need of warhorses; private markets and smuggling trade at the frontier garrisons surged, accumulating institutional and practical experience for the formal opening of mutual trade markets under Longqing.
2. 1567Beijing · BeijingIn the first year of Longqing, the Ming court reached a peace agreement with Altan Khan; Altan was enfeoffed as Prince Shunyi, and the court permitted the opening of mutual trade markets at Xuanfu-Datong, Jizhou-Liaodong, and elsewhere, marking the formal establishment of the Longqing mutual trade market system.
3. 1568–1570Zhangjiakou, Xuanfu · HebeiFrom the second to fourth year of Longqing, horse markets at Zhangjiakou in Xuanfu and elsewhere were gradually brought under quotas, tallies, and official supervision, exchanging cloth, silk, and other goods for horses, as the operation of mutual trade markets became increasingly institutionalized.
4. 1571–1620Xuanfu-Datong and Jizhou-Liaodong frontier garrisons · North ChinaMutual trade markets largely continued through the Wanli reign, promoting frontier commerce and ethnic exchange, but were repeatedly adjusted open or closed as frontier defense conditions changed, and tightened again when warfare resumed at the end of the Ming.