Published : 2025-04-08
Which historical figure is associated with Zhongshan? What are its special local products? This article uses five numbers to help you get to know Zhongshan.
Renamed in 1925
Before 1925, Zhongshan was called "Xiangshan" (香山), which means fragrant mountain. The establishment of Xiangshan County can be traced back to the Southern Song period (1152 AD), when it was a region under the jurisdiction of Guangzhou.
This is the hometown of Sun Yat-sen, or Sun Zhongshan (孫中山). In March 1925, Sun passed away. To commemorate him, Xiangshan County was renamed as "Zhongshan County".
The name has been used ever since. In 1983, Zhongshan County was upgraded to Zhongshan City, and in 1988, it was promoted to a prefecture-level city.
23 Towns and subdistricts
Zhongshan is located in the south-central part of Guangdong Province, covering an area of about 1,784 square kilometres, ranking 8th among the 11 cities in the Greater Bay Area.
Zhongshan does not have districts or counties under its jurisdiction.
It consists of 8 subdistricts and 15 towns, and a National High-Tech Industrial Development Zone and an Economic Cooperation Zone.
As of 2023, Zhongshan has a resident population of approximately 4.45 million.
6 million agarwood trees
The former name of Zhongshan, "Xiangshan," is indeed related to "fragrance."
Zongshan is one of the main wild distribution areas of agarwood, also known as oud. About half of the country's wild agarwood trees, totalling around 40,000, are grown in Zhongshan.
In 2011, Zhongshan was awarded the title of "China's Hometown of Agarwood" by the China Wild Plant Conservation Association.
In recent years, the city has been actively developing the agarwood industry. By the end of 2021, there were over six million agarwood trees in the city.
The Zhongshan Agarwood Association launched the "Five Ones Project" in 2020, focusing on five main products: agarwood incense, agarwood essential oil, agarwood tea, agarwood chicken, and agarwood wine.
They hope to transform agarwood products from niche items to mainstream goods and promote agarwood culture.
10 New industrial clusters
In 2024, Zhongshan's GDP was approximately 414.3 billion RMB, ranking 8th in Guangdong Province.
This city, which once focused on manufacturing clothing, lighting, and furniture, has been seeking transformation and upgrading in recent years.
At the beginning of 2023, the local government proposed for the first time to create the project of "10 new industrial clusters", including new energy, biomedicine and health, new generation information technology, smart home appliances, high-end equipment etc.
103 Xiangshan Studies
In recent years, Zhongshan has been promoting the upgrading of public cultural services.
In 2022, the "Xiangshan Studies" project was launched, creating new public cultural spaces in parks, large shopping malls, residential communities, schools, and industrial parks.
As of June 2023, Zhongshan has built 103 Xiangshan Studies, covering 23 towns and subdistricts across the city.
They are equipped with intelligent devices and have integrated connectivity with the resources of all public libraries in the city, receiving a total of 750,000 readers by June 2023.
