Shifang

{{Infobox settlement | name = Shifang | official_name = | native_name = | other_name = | nickname = | settlement_type = County-level city | total_type = | motto = | image_skyline = | imagesize = | image_caption = | flag_size = | image_seal = | seal_size = | image_shield = | shield_size = | image_blank_emblem = | blank_emblem_type = | blank_emblem_size = | image_map = Location of Shifang within Sichuan (China).png | mapsize = 250px | map_caption = Location of Shifang City (red) within Deyang City (yellow) and Sichuan | image_map1 = | mapsize1 = | map_caption1 = | image_dot_map = | dot_mapsize = | dot_map_caption = | dot_x = | dot_y = | pushpin_map = Sichuan | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city center in Sichuan | pushpin_mapsize = 250 | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = China | subdivision_type1 = Province | subdivision_name1 = Sichuan | subdivision_type2 = Prefecture-level city | subdivision_name2 = Deyang | seat_type = Municipal seat | seat = Fangting Subdistrict () | parts_type = | parts_style = | parts = | p1 = | p2 = | government_footnotes = | government_type = | leader_title = | leader_name = | leader_title1 = | leader_name1 = | leader_title2 = | leader_name2 = | leader_title3 = | leader_name3 = | leader_title4 = | leader_name4 = | established_title = | established_date = | established_title1 = | established_date1 = | established_title2 = | established_date2 = | established_title3 = | established_date3 = | founder = | named_for = | area_magnitude = | unit_pref = | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = 863 | area_land_km2 = | area_water_km2 = | area_water_percent = | area_urban_km2 = | area_metro_km2 = | area_blank1_title = | area_blank1_km2 = | elevation_footnotes = <!--for references: use Shifang has a history stretching back over two thousand years. It suffered heavy damage during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The city was also the scene of a large-scale environmental protest against a copper smelting plant in July 2012.

==Names== The area was first known as Zhifang during the Chu-Han Contention that followed the collapse of China's Qin dynasty. Under Wang Mang's Xin dynasty, the area was renamed Meixin County in AD4, but the Bright and Martial Emperor of the restored Han dynasty restored the name Zhifang—with a different character—in AD25. The current name was first adopted in AD221 by the Kingdom of Shu. Under the Northern Zhou, Shifang was known as Fangting or Fangning between 557 and its merger with Luo County sometime between 566 and 576. Between 912 and 919, it was known as Tongji County.