The towns of Shifosi and Rangdong in Nanyang have been listed among the Ministry of Housing & Urban-Rural Development's second batch of China Characteristic Small Towns.

The recently released list inducts a further 276 small towns into the characteristic category, after those towns had undergone local recommendations, on-site interviews and expert reviews.

The town of Shifosi in Zhenping county is the birthplace of the jade sculpture in Nanyang and the biggest jade-related cultural & creative industry center in the world.

A jade market in the town of Shifosi, Nanyang [Photo/Xinjiang Daily]

Owing to its abundance and many varieties of the precious stone, the town produces and sells more than 1 billion jade sculptures every year. Its reputation also makes the town a popular tourist spot.

The town of Rangdong is the birthplace of many notable people throughout history, medical sage Zhang Zhongjing and Zuo Xiong, a senior official during the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220). It is also the hometown of martial arts scholar Ma Dianjia.

The Zhang Zhongjing Museum in Rangdong town [Photo/dengzhou.gov.cn]

The town has more than a dozen historic sites including the Neolithic relic Taizigang, and Nieyang, the ruin of an ancient city from the Han Dynasty (AD 202-220).

To date, there are three China Characteristic Small Towns in Nanyang, the other being Taiping which received its honor in 2016.