The largest urban village in Guangzhou

Shipai village, the largest urban village in Guangzhou.

Shipai village, Guangzhou is the largest and oldest village in Guangzhou. It is located in the middle of the prosperous Tianhe District and consists of dense buildings and some private plots expanded from villagers' homesteads.

Shipai village is located in the middle of Tianhe District. Due to the changes of years, its geographical scope is also changing and shrinking. In the early years of the Republic of China (19 12), shipai village had 4,800 mu of cultivated land, including hills, ponds, wasteland and villagers' houses, with a total area of 14 square kilometers.

With the unification of the national government and the development of Guangzhou's economy, the government has successively built racetracks (now the playground of China Normal University), Shipai Campus of Jinan University and Guangzhou Meteorological Observatory on the northern and eastern borders of Shipai, with a total land acquisition of about 5 square kilometers. In the 1950s, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was stationed in shipai village except the big playground, Songgang and Dagang in the north.

The government has also successively opened Southern University (now China Normal University), Jinan University, Guangdong Education Administration College (now Zhongshan Third Hospital) and Guangzhou Overseas Chinese Tutorial School, and the village area has been further reduced to about 6 square kilometers. After the reform and opening up to 1996, the cultivated land in shipai village has been basically expropriated, leaving only villagers' houses and a small amount of private plots.

At present, the main scope of shipai village is: Jinan University in the east; West to Shipai West Road; From Tianhe Road and Zhongshan Avenue in the north; South to Huangpu Avenue, covering an area of about 1 km2. Shipai village is close to the Pearl River, and the fields around the village are mostly alluvial plains, with relatively flat terrain, high in the northwest and low in the southeast. There are several hills scattered in the middle and north of the village.

The hill in the center of the village is called Miaobiangang (commonly known as Shantangding), and villagers' houses are radially distributed around it (commonly known as gossip layout). There is farmland around the village. When there are no tall buildings, standing on the top of the mountain pond can overlook the fields around the village.

The hills in the north of the village are called Yagang and Ding Gang, and the hills alternating with farmland in the north are called Dagang and Songgang. Shipai village belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate zone and can be cultivated all year round. The soil is sandy loam and medium sandy soil, which is quite beneficial to agricultural production.