Foshan 佛山Fóshān
Kung fu heroes, lion dancers and a dragon kiln built in 1506

About Foshan
Foshan, one of the 'four great towns' of Ming and Qing China, is regarded as the cradle of Cantonese opera and was the birthplace of the kung fu masters Wong Fei-hung and Ip Man. The Foshan Ancestral Temple keeps an opera stage of 1658, and Shiwan's Nanfeng Kiln is a sloping dragon kiln first built in 1506. Shunde, a UNESCO City of Gastronomy since 2014, has Qinghui Garden, one of Guangdong's four great gardens, and Mount Xiqiao is an extinct volcano of 72 peaks.
What to eat in Foshan
- Double-skin milk (双皮奶)
- Daliang stir-fried milk (大良炒牛奶)
- Blind man's biscuits (盲公饼)
Listed sites in Foshan
20 sites in Foshan are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.
- Changlu Tourism and Leisure Park 长鹿旅游休博园 5A scenic area · on the map
A privately built leisure park of about 600 mu (40 hectares) in Lunjiao, Shunde, which grew out of the Changlu farm resort opened in the early 2000s and was rated a 5A scenic area in 2014. - Mount Xiqiao 西樵山 5A scenic area · National heritage site
An extinct volcano of 72 peaks rising from the Pearl River Delta plain in Nanhai District, covering 14 km² and topped by the 346 m Dacheng Peak, with waterfalls, springs and wooded paths. - CCTV Nanhai Studio 南海影视城 4A scenic area
A film and television base of China Media Group (CCTV) in Shishan, Nanhai, begun in 1996 with street sets of old Hong Kong and Macau built for dramas about the two cities. - Chencun Flower World 陈村花卉世界 4A scenic area · on the map
The heart of the flower and ornamental-plant trade in Chencun, a Shunde town promoted as 'China's first flower town', where nurseries, plant markets and display gardens spread across the area. - Foshan Ancestral Temple 佛山祖庙 4A scenic area · National heritage site
A Daoist temple to the Northern Emperor (Beidi), the water god revered as Foshan's protector, founded in the Northern Song (1078–1085), rebuilt in 1372 and restored throughout in 1899. - Lecong International Furniture Exhibition Centre 乐从国际家居汇展中心 4A scenic area · on the map
A furniture trade complex of two showroom towers at the head of the furniture strip on Lecong Avenue, in a Shunde town that its government describes as home to the world's largest furniture market. - Louvre International Furniture Expo Centre 罗浮宫国际家具艺术博览中心 4A scenic area · on the map
A large furniture showroom complex in Lecong, Shunde, run by the Louvre (Luofugong) home-furnishings group, whose Chinese name is that of the Paris museum. - Menglishuixiang Scenic Area, Lishui 梦里水乡 4A scenic area · on the map
A scenic area of flower parks and waterside villages in Lishui town, northern Nanhai, rated a 4A scenic area in 2018. - Nanfeng Kiln 南风古灶 4A scenic area · National heritage site
A Ming-dynasty dragon kiln in Shiwan, built on a slope in 1506–1521 and fired continuously for about 500 years, a record recognised by Guinness World Records. - Nanhai Bay Forest Eco-park 南海湾森林生态园 4A scenic area · on the map
A forested hill park on the western side of Xiqiao in Nanhai district, laid out along the Yinxi stream with an easy streamside trail and shallow spots where children paddle. - Pingzhou Jade Street 平洲玉器街 4A scenic area · on the map
A district of jade workshops, trading halls and shops in Pingzhou, Guicheng subdistrict of Nanhai, which grew into one of China's main markets for jadeite (feicui), much of it rough stone from Myanmar, and a centre of bangle making. - Qinghui Garden 清晖园 4A scenic area · National heritage site
One of the four great classical gardens of Guangdong, created in Daliang by five generations of the Long family on the site of a Ming-dynasty garden and given its name in 1806. - Sanshui Forest Park 三水森林公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A large forest park on the northern outskirts of Xinan in Sanshui District, covering more than 120,000 mu (about 80 km²) of wooded hills, reservoirs and lakes. - Sanshui Lotus World 三水荷花世界 4A scenic area · on the map
A lotus park of nearly 1,000 mu (about 65 hectares) in Sanshui District, opened in 2000 and rated a 4A scenic area in 2005, with about 200 mu of lotus ponds among its gardens and an amusement-ride area. - Yingxiang Eco-Park 盈香生态园 4A scenic area · on the map
A large rural tourism park in Hecheng, Gaoming, organised around the seasons: flower fields in spring, water play in summer, hill walks in autumn and farm food in winter. - Zaomu Mountain 皂幕山 4A scenic area · on the map
The highest mountain in Foshan, in the south of Gaoming District, named 'black curtain' for the dense dark forest that covers its slopes. - Zinan Village 紫南村 4A scenic area · on the map
A village in Nanzhuang town, Chancheng District, that has made its Lingnan water-village setting into a cultural tourism area and is listed as a national key village for rural tourism and a national study-tour base. - Donghuali Historic Lane 东华里 National heritage site
A historic residential lane in central Foshan, first called Yangwu Street after the Yang and Wu families who lived here in the early Qing and renamed Donghuali in the Qianlong period. - Kang Youwei's Former Residence 康有为故居 National heritage site · on the map
The birthplace and childhood home of Kang Youwei (1858–1927), the leading figure of the 1898 Hundred Days' Reform, in Su village, Danzao town, known locally as the Yanxiang Old House. - Shunde Sugar Factory Early Buildings 顺德糖厂 National heritage site · on the map
The surviving early buildings of a sugar refinery founded in 1934 on the north bank of the Desheng River under Chen Jitang's Guangdong administration, built by the Czech firm Škoda and in production from November 1935.
On the map
Open Foshan on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.
Open Foshan on the map