Shiling () is a town in

Huadu District Huadu District is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong, China. It is located in the far northern suburbs of the city. Xinhua Town is the seat of local government, and of the district ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

. In the 1970s the government began centrally planned industrialization of Shiling as a leatherworking town. The town is now a major center for the leatherworking industry in China. The town spans an area of , and is home to 300,000 residents.

Etymology

Its name means "Lion Ridge", so called because of the local mountain ridge that is shaped like a lion. Shiling Town has long consisted of small farms abutting the mountains from which it gets its name.

Geography

Shiling Town is located in

, a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

. Shiling is from downtown Guangzhou.

Administrative Districts

Shiling is divided into three and seventeen .

History

Archeological records indicate that the area around present-day Shiling was engaged in worship of the Chinese deity

Pangu Pangu or Pan Gu (also sometimes spelled Peng Gu and P’an-ku) ( zh, t=盤古, ) is a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology and in Taoism. According to legend, Pangu separated heaven and earth, and his body later became ge ...

as far back as 500 CE. Shiling was founded as a hamlet () in the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

some time during the reign of the

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, personal name Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China pr ...

(1736–1795).

Hong Xiuquan Hong Xiuquan (1 January 1814 – 1 June 1864), born Hong Huoxiu and with the courtesy name Renkun, was a Chinese revolutionary and religious leader who led the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing dynasty. He established the Taiping Heavenly K ...

, leader of the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a civil war in China between the Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The conflict lasted 14 years, from its outbreak in 1850 until the fall of ...

, developed his revolutionary theory and wrote many of his famous works while staying in Shiling (c. 1845 - 1847) at the Yuan Floral Hall (), the ruins of which are still visible. Shiling was reorganized into a commune () in 1953, into a region () in 1983, and most recently into a town () in 1986.

Demographics

As of 2017, the town reported a resident population of 300,000 people, of which, 58,000 were registered residents under the

hukou ''Hukou'' ( zh, c=户口, l=household individual) is a system of household registration used in the People's Republic of China. The system itself is more properly called ''huji'' ( zh, c=户籍, l=household origin), and has origins in Histo ...

system. A 2018 government public the town's hukou population at 64,355.

Economy

In 2017, the town achieved a total

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

of 10.759 billion Yuan, a 7.5% from the previous year. The town's

primary sector The primary sector of the economy includes any industry involved in the extraction and production of raw materials, such as farming, logging, fishing, forestry and mining. The primary sector tends to make up a larger portion of the economy in d ...

makes up 3.5% of Shiling's GDP, the

secondary sector In macroeconomics, the secondary sector of the economy is an economic sector in the three-sector theory that describes the role of manufacturing. It encompasses industries that produce a finished, usable product or are involved in constructi ...

makes up 61.0%, and the

tertiary sector The tertiary sector of the economy, generally known as the service sector, is the third of the three economic sectors in the three-sector model (also known as the economic cycle). The others are the primary sector (raw materials) and the ...

makes up 35.5% of the GDP.

Farming

Shiling was originally and remains an agricultural community. Primary produce are rice, fruits, vegetables, flowers, nursery stock and the breeding of poultry and fish.

Leather industry

Leather production in Shiling began in the 1970s, when the central government promoted industrial development of Shiling focused on the leatherworking industry, by encouraging farmers to integrate leather production into their lifestyle. Prior to the 2000s, Shiling primarily produced low and medium quality leather goods for Chinese markets. Beginning in the year 2000, the city began hosting the Shiling Leather and Leather Goods Festival (), a

trade fair A trade show, also known as trade fair, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific Industry (economics), industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest Product (business), products and se ...

for the leather industry. During the late 2000s, the local government made a concerted effort with local businesses to increase the quality of the town's leather goods, and to internationalize the city's industry. Part of this effort included the creation of a post-doctoral research institute devoted to leather research, and a design institute meant to train people to become leather workers and leather designers. Shiling's leather industry now comprises 8,000 enterprises producing leather, employing approximately 300,000 employees. Over 2,600 brands manufacture their leather goods in Shiling, including

Guess Guessing is the act of drawing a swift conclusion, called a guess, from data directly at hand, which is then held as probable or tentative, while the person making the guess (the guesser) admittedly lacks material for a greater degree of certaint ...

Coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

, and

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

. The Shiling leather industry was worth 4.7 billion yuan in 2002 and 9 billion in 2009.

Suburban real estate development

During the 2000s, the town experienced significant development along the G94 Pearl River Delta Ring Expressway. The real estate developments in Shiling have been advertised as a "golden corridor" () and "tomorrow's satellite city" ().

Tourism

Despite its reputation as an industrial center, the local government has made an effort to promote the town's tourism industry in the 21st century. The town's government has promoted local mountains and historical sites as destinations, while also hosting cultural festivals centered on local folk culture.

Pangu Temple

The northern part of Shiling hosts a temple dedicated to

built in 1809, and rebuilt in 1901 after being burned. The temple was neglected for many years, renovated (1984–86) and reopened. The temple is promoted as a tourist attraction and pilgrimage site. The temple is noted for being the site of a large

lion dance Lion dance ( zh, s=舞狮, t=舞獅, p=wǔshī, c=, first=t) is a form of traditional dance in Culture of China, Chinese culture and other Asian countries in which performers mimic a Asiatic lion, lion's movements in a lion costume to bring good l ...

, waterfall, and clean spring water from Longkou spring, which is believed to have healing properties. A festival is held on the birthday of Pangu, the 12th day of the 10th month of the

Chinese lunar calendar The traditional Chinese calendar, dating back to the Han dynasty, is a lunisolar calendar that blends solar, lunar, and other cycles for social and agricultural purposes. While modern China primarily uses the Gregorian calendar for officia ...

Mountain Resorts

Following the tourist draw of the Pangu temple, other resorts have been opened in the nearby mountain areas.

Transportation

Two major highways run through Shiling: the Guangqing Expressway and the . Three major railways run through Shiling: the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, the Wuhan-Guangzhou Railway, and the Guangzhou-Qingyuan Railway.

Notes and references

Leather Companies In China
{{Towns in Guangzhou Huadu District Towns in Guangdong