Fangshan District () is situated in the southwest of

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, away from downtown Beijing. It has an area of and a population of 814,367 (2000 Census). The district is divided into 8 subdistricts, 14 towns, and 6 townships. The district administers 8

subdistricts A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, Indon ...

(with 4 subdistricts under Yanshan "area"), 14

towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

with 3 towns of which carry the "area" () label, and 6

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

:These towns are officially classified as subdistricts, but as they coincide with the area of the same name, they are commonly named "areas" ()

Geography

The Subdistrict area of Fangshan (population 187,667) contains an urban area, has an area of and an estimated population of 200,000. Other major urban areas are

Liangxiang Liangxiang () is a township and an area of Beijing, Fangshan District, located 25km southwest of the city center. It borders Gongchen Subdistrict to its north, Changyang Town to its east, Doudian Town to its south, and Yancun Town to its west. I ...

(population estimate 110,000, 93,486 in township), Zhoukoudian (35,000, 39,877 in township), Doudian (30,000, 25,046 in township), and Liulihe (22,000, 37,936 in township). Fangshan is situated to the east of the

Taihang Mountains The Taihang Mountains () are a Chinese mountain range running down the eastern edge of the Loess Plateau in Shanxi, Henan and Hebei provinces. The range extends over from north to south and has an average elevation of . The principal peak is ...

. The east and south of the district is a fertile plain, with a narrow hilly area running from northeast to southwest. The district has many rivers and lakes; the Juma River, Dashi River,

Yongding River The Yongding River () is a river in northern China. It is one of the main tributaries in the Hai River system and is best known as the largest river to flow through Beijing. In recent years, the Beijing segment of the river has dried up due to ...

, and

Xiaoqing River Xiaoqing River () is a river in Shandong Province, China. It is part of the Bohai Sea basin and empties into the Bohai Sea. The river flows through the major cities of Jinan, Zibo, Binzhou, Dongying, and Weifang. It is long and drains a basin. Se ...

run through the district, assuring abundant water resources. The location, climate and environment provide good conditions for agriculture. The district produces wheat, rice and various high quality fruits as well as large quantities of animal products. At the moment large investments are made for greenhouse production.

Climate

Fangshan has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Dwa''). The average annual temperature in Fangshan is . The average annual rainfall is with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around , and lowest in January, at around .

Transportation and telecommunication

Jingguang railway and Jingyuan railway cross the district. In addition, the district is serviced by 4 branch railways and 24 railway stations.

Jingshi Expressway "Beijing" is from pinyin ''Běijīng,'' which is romanized from , the Chinese name for this city. The pinyin system of transliteration was approved by the Chinese government in 1958, but little used until 1979. It was gradually adopted by various ...

also goes through the district. The four main roads are the Jing-Zhou, Jing-Bao, Jing-Yuan, Jing-Liang roads, with branch roads to

and

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

s. The total length of roads is up to . Tanggu Port is only distant. The programme-controlled telephone capacity supports 128,000 phone sets.

Metro

Fangshan is currently served by two metro lines operated by

Beijing Subway The Beijing Subway is the rapid transit system of Beijing Municipality that consists of 25 lines including 20 rapid transit lines, two airport rail links, one maglev line and 2 light rail lines, and 463 stations. The rail network extends acro ...

: * - Daotian, Changyang, Libafang, Guangyangcheng, Liangxiang University Town North, Liangxiang University Town, Liangxiang University Town West, Liangxiangnanguan, Suzhuang, Yancun East * - Yancun East, Zicaowu, Yancun,

Xingcheng Xingcheng (), former name Ningyuan (), is a county-level city of southwest Liaoning province, China, with a population of approximately 140,000 urban inhabitants, and is located on the Liaodong Bay, i.e. the northern coast of the Bohai Sea. Curre ...

, Dashihe East, Magezhuang, Raolefu, Fangshan Chengguan,

Yanshan Yanshan may refer to: Places *Yanshan County, Hebei () *Yanshan County, Jiangxi () *Yanshan County, Yunnan () *Yanshan District (), Guilin, Guangxi **Yanshan Subdistrict (), in Yanshan District *Yanshan Avenue Subdistrict (), Haigang District, Qinh ...

Suburban railway

Fangshan is also served by one suburban railway line: * -

Demographic substructure

Economy

In 2017,the regional GDP of the district is 68.17 billion yuan,
"Regional Yearbook of Beijing,2018" with GDP per capita at 59.1 thousand yuan.

Mineral resources

Fangshan has 2.1 billion tons of Coal#World coal reserves, coal reserves, which makes it a veritable “

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

storehouse” in the west of Beijing; building materials resources are also present in a variety of large deposits. Marble deposits total 450 million cubic meters. A total of 17 kinds have been developed, including “Chinese white marble”, “pink”, “rosy cloud”, and “black jade”. In particular, “Chinese white

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

” is famous worldwide and is regarded as a national treasure. There are also large deposits of

quartzite Quartzite is a hard, non- foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone.Essentials of Geology, 3rd Edition, Stephen Marshak, p 182 Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tect ...

(29 million tons);

silica Silicon dioxide, also known as silica, is an oxide of silicon with the chemical formula , most commonly found in nature as quartz and in various living organisms. In many parts of the world, silica is the major constituent of sand. Silica is one ...

(28.6 million tons),

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

and buhrstone, in addition to

argil Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. Mineral water may usually be still or sparkling (carbonated/effervescent) according to the presence or absence of added gases. Tra ...

and slab stones.

Industry and agriculture

Both industry and agriculture are well developed in Fangshan. Over 2300

enterprise Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to: Business and economics Brands and enterprises * Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company * Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company * Enterpris ...

s owned by the district, townships or villages have been set up and form a complete industrial system in a variety of trades, with different grades and many kinds of products. Yanshan Petrochemical Group, one of the largest state-owned enterprises in China, is located in Fangshan District.

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

has developed from traditional growing and planting to integrated and full development in

forestry Forestry is the science and craft of creating, managing, planting, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and natural stands. Th ...

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

, greenhouse horticulture and

fishery Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...

. The

building industry Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

has become the backbone of the district, with annual building area reaching 6 million square meters. The foreign-oriented economy of Fangshan has developed rapidly in recent years. By 1999, the District government had approved 345 foreign-invested enterprises. Over 20 countries and territories throughout five continents are represented. There are 100 export-oriented enterprises producing over 40 kinds of product. Liangxiang Satellite Town, approved by Beijing Municipal Government, has become a new hub of development. In 1998, the site of Fangshan People's Government moved to

, making it the district's center of politics, economics and culture. The development Zone of Liangxiang extends favorable policies to business. Under the Ninth Five-Year Plan and Ten-year Outline, the zone will be further opened to the outside and encourage foreign investment in the following industries: electricity, machinery and electronics, instruments, textiles, printing, new building materials, new materials, new energy resources, fine chemicals, food processing, flowers, greenhouse vegetables, tourist facilities, commercial facilities and the animal industry. The zone welcomes overseas Chinese and guests from

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

and other countries.

Education

Tertiary: *Yanshan Practice Base of

Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology (BIPT; ), founded in 1978, had been a specialist school connected to the petrochemical system. After a development initiative over decades, it became a multi-disciplinary university with eleven coll ...

Monuments and parks

Fangshan district has a long history and many ancient sites. Best known is

Zhoukoudian Zhoukoudian Area () is a town and an area located on the east Fangshan District, Beijing, China. It borders Nanjiao and Fozizhuang Townships to its north, Xiangyang, Chengguan and Yingfeng Subdistricts to its east, Shilou and Hangcunhe Towns to ...

, location of the “

Peking Man Site Zhoukoudian Area () is a town and an area located on the east Fangshan District, Beijing, China. It borders Nanjiao and Fozizhuang Townships to its north, Xiangyang, Chengguan and Yingfeng Subdistricts to its east, Shilou and Hangcunhe Towns to ...

”, which has gained Fangshan the name of “Home of the Dragon”. The 3,000-year-old ruins of the Liulihe Site are housed in the

Western Zhou Yan State Capital Museum The Western Zhou Yan State Capital Museum () is an archaeological museum in southwestern Beijing Municipality at the site of the capital of the ancient State of Yan during the Western Zhou dynasty. The site is located in Dongjialin Village, just n ...

. The famous Buddhist shrine of

Yunju Temple Yunju Temple () is a Buddhist temple located in Fangshan District, southwest of Beijing and contains the world's largest collection of stone Buddhist sutra steles in the world. Yunju Temple also contains one of only two extant woodblocks for ...

has precious Buddhist relics, including “Sakyamuni’s Bone” and 14,278 stone slabs with sculpted Buddhist sutras. There are also the remains of the Christian ( Jingjiao) Monastery of the Cross from the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...

. There are many ancient towers,

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

s, town sites and other sites in Fangshan. Fangshan also has many scenic spots like Shidu’s

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

landscape, the unique Stoneflower Cave and natural ancient forests in Shangfang Mountains. Ecologically, Fangshan has 554 kinds of wild plant and 22 kinds of wild animal. Fangshan, which is part of

, and neighboring

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

, together contain Fangshan

Geopark A geopark is a protected area with internationally significant geology within which sustainable development is sought and which includes tourism, conservation, education and research concerning not just geology but other relevant sciences. In 20 ...

. Certified as a National

, and then as a regional geopark ( Asia Pacific Geopark Network), it was admitted as a

UNESCO Global Geopark UNESCO Global Geoparks (UGGp) are geoparks certified by the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council as meeting all the requirements for belonging to the Global Geoparks Network (GGN). The GGN is both a network of geoparks and the agency of the United Nati ...

in 2006.

References

External links

Fangshan Information Network
{{authority control Districts of Beijing