Fangshan District () is a district of the city of

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. It is situated in the southwest of Beijing, away from downtown Beijing. It has an area of and a population of 1,312,778 (2020 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 type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

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

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

: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 Town () is a town in Fangshan District, located 25 km 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. It had 24,317 ...

(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 ; its principal peak is ...

, with most of its territory being within Beijing's

Western Hills The Western Hills () are the hills and mountains in the western part of Beijing. Geography Being an extension of the Taihang mountain range from the Hebei Province, the Western Hills cover approximately 17% of the Beijing municipality, incl ...

region. 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 the largest river to flow through Beijing. In recent years, the Beijing segment of the river has dried up due to environmental ...

, and Xiaoqing River 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 cold ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''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 Jingyuan may refer to: *Jingyuan County, Gansu () *Jingyuan County, Ningxia Jingyuan County (, Xiao'erjing: ڭٍْ‌يُوًا ثِيًا) is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Guyuan in the south of the Ningxia ...

cross the district. In addition, the district is serviced by 4 branch railways and 24 railway stations. Jingshi Expressway 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 human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

s. The total length of roads is up to . Tanggu Port in

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

is 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 Direct-controlled municipality, Municipality that consists of 29 lines including 24 rapid transit lines, two airport rail links, one maglev line and two light rail, light rail tram line ...

: * - 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 under the administration of Huludao, in southwest Liaoning province, China, with a population of approximately 220,000 urban inhabitants, and is located on the Liaodong Bay, i.e. the ...

, Dashihe East, Magezhuang, Raolefu, Fangshan Chengguan, Yanshan

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 Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

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 consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

” 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 that 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 tecton ...

(29 million tons);

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

(28.6 million tons),

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, 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 coo ...

and buhrstone, in addition to argil,

mineral water Mineral water is water from a mineral spring that contains various minerals, such as salts and sulfur compounds. It is usually still, but may be sparkling ( carbonated/ effervescent). Traditionally, mineral waters were used or consumed at t ...

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 encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

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 and woodlands for associated resources for human and Natural environment, environmental benefits. Forestry is practiced in plantations and ...

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

, 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 grounds). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish far ...

. The building industry 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)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

and other countries.

Education

Tertiary: * Yanshan Practice Base of

Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology The Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology (BIPT; ) is a municipal public college in Daxing, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the City of Beijing and funded by the Beijing Municipal People's Government. The predecessor of the college ...

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 i ...

”, 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 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 The Monastery of the Cross (; ; ; ka, ჯვრის მონასტერი, ''jvris monast'eri'') is an Eastern Orthodox monastery near the Nayot neighborhood of Jerusalem. It is located in the Valley of the Cross, below the Israel Mu ...

from the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

. There are many ancient towers,

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

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 carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

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 is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

, together contain Fangshan

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

. 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