Shùndé

Shunde lies in the low, watery country of the Pearl River delta. Its fields and ponds supported a distinctive form of farming in which mulberry trees grew on raised banks and fish were raised in the water between them. Mulberry leaves fed silkworms, while pond mud enriched the banks. Established as a county in the Ming, Shunde became one of the districts where this system developed. Mulberry ponds expanded from the early Ming and became especially important by the middle of the Qing, joining silk production to the careful management of the delta's wet ground.