Foshan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Administration Type | Prefecture-level city |
| City Seat | Chancheng District () |
| Area - Total - Urban center | 3,813.64 km² 153.69 km² |
| Population - Total - Urban center | 3,389,000 (2002) 960,000; |
| GDP - Total - Per Capita | ¥165.37 billion (2004) ¥ |
| Major Nationalities | Han |
| County-level divisions | 5 |
| Township-level divisions | 64 |
| CPC Committee Secretary | Huang Longyun (黄龙云) |
| Mayor | Liang Shaotang (梁绍棠) |
| Area code | 757 |
| Postal Code | 528000-528300, 528500 |
| License Plate Prefix | 粤E |
Foshan (Chinese: 佛山; pinyin: 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).
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[edit] 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.
[edit] Transportation
[edit] 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. The inter-city through train service was extended from Guangzhous to Foshan since the 1990s.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Economy
[edit] 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.
[edit] Manufacturing industries
Following Shenzhen and Guangzhou, Foshan is the third largest manufacturing base in the Pearl River Delta. Foshan used to have a strong State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) sector but its current economic strength lies in the privates firms and Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs) in Shunde and Nanhai. The private firms contributed 56.12% of the industrial output while Hong Kong/ Macau/ Taiwan funded firms contributed 63.44% of export in Foshan in 2002.
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
Towns in Foshan are specializing in a particular industry known as "pillar industry" as follow:
- Beijiao Town （顺德北滘）for household electrical appliance
- Chencun Town （顺德陈村）for flower and horticulture
- Dali Town （南海大沥）for aluminium products
- Lecong Town （顺德乐从）for furniture production and distribution
- Nanzhuang Town （南海南庄）for building materials
- Xiqiao Town （南海西樵）for tourism and textile products
- Yanbu Town （南海盐步）for underclothes
Such feature of industrial pillars, as a common and distinctive feature in the development of industries in the Pearl River Delta, developed brands like Midea, Kelon & Jianlibao which are the famous throughout China and overseas. Whereas Foshan's furniture & lighting industry is known as the world's largest furniture wholesale market & the world's largest lighting wholesale market.
[edit] Development strategy
Foshan aims to become a manufacturing giant and the third largest city in Guangdong. It will make large-scale investment in the construction of the infrastructure such as transportation, energy. Urban development will focus on two central urban districts: the central urban group and Shunde urban group each with more than one million inhabitants.
[edit] Tourism
- Ancestors' Temple (祖庙)
- Renshou Pagoda
- Folk Arts & Crafts Center
[edit] 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.
[edit] External links
- Government website of Foshan (available in Chinese and English)
- Map of Foshan (in Simplified Chinese)
- Location of Foshan (on Google Maps)
Prefecture-level divisions of Guangdong
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| List of Guangdong County-level divisions |
