Anshun, a city in Southwest China's Guizhou province, has a long history of using stones as building materials.

During the early years of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang sent a 300,000-strong army to quash a rebellion in the southwestern part of China.

Later, when the army was stationed in Anshun, many of the rank and file soldiers and officers settled in the region to start families and work on the reclaimed farmland while still serving as active members of the army.

They left a number of precious legacies including the Tunbao ancient villages which are scattered throughout Anshun. Tunbao means "fortress", and the people that lived in the villages are called the "Tunbao People".

The Tunbao villages are a real kingdom of stones that feature cobbled roads and numerous stone constructions.

In Anshun, the widespread use of stones as building materials continues to this day.

Marble is an abundant resource in counties such as Zhenning, Ziyun, Guanling and Puding. It is widely used as an ornamental item for furnishing the interior of buildings and is also used by artists for sculptures and carvings.

The modern stone processing industry in Anshun began in the early 1980s, however the development of the sector was somewhat ponderous until the Guizhou provincial government proposed an industry-specific plan in 2010.

Seeing its rich resources and market potential, businesses from outside Guizhou began to invest in Anshun's stone industry. Local firms including Chenchun, Zhongzhang and Boji have since displayed strong growth momentum.

Global exposure

To help launch the industry on a global scale, Anshun hosted the first Guizhou International Stone Exposition from Oct 29 to 31 last year.

The first National Stone Carving and Design Competition was held concurrently as an important part of the expo.

The first stone expo had attracted about 110,000 visitors, including 15,000 industry professionals.

Agreements on 24.3 billion yuan ($3.66 billion) worth of investment deals and 32.25 billion yuan worth of trade deals were signed during the expo.

Marco Maher Laila, deputy chairman of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in South China, described the expo as "a gala that gathers the best stone products from China and the world", and expressed his hope that the event would promote the development of Guizhou's stone industry.

Local entrepreneurs are optimistic that the expo will help upgrade the stone industry in Anshun by attracting more investors and modern technologies.

Li Chenchun, chairman of Chenchun Stone Industry Co Ltd, said that previously, local companies had only been engaged in the lower end of the value chain due to a lack of brand promotion, capital and technology.

"Most of the stone products were not manufactured in Anshun, we only sold raw materials," Li said

The stone expo has brought more investors and modern technology, and as a result, Anshun's stone industry has grown in scale in the past year.

According to the Anshun Committee of Industry and Information, the city now has 12 large and medium-sized stone processing enterprises, which can produce 34.5 million square meters of stone products per year.

Industry park plan

Last December, the Anshun city government released a plan for establishing a Belt and Road Stone Industry Park.

The park is located in Dingqi township in Zhenning county, some 27 kilometers from Anshun city center.

According to the plan, the park will be home to some 300 stone processing and trading enterprises by 2020, and they will produce 60 million square meters of stone products and generate annual sales volume of 5 billion yuan.

The plan said the park will produce 70 million square meters of stone building materials and up to 2 million pieces of stone craftwork annually by 2025, with yearly sales revenue of 30 billion yuan.

It is predicted that the park will create up to 25,000 jobs for local people, giving a strong boost to the local economy.

In addition, the park will promote the development of a number of related industries including construction, logistics, financial, catering and advertising, with an estimated annual output value of up to 8 billion yuan.

Building on the success of the first Guizhou International Stone Exposition, Anshun will host the second edition of the expo from Aug 26 to 29. According to the event's organizers, 240 companies, including 30 from overseas, will exhibit their products, technologies and services at the expo.

In addition to the second National Stone Carving and Design Competition, a national congress for stone quarries and mines and a series of business promotional fairs will be held during the expo.

Contact the writers through yangjun@chinadaily.com.cn

If you go

The second Guizhou International Stone Exposition will be held in the Duocai Wanxiang Tourism City in the Anshun Economic and Technological Development Zone.