It is situated in the middle of Tianhe District in Guangzhou, with dense multi-story dwelling houses building in and lands for collective use.

When the Republic of China was founded (1912), Shipai had an area of 14 km², which contains 4800 hectares of cultivated land and hills, pools, wasteland and dwelling houses.

In 1273, ancestor Dong Yilong (董裔隆) and his family migrated from Nanxiong to where the village locates today, which later on developed into small hamlet called "Dongcun" (董村).

With the population growth, Dong's descendants moved to higher land, which was located on the north-western side of "Miaobiangang" (庙边岗).

Then, descendants of surname Chi (池) who had lived in "Xiǎnké qiáng" (蚬壳墙) for nearly 100 years moved to the north-eastern side of "Miaobiangang" (庙边岗).

Gradually, two places of Dong and Chi merged into one and finally during the reign of the Chenghua Emperor in the Ming dynasty (1465–1487), the name of the hamlet was changed as "Miaobiangang".

During the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor in Qing dynasty (1796–1820), there formed about 20 main streets radiated from Shanqian Market (山前市场), which have maintained up to the present day.

They come from all over the country (mostly from rural areas) dwelling in houses rented from villagers and earn their living in the city, most of whom are driven by economic forces.

Since the foundation of Sanjun Group Company, villager-funded housing project has initiated and most of the villagers have moved into their new communities.

Before agrarian reform, Shipai developed in a healthy path due to its excellent geographical environment, agricultural history as well as strong influence from the city.

Then because of the invasion and occupation of Japanese armies, production was encumbered, houses were damaged, economy went into a tail spin.

Ancient China was famous for its peasant economy and so it had limited development in terms of agrarian technology and commercial exchange.

Shipai was once famous for its fine ageratum, which served as special product that spread widely to the country and overboard.

The transformation of Shipai economy can be expressed in a resource sense as a process of changing pattern from land to and then to estate.

Such mutation of circumstances took profound influence on villagers’ life style, which demands knowledge of management, language, calculation and even computer.

At that time, Lu Shan College was considered as the highest educational institution among villages outside Canton.

Then Tung Tse College (同泽书院), a joint institution of three villages (Shipai, Tangxia, Yuancun) was set up in 1854, serving as a place to read classical works of Confucius and practice Wushu.

In the meantime, students were taught in one single classroom by one teacher Confucian classics like “三字经” (Three-character Scripture) and “千字文” (Articles of Thousand Characters).

Adult education began in the ROC time when villagers was helped by Sun Yat-Sen National University and it developed in Communist China by series of movements to wipe out illiteracy.

With endorsement of local leadership and villagers, Shipai Primary School was equipped with modernity and other 4 private kindergartens were built.

For tablets, the most famous one was the one calligraphed by Sun Yat-sen in 1924, which wrote “为国杀贼”(kill enemy for the country) on it in reward of the sacrifice villagers made during the Great Revolution.

The original tablet was lost during the dark age of Cultural Revolution, the one hung up in the center of the village is an imitation.

Besides, there are other 8 tablets on gates calligraphed by local gentries in Qing Dynasty: tablets of “石牌” (Shipai), ”丽庄家塾”(spectacular private school),”玉虚宫”(Yu Hsu Palace), ”朝阳”(chao yang),”瑞藻家塾”(jui tsao private school), ”匡居里”(kuang chi li), ”潘氏宗祠”(Ancestor Hall of Pan), ”善平书室”(Shan ping Library).

Despite, Niang Ma Temple attracts worshippers every day from local villagers to exotic renters, which suggests a breakthrough of polytheism beyond region.

Inside the village, a sense of clutter, tolerance, contrast, multi-culture is felt everywhere: a porter with pushcart, a cobbler, a little flower seller, erectors, ragpickers, writers, men with business suit, men with doctorate…people from all walks of life live here and a variety of services are available, such as restaurants of different kinds, barbers’ shops, sauna, make-up, hospitals.

But even for such traditions, those old notions related to clan dictatorship have lessened and the elements like celebration, fellowship and commerciality have deepened.

Chi Pai (池柏)(1879–1961), a famous doctor who once served as a member of Sun Yat-Sen medical team was local resident.

Chi Yao-Ting (池耀廷)(1870–1960), also a doctor and was classmate of Sun Yat-Sen when they studied medicine at the Guangzhou Boji Hospital under the Christian missionary John G. Kerr.

Chi Yu-yuan (池又元), A labor model and minister of Institute of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Railways, was born in Shipai.