Lizhuang () is a

town 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 ...

Dangshan County Dangshan County () is a county in the far north of Anhui Province, China. It is under the administration of Suzhou city. It is famous for fruits (pear, peach, plum and watermelon). Administrative divisions Dangshan County administers 13 towns an ...

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

Anhui Province Anhui is an inland province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiangxi to the south, Hub ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. As of the

2010 Chinese Census The 2010 Chinese census, officially the Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国第六次全国人口普查), was conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China wi ...

, Lizhuang has a population of 45,817. The town has a humid subtropical climate. Many in Lizhuang are farmers, growing

corn Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout Poaceae, grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples of Mexico, indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago ...

pomegranates The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punicoideae, that grows between tall. Rich in symbolic and mythological associations in many cultures, it is thought to have originat ...

, and various

vegetables Vegetables are edible parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. This original meaning is still commonly used, and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including flowers, fruits, ...

. There is also a small

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

in the town. Many of Lizhuang's adults have migrated elsewhere for work, leaving a large number of left-behind children to be raised by their grandparents. Traditional houses in the town are made from stone held together with a paste made from ashes.

Remittance A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes ...

s from migrant workers have enabled some residents to construct homes with modern building materials such as bricks, roofing tile and

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

Administrative divisions

Lizhuang administers three residential communities and five administrative villages.

Residential communities

Lizhuang administers the following three residential communities: * Zhenxing Community () * Zhudian Community () * Bianlou Community ()

Administrative villages

Lizhuang administers the following five administrative villages: * Haisheng Xincun Village () * Liyuan Xincun Village () * Wangge Village () * Zhendong Village () * Jialou Village ()

Demographics

According to the

, Lizhuang has a population of 45,817, down from the 49,845 recorded in the

2000 Chinese Census The 2000 Chinese census, officially the Fifth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (), was conducted by the government of the People's Republic of China with 1 November 2000 as its zero hour. The total population was calcul ...

. In 2010, a

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

reporter wrote a story on Lizhuang, using it as a microcosm for the growing phenomenon of

left-behind children in China In China, "left-behind children" ( zh, c=, p=liúshǒu'értóng, s=留守儿童, t=留守兒童), also called "stay-at-home children", are children who remain in rural regions of the country while their parents leave to work in urban areas. In m ...

. In the story, the reporter found few able-bodied adults in the town, as many left to find more lucrative work elsewhere. Much of Lizhuang's elderly population was left taking care of their children.

Economy

Many people in Lizhuang are subsistence farmers, and common crops in the town include

, and various

. The town also has a

, although it is not as large as those found in surrounding towns.

References

Dangshan County {{Suzhou, Anhui-geo-stub Towns in Anhui