Shouguang () is a

county-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...

in the north-central part of Shandong Province, China, situated on the southwest shore of

Laizhou Bay Laizhou Bay () is a bay on the southern shore of the Bohai Sea (also known as the ''Bohai Gulf'', or just ''Bo Hai'', which is a large and relatively shallow westward extension of the northern Yellow Sea), bounded by the northwestern coastline o ...

. Under the administration of the

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...

Weifang Weifang ( zh, s=潍坊, t=濰坊, p=Wéifāng) is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The city borders Dongying to the northwest, Zibo to the west, Linyi to the southwest, Rizhao to the south, Qingdao ...

, it has people residing within the municipality and its surrounding towns and villages as of the 2010 Census, even though the built-up (''or metro'') area is much smaller. It is also known as the 'home of vegetables' in China, owing to its large agricultural output.

History

Shouguang is located on an alluvial plain drained by the Mihe River. This region of Shandong is one of the first places where grains were cultivated. It was also the site of the Neolithic

Dawenkou The Dawenkou culture was a Chinese Neolithic culture primarily located in the eastern province of Shandong, but also appearing in Anhui, Henan and Jiangsu. The culture existed from 4300 to 2600 BC, and co-existed with the Yangshao culture. Turquo ...

and Beixin cultures. The settlement of Shouguang can be traced back to a

Dongyi The Dongyi or Eastern Yi () was a collective term for ancient peoples found in Chinese records. The definition of Dongyi varied across the ages, but in most cases referred to inhabitants of eastern China, then later, the Korean peninsula and Jap ...

settlement around 3000 B.C. During the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

(202 BC–220 AD), Shouguang was established as a county. During that time, it was already one of the largest grain cultivation bases in China, as well as a salt trading center. The ancient agricultural reference work

Qimin Yaoshu The ''Qimin Yaoshu'', translated as the "Essential Techniques for the Welfare of the People", is the most completely preserved of the ancient Chinese agricultural texts, and was written by the Northern Wei Dynasty official Jia Sixie, a native of ...

was written by Shouguang native Jia Sixie. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, vegetables from Shouguang were well regarded, however after the establishment of

central planning A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, ...

under

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

's rule, the city lost its standing as a vegetable producer. In 1984, the city government built a vegetable wholesales market and improved transportation of produce. The market would grow to become China's largest vegetable trading center. In 1989, farmers started utilizing plastic greenhouses and started focusing on higher quality produce. In 2000, Shouguang hosted the World Vegetables Expo. Between 2000 and 2011, the annual growth rate of the local agricultural industry was 11.12%.

Administrative divisions

, this city is divided to 5 subdistricts and 9 towns. ;Subdistricts ;Towns

Climate

Economy

Shouguang is a major hub for vegetables and produce in China, as well as being a major hub for chemical products. Alongside the agricultural industry, related industries such as the packaging and food processing and fertilizer industry have been established. In 2011, Shouguang was the largest glossy and coated paper producer in China. On the coastline fisheries, aquaculture and salt production sites are located.

Sports

The Shouguang Chengtou Stadium is located in Shouguang. The 25,000-capacity stadium is used mostly for association football matches and also sometimes for athletics.

Gallery

References

External links

* {{County-level divisions of Shandong Cities in Shandong Weifang National Civilized City