Where to Stay in Foshan, Guangdong

What is Foshan known for?

The masters Wong Fei-hung and Ip Man came from here, and the town honours them at the old Ancestral Temple, a Taoist shrine and kung-fu hall, while its potters still fire the dragon kilns of Shiwan and its stages ring with Cantonese opera. The delta towns crowd around. Kung fu and craft mark the city.

What are the main landmarks in Foshan?

The Ancestral Temple is the pride of Foshan. The old Taoist shrine, also a hall of the martial arts, stands in the heart of the city, the emblem of the town, among the delta streets. A living kiln still fires nearby.

The Nanfeng dragon kiln of Shiwan has burned for five hundred years, while the Wong Fei-hung hall and the Lingnan gardens mark the old craft city of Foshan.

What is the history of Foshan?

Foshan grew as a town of temples and craft. An old market of the delta, it took its name from Buddhas found in the ground, and it became a great centre of iron, silk, and pottery, its kilns at Shiwan firing the famous ceramics of the south. It bred fighters and reformers.

The town was a cradle of southern kung fu, giving the world the masters Wong Fei-hung and Ip Man, and it was the birthplace of the reformer Kang Youwei. Culture flowered in the delta town. Foshan became a heartland of Cantonese opera, its stages loud with song, and its craftsmen made lanterns, paper-cuts, and the fine gardens of the Lingnan style.

The delta grew into a great workshop. In our own age Foshan spread into a huge city of factories, joined almost to Guangzhou, making the goods of the world. The old Ancestral Temple still stands in the town.

Foshan keeps its kung fu and its kilns in the delta.

Where is Foshan?

Foshan lies in the Pearl River Delta of Guangdong in southern China, west of Guangzhou. The city spreads across the flat delta of rivers, canals, and fishponds, among the sprawl of the great southern conurbation, near the coast. Flat waterways lace the land.

The delta runs on to the sea.

What is the climate of Foshan?

Subtropical warmth and damp settle over Foshan the year round. Hot, wet summers and mild winters cross the delta, and the summer brings heavy rains and the typhoons, while the winters stay soft and green. Sea-damp air hangs over the land in summer.

The delta stays warm through the year.

How do you get to Foshan?

Foshan lies just west of Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta. The metro and the expressways link it to Guangzhou and the delta cities, and high-speed trains run to Hong Kong and the north. Buses run out to the other towns of the Pearl River Delta.

Most arrive by metro from Guangzhou.