The Gao clan were descendants of Gao Shengtai, whom was the emperor of Dali from 1094 to 1096. The Gao clan ruled Yao'an for more than 700 years, surviving several dynastic changes in China, until its last ruler Gao Houde was arrested by Qing Chinese in 1725. In 1729, Yao'an was fully annexed into the central bureaucratic system of the Qing dynasty.
