The Songping tusi was appointed under the hereditary headman [tusi 土司] system used by Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties to administer non-Han ethnic areas on the frontier. The Songping tusi was the most powerful of the Yi ethnicity headmen, and controlled territory in Hanyuan County in the Ya'an administrative region, as well as territory to the south in the main Yi domain of Liangshan. During the early years of the Qianlong emperor's reign in the Qing Dynasty (1740) the Songping tusi built the Youlong irrigation canal [Fulong yan 伏龙堰 ], and during the same period official markets were opened in Songping territory, suggesting a higher degree of cooperation, "sinification", and integration with the Qing government. Evidence from the Yazhou Prefectural gazetteer [Yazhou Fuzhi 雅州府志] shows that Qing authorities were keenly interested in the customs, weapons, territory and kinship relations of the Yi people controlled by the Songping tusi.