Foshan

Foshan 佛山市
Prefecture-level city
Clockwise from top right: Zumiao of Foshan, Qingyun Tower in Shunfengshan Park, Gaoming, Guanyin atop Mount Xiqiao, & Downtown Foshan in Chancheng District
Nickname(s): 禅 (Chan)
Location of Foshan in Guangdong
Coordinates: 23°01′0″N 113°07′0″E / 23.01667°N 113.11667°E / 23.01667; 113.11667Coordinates: 23°01′0″N 113°07′0″E / 23.01667°N 113.11667°E / 23.01667; 113.11667
Country	China
Province	Guangdong
Municipal seat	Chancheng District
Government
• CPC Committee Secretary	Lu Yi (鲁毅)
• Mayor	Zhu Wei (朱伟)
Area
• Prefecture-level city	3,848.49 km2 (1,485.91 sq mi)
• Water	690 km2 (270 sq mi)
• Urban	3,848.49 km2 (1,485.91 sq mi)
• Metro	17,572.9 km2 (6,784.9 sq mi)
Elevation	16 m (52 ft)
Population (2012)
• Prefecture-level city	7,197,394
• Density	1,900/km2 (4,800/sq mi)
	[1]
Time zone	China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Postal code	528000
Area code(s)	+ 86 (0)757
License plate prefixes	粤E（for motor vehicles registered in Chancheng, Sanshui, and Gaoming）, 粤Y(for motor vehicles registered in Nanhai), 粤X(for motor vehicles registered in Shunde)
GDP	¥ 701.0 billion (2013)
GDP per capita	¥ 96,535 (2011)
Website	foshan.gov.cn

Foshan
"Foshan" in Chinese characters
Chinese	佛山
Cantonese Yale	Fahtsàan or Fahtsāan
Literal meaning	"Buddha Mountain"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Fóshān Bopomofo ㄈㄛˊ   ㄕㄢ Gwoyeu Romatzyh Forshan Wade–Giles Fo2-shan1 Yale Romanization Fwóshān IPA [fwǒ.ʂán] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Fahtsàan or Fahtsāan IPA [fɐ̀t̚.sâːn] or [fɐ̀t̚.sáːn] Jyutping Fat6-saan1 Southern Min Tâi-lô Pu̍t-suann

Foshan, formerly romanized as Fatshan, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province in southeastern China. The entire prefecture covers 3,848.49 km² (1,485.91 sq mi) and has an urban population around 7.2 million. It forms part of the western side of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone, which includes Guangzhou to the north and Shenzhen to the east.

Foshan is regarded as the home of the Cantonese forms of Chinese opera, kung fu, lion dancing, and dragon boat racing.

Name

"Faesan" (Foshan), from Nieuhof's 1665 Embassy of the Dutch East India Company to the Emperor of China

Fóshān is the pinyin romanization of the city's Chinese name 佛山, based on its Mandarin pronunciation. The Postal Map spelling "Fatshan" derives from the same name's local Cantonese pronunciation. Other romanizations include Fat-shan^[2] and Fat-shun.^[3] Foshan means "Buddha Mountain" and, despite the more famous present-day statue of Guanyin or Kwanyin on Mount Xiqiao, who isn't a Buddha, it refers to a smaller hill near the centre of town where three bronze sculptures of Buddha were discovered in AD 628. The town grew up around a monastery founded nearby that was destroyed in 1391.^[4]

The town's nicknames include the "Hometown of Cantonese Opera" (粵劇之鄉), "of Lingnan Kung Fu" (嶺南武術), of "Lingnan Lion Dancing" (嶺南舞獅), and of "Lingnan Dragon Boat Racing" (嶺南龍舟). ("Lingnan"—"South of the Southern Mountains"—itself being a nickname of Guangdong along with the surrounding provinces and northern Vietnam.)

History

Foshan remained a minor settlement on the Fen River for most of China's history. It developed around a Tang-era Buddhist monastery that was destroyed in 1391.^[4] (Nanhai was separately established at Broken Bowls Point in 1271 by two brothers fleeing the Mongol invasion of the north.) The Foshan Ancestral Temple, a Taoist temple to the Northern God (Beidi) that was rebuilt in 1372, became the new focus of the community by the 15th century.^[4] By the early Ming, Foshan had grown into one of the four great markets in China, primarily on the strength of its local ceramics but also on account of its metalwork.^[5] Under the Qing, its harbor on the Fen River was limited to ships of a thousand tons' burden but it remained well connected with Guangdong's other ports.^[5] By the 19th century, it was considered the "Birmingham of China", with its steel industry responsible for the consumption of the majority of the province's iron production.^[3] It was connected to Guangzhou and Sanshui by rail in the early 20th century.^[5] The Ancestral Temple was converted into the Foshan Municipal Museum upon the victory of the Communists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949.

Foshan remained primarily focused on ceramic and steel production until the 1950s, when it became an urbanizing political center. On 26 June 1951 it left Nanhai County to become a separate county-level city and, in 1954, it was made the seat of the prefectural government.^[5] Its economy stagnated through the Cultural Revolution—traditional ceramic ware was forbidden and its workshops were turned to producing Maoist and Revolutionary folderol — but it continued to grow, reaching 300,000 people by the 1970s, making it the province's second city after Guangzhou.^[5] As early as 1973, however, its agriculture and consumer industries were permitted to become an export production base and a modern highway linked it to Guangzhou soon after; this permitted its party secretary Tong Mengqing and mayor Yu Fei to take full advantage when Deng Xiaoping introduced his Opening Up policies after the fall of the Gang of Four.^[5] In 1983, Foshan was promoted to a prefecture-level city with its former core becoming the new Chancheng District, but lost the southwestern half of its former territory to Jiangmen.^[5] On 8 December 2002, Shunde and Nanhai joined its urban core as a full district. Shunde has gone on to obtain an unusual autonomous status in 2009, placing its oversight in the hands of the provincial government rather than the prefectural one.

Geography

Foshan lies on the Fen River in the estuaries making up the west side of the Pearl River Delta. Guangzhou lies 25 kilometers (16 mi) to the northeast, Zhongshan to the southeast, Jiangmen to the south, Qingyuan to the west, and Zhaoqing to the west.^[6]

Climate

Foshan experiences a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa).

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Foshan administers five county-level divisions, all of which are districts. . The five districts are: Chancheng, Nanhai, Sanshui, Gaoming and Shunde.

Administrative divisions of Foshan
Chancheng Nanhai Shunde Sanshui Gaoming
Division code[9]	English name	Chinese	Pinyin	Area in km2[10]	Population 2010[11]	Seat	Postal code	Divisions[12]
								Subdistricts	Towns	Residential communities	Administrative villages
440600	Foshan City	佛山市	Fóshān Shì	3848.49	7197394	Chancheng District	528000	11	21	408	328
440604	Chancheng District	禅城区	Chánchéng Qū	154.15	1,101,077	Zumiao Subdistrict	528000	3	1	89	54
440605	Nanhai District	南海区	Nánhǎi Qū	1073.94	2,588,844	Guicheng Subdistrict	528200	1	6	183	67
440606	Shunde District	顺德区	Shùndé Qū	806.55	2,464,784	Daliang Subdistrict	528300	4	6	93	108
440607	Sanshui District	三水区	Sānshuǐ Qū	874.22	622,645	Xinan Subdistrict	528100	2	5	22	48
440608	Gaoming District	高明区	Gāomíng Qū	939.64	420,044	Hecheng Subdistrict	528500	1	3	21	51

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.

Economy

Foshan has been well known for its ceramics since the Ming, although it was forced to shutter its production during the Cultural Revolution.^[5]

Foshan had a ¥8.01 trillion gross domestic product in 2015, raising its per capita GDP past ¥10,000.^[13] Shunde District in particular has a high standard of living, with its 3000+ electronical appliance factories responsible for more than half of the world's air conditioners and refrigerators.^[14] Foshan now has more than 30 towns specialized in particular industries, including furniture, machinery, and beverages.^[14]

Foshan Hi-Tech Development Zone was founded in 1992. Its total planned area is 7.55 km² (2.92 sq mi). The zone is very close to the national highway G325 as well as Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport. The major industries in the zone including automobile assembly, biotechnology and chemicals processing.^[15]

Demographics

The local people speak the Foshan dialect of Cantonese, one of its Sanyi forms.

Transportation

Foshan railway station

In 2013 to 2014, Foshan planned to improve public transportation by putting forward six measures:^[16]

FMetro

The first line of FMetro opened in 2010, and another two lines are under construction and due to be completed in 2015 and 2020.

The existing line of FMetro network:

• Line 1 (Guangfo Line): From Kuiqi Lu Station to Yangang Station

Rail

Foshan is a main interchange for railway routes linking Guangzhou, Hong Kong and western Guangdong Province. It is connected with Hong Kong via the KCRC Guangdong Through Train service from Foshan Railway Station, an inter-city train service that was extended from Guangzhou to Foshan in the 1990s.

Education

Foshan University's front gate

• Foshan University

Sports

Foshan will be one of the host cities for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.^[17] In October 2014 the city hosted The Foshan Open golf event on the European Challenge Tour.^[18]

Destinations

Foshan Ancestral Temple

• Foshan Ancestral Temple
• Nanfeng Kiln
• Liang's Garden

Sister cities

• Itami, Hyōgo, Japan
• La Possession, Réunion, France (since 1989)^[19]
• Port Louis, Mauritius
• Oakland, California, United States
• Markham, Ontario, Canada (Friendly co-operative)
• Townsville, Queensland, Australia
• Medway, United Kingdom
• Starogard Gdański, Poland
• St. George's, Grenada
• Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany (since 2013)^[20][21]

Notable people

• Wong Fei Hung (1847–1924), Hung Ga master and doctor, honored at a memorial hall in Chancheng.
• Ip Man (1893–1972), Wing Chun master and instructor of Bruce Lee.
• Wang Yue, (2009-2011), toddler killed in one of the most notorious examples of the bystander effect.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Foshan.

• Foshan travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Map of Foshan (in Chinese)

Largest cities or towns in China Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (2010)
	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.	Rank	Name	Province	Pop.
Shanghai Beijing	1	Shanghai	Shanghai	20,217,700	11	Foshan	Guangdong	6,771,900	Chongqing Guangzhou
	2	Beijing	Beijing	16,858,700	12	Nanjing	Jiangsu	6,238,200
	3	Chongqing	Chongqing	12,389,500	13	Shenyang	Liaoning	5,890,700
	4	Guangzhou	Guangdong	10,641,400	14	Hangzhou	Zhejiang	5,578,300
	5	Shenzhen	Guangdong	10,358,400	15	Xi'an	Shaanxi	5,399,300
	6	Tianjin	Tianjin	10,007,700	16	Harbin	Heilongjiang	5,178,000
	7	Wuhan	Hubei	7,541,500	17	Dalian	Liaoning	4,222,400
	8	Dongguan	Guangdong	7,271,300	18	Suzhou	Jiangsu	4,083,900
	9	Chengdu	Sichuan	7,112,000	19	Qingdao	Shandong	3,990,900
	10	Hong Kong	Hong Kong	7,055,071	20	Zhengzhou	Henan	3,677,000