With its mountainous terrain, it offers little arable land. In the old days forestry and mining brought some prosperity. But these days the mines are exhausted and coal mining doesn't return enough of a profit to make it viable, and the mines have closed, while strict new limitations on tree cutting have caused the lumber industry to wither.
層巒疊嶂，可耕地稀少，林場與煤礦兩大物產曾造就南庄早年的盛況；但近幾年由於礦藏殆盡，採挖的成本收益不成比例，礦坑紛紛封了；伐林規定也因限制嚴格，木材業益發蕭條。