Foshan

Foshan (zh-cp|c=佛山|p=Fóshān) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. The city has jurisdiction over an area of about 3,840 km² and a population of 5.4 million of which 1.1 million reside in the city proper (year 2000 figures).

History

Foshan is an old town dated back to many centuries. It was famous for its porcelain industry. Now it has been made the 'third largest city in Guangdong'. The city is relatively affluent when compared to other Chinese cities, and it is home to many large private enterprises. Foshan recently has seen a transformation brought by China's booming economy.

Tourist sights

Foshan has many sights, including Chinese temples and other examples of Chinese architecture. The old Zu temple in Foshan houses the city's guardian, and stands in its original site since many hundred years ago. The temple has endured many wars and the Cultural Revolution, and is still standing. Much of its original architecture is still intact. The temple is now used to stage the traditional Canton opera at night.

Beside the Zu temple, another example of traditional Chinese buildings is the Liang Yuan. It is one of the four famous Yuan, or private estate in Guangdong. It epitomized the building style of the Ming-Qing dynasties, with delicate craftsmanship into every inch of the building, and a compact yet elegantly designed garden. It is very well preserved, with most of its original artefact displayed in-house. Very near to the site of this Liang Yuan, there is a group of preserved buildings that dated back to the Qing dynasty. Although they are now private housing, permits can be obtained to visit some of these buildings from the Tourist Bureau. These buildings all display the very classic building style of that era, which is the abandonment of the large and ostensible garden and space in favour to small yet multi-stories houses that is practical to the land constraint.

Another place in Foshan is the old porcelain furnace in Shi Wan. That furnace was said to be in operation since the Tang dynasty, and the fire inside was always kept alight. It is still in operation, and is still producing some of the chinaware that made Foshan famous. Surrounding that site are many workshops of the local artists.

The countryside surrounding Foshan city retains much of its traditional southern China rural characteristics.

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Foshan administers 5 county-level divisions, all of which are districts.

* Chancheng District (禅城区)
* Nanhai District (南海区)
* Sanshui District (三水区)
* Gaoming District (高明区)
* Shunde District (顺德区)

These are further divided into 64 township-level divisions, including 37 towns and 27 subdistricts.

Foshan is close to Guangzhou and considers its link with Guangzhou very important. A Guangzhou-Foshan metropolitan region is being formed.

Transportation

External links

Foshan Airport was once a regional airport with mixed usage (both military and domestic transport) since January 22, 1987, as it became a base of China United Airlines (CUA) in Guangdong Province. When CUA ceased domestic flights in November 1, 2002, Foshan Airport remained military service only. The airport resumed its regional airport status in 2005 when the regrouped CUA, which was partly purchaed by Shanghai Airlines, resumed domestic flight service. It is expected domestic flight linkage between Foshan and at least 10 Chinese cities including Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Yinchuan etc.

Foshan is a main interchange for railway routes linking Guangzhou, Hong Kong and the western Guangdong Province. It is connected with Hong Kong via the KCRC Guangdong Through Train service from Foshan railway station. The inter-city through train service was extended from Guangzhous to Foshan since the 1990s.

Internal link

Being a prominent link to Guangzhou city, the Guangfo Line of the Guangzhou Metro, presently under construction, will connect the city to Guangzhou.

Bus service is the major mode public transport inside the city of Foshan.

Economy

Agriculture

There are Agricultural Model Districts (AMD) around the prefecture, such as Shunde Chencun AMD, and AMDs in Daili Town, Shatou Town and Locun Town in Nanhai, with a total area of about 9.4 km².

The AMDs aims at providing an all-round environment for modern agriculture. Agricultural process is upgraded through technology, and sale service is incorporated with a new style tourism, that attracts target clients. The modern integrated practice mode resulted in the reputation of the largest base for wholesale, food production, storage and logistics of agricultural products in Guangdong Province.

Manufacturing industries

Following Shenzhen and Guangzhou, Foshan is the third largest manufacturing base in the Pearl River Delta. Once home to a strong State-Owned Enterprises sector, its current economic strength lies in privates firms and Township and Village Enterprises in Shunde and Nanhai. In 2002, private firms contributed 56.12% of the industrial output and firms from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan contributed 63.44% in exports.

Key industries in Foshan include:
*Household electrical appliance and tool manufacturing
*Furniture
*Non-metal ore and manufacturing
*Electronics and communications
*Stainless steel products
*Plastic products
*Ceramics

Towns in Foshan specialize in "pillar industries" as follows:
*Beijiao Town, Shunde (顺德北滘) - household electrical appliances
*Chencun Town, Shunde (顺德陈村) - flowers and horticulture
*Dali Town, Nanhai (南海大沥) - aluminium products
*Lecong Town, Shunde (顺德乐从) - furniture production and distribution
*Nanzhuang Town, Nanhai (南海南庄) - building materials
*Xiqiao Town, Nanhai (南海西樵) - tourism and textiles
*Yanbu Town, Nanhai (南海盐步) - underclothes
*Nanzhuang Town, Chancheng (禅城南庄) - ceramics

Some well-known brands to come out of these pillar industries include Midea, Kelon, and Jianlibao. Foshan's furniture and lighting industry is known as the world's largest furniture wholesale market and the world's largest lighting wholesale market.

Development strategy

Foshan aims to become a manufacturing giant and the third largest city in Guangdong. To do this, it has pledged to make large-scale investment in the construction of the infrastructure such as transportation and energy. Urban development will focus on the central urban group and Shunde urban group, each with more than one million inhabitants.

Tourism

*Ancestors' Temple (祖庙)
*Dong Hua Li (东华里)
* [http://personales.ya.com/sailor/China2004/Liangs_Garden/Liangs_Garden.htm Liang's Garden]
*Qing Hui Garden
*Renshou Pagoda
*Folk Arts & Crafts Center
*Pottery & Ceramics Guild

Notable people

* Wong Fei Hung (1847–1924), legendary martial art master and healer.
* Kang Youwei (1858–1927), late Qing Dynasty political reformist campaigning for a constitutional monarchy in China.
* Yip Man (1893–1972), Wing Chun martial art master, sifu of Bruce Lee.
* Bruce Lee's hometown is in Shunde, a district of Foshan.

External links

* [http://www.foshan.gov.cn Government website of Foshan] (available in Chinese and English)
* [http://www.fsmap.com.cn Map of Foshan] (in Simplified Chinese)
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=foshan+china&ie=UTF8&z=13&t=k&om=1 Location of Foshan] (on Google Maps)