The area was first known as Zhifang during the Chu-Han Contention that followed the collapse of China's Qindynasty. Under Wang Mang's Xin dynasty, the area was renamed Meixin County in AD4, but the Bright and Martial Emperor of the restored Han dynasty restored the name Zhifang—with a different character—in AD25. The current name was first adopted in AD221 by the Kingdom of Shu. Under the Northern Zhou, Shifang was known as Fangting or Fangning between 557 and its merger with Luo County sometime between 566 and 576. Between 912 and 919, it was known as Tongji County.
History
a Shifang temple
Ancient China
The area of present-day Shifang formed part of Western Qiang (西羌, Xīqiāng), one of the regions that appear in ancient Chinese records as the birthplace of the famed Yu the Great. The local tourism board has pressed the claim that he was specifically born in Shifang,[4] but similar claims are made by Beichuan, Wenchuan, and Dujiangyan in Sichuan,[5] as well as many other places in other parts of China.
Imperial China
Following the conquest of Shu by Qin, the Qin administrator Li Bing lived in Shifang during his work on the Dujiangyan irrigation system.[6] Some historians make him a native of the area.[7] Following the collapse of Qin, the tiny kingdom of Zhifang was formed in present-day Shifang in 201BC. The area was reconquered by the Martial Emperor of the Han in 111BC and formed part of the Kingdom of Shu during China's Three Kingdoms Period. Under the Northern Zhou, it was merged with Luo County (雒縣) sometime between 566 and 576. It was reëstablished by the Tang in 619. The ChanBuddhist patriarch Mazu Daoyi was born in Shifang's town of Mazu in 709.[8] It formed part of Former Shu between 912 and 919.
In late imperial times, Shifang County was organized as part of the prefecture of Chengdu. Following the Columbian Exchange, it—along with the rest of the plain around Chengdu—became a center of China's tobacco cultivation. In the 19th century, Shifang County was reckoned to have the third-best quality of tobacco, after nearby Pi and Jintang counties.[1]
Shifang was one of the most severely hit cities in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, with a death toll of 5924.[9] Many of those killed were children, with 13 school buildings totally collapsing in Hongbai, Yinghua, Luoshui, Jiandi, Bajiao, and other towns and dozens of other schools partially collapsing throughout the county. Altogether, 12 teachers and 550 students were killed.[10][11][12]
In 2012, high school students organised a protest against the construction of a copper plant in the city that would have caused a significant amount of pollution. The protest was successful at blocking the construction of the factory.[13]
Economy
Prior to the 2008 earthquake, Shifang had a GDP of 12.7 billion RMB.[14] It was reckoned one of the "100 Small and Medium-Sized Chinese Cities Most Rewarding to Investment" (全国最具投资潜力中小城市百强)[15] and had been rated the second-best county for growth in Sichuan every year since 1995.[14]
Its status as the "Pearl of Western Sichuan" had been built on its natural resources and productions. It was called "Phosphorite City" (磷矿城) from its rich veins of phosphate rock and associated chemical industry[16] and the "Hometown of Chinese Mineral Water" (中国矿泉水之乡) from its natural springs.[17][18] For over 400 years, the Chengdu plain has been a center of China's tobacco cultivation,[19] with Shifang's produce reckoned among the best.[20] At a time when most of China took tobacco in the form of snuff, the people of Sichuan were rolling it into a form of cigar.[20] Shifang's were given as tribute to the Guangxu Emperor during the Qing and to Mao Zedong and other Communist leaders in the 1950s,[19] earning the town the nickname of the "Hometown of the Chinese Cigar" (中国雪茄之乡).[21]
In 2008, Beijing Municipality planned to coördinate with Shifang City during its construction of a 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi) capital industry park at Luoshui (北京市对口支援什邡市).[22] The road which will link the Chengdu-Mianyang Expressway and Shifang City will be completed in 2008. In addition, a new Chengdu-Shifang-MianyangExpressway and the Chengdu-Lanzhou High-speed Railway, which will pass through Shifang, are scheduled to complete around 2011, and will make it possible to travel from Chengdu to Shifang in 30 minutes.[23] With the leadership of Chinese government and support of international community, the government of Shifang City plans to complete reconstruction until 2011, make GDP recover to same of 2007 until 2013, and make the city to be a modernized city until 2018.[24]
The cigar industry is undergoing a revival with an investment of €85 million by China Tobacco Chuanyu Industrial Corporation, the owner of Great Wall-brand cigars, in partnership with the Dutch cigar maker Agio, in a cigar complex that is expected to be finished by 2013 and will be capable of churning out two billion cigars a year.[19]
A $1.64 billion copper and molybdenum processing plant is planned by the HTC for the Shifang Economic Development Zone.[25] The project has become controversial, due to environmental reasons.[26] The project further provoked a demonstration of local residents demanding cancellation of the project on 2 July 2012. After violent clashes between the public and the police and nationwide campaigns on the Internet, the project was finally dropped.[27]
^Chen, Sisi (陈四四) (2008-06-25). 发现西羌古道有关遗迹 "大禹故乡"迷雾更浓 [Discovery of ancient West Qiang pathway thickens the mystery surrounding "Birthplace of Yu the Great"]. Sichuan Daily (四川日报) via Sichuan Online. Retrieved 1 October 2008.. (in Chinese)
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