The area of present-day Shifang formed part of Western Qiang (西羌, Xīqiāng), one of the regions that appear in ancient Chinese records as the birthplace of the famed Yu the Great.

[10][11][12] In 2012, high school students organised a protest against the construction of a copper plant in the city that would have caused a significant amount of pollution.

[14] It was reckoned one of the "100 Small and Medium-Sized Chinese Cities Most Rewarding to Investment" (全国最具投资潜力中小城市百强)[15] and had been rated the second-best county for growth in Sichuan every year since 1995.

It was called "Phosphorite City" (磷矿城) from its rich veins of phosphate rock and associated chemical industry[16] and the "Hometown of Chinese Mineral Water" (中国矿泉水之乡) from its natural springs.

[17][18] For over 400 years, the Chengdu plain has been a center of China's tobacco cultivation,[19] with Shifang's produce reckoned among the best.

[20] Shifang's were given as tribute to the Guangxu Emperor during the Qing and to Mao Zedong and other Communist leaders in the 1950s,[19] earning the town the nickname of the "Hometown of the Chinese Cigar" (中国雪茄之乡).

[21] In 2008, Beijing Municipality planned to coördinate with Shifang City during its construction of a 10 km2 (3.9 sq mi) capital industry park at Luoshui (北京市对口支援什邡市).

[19] A $1.64 billion copper and molybdenum processing plant is planned by the HTC for the Shifang Economic Development Zone.

After violent clashes between the public and the police and nationwide campaigns on the Internet, the project was finally dropped.