Brief
1. Core City in the Pearl River Delta (PRD)
Located in central south of Guangdong Province and in the hinterland of Pearl River Delta, adjacent to Guangzhou to the east and Hong Kong and Macao to the south, it is the core city in PRD, where the economy is most developed in China. With warm climate and affluent rainfall, spring-like weather exists all the year round in Foshan. As a result, it has long been a land of abundance since the ancient times. Xijiang River and Beijiang River, part of the Pearl River System---one of the three largest valleys in China run through its territory.
Currently, Foshan has covered five Districts: Chancheng, Nanhai, Shunde, Gaoming and Sanshui, with the total area of 3848.49 km2, and the population of 5.86 million. Foshan is known as hometown of overseas Chinese. It is also the hometown for 1.48 million Overseas Chinese in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and other countries and regions. Among them, overseas Chinese from Hong Kong and Macao are up to 0.8 million.
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2. Unique Regional Advantage
Foshan is situated at the junction of East Asia and Southeast Asia with the developed economy in Asia-pacific region.
Guangzhou-Foshan Metropolis Region: Both Foshan and Guangzhou are situated in the middle of PRD to jointly form the Guangzhou-Foshan Metropolis Region. Owing to its prominent geographic advantages, Foshan is able to share such resources as traffic networks, financial capitals, talents and information with Guangzhou under its radiation and influence to promote the interaction and function complementation between different industries and accelerate the economic integration in this region and the process of urbanization. It is only one hour’s drive from downtown of Foshan to the three transportation hubs in Guangzhou (New Guangzhou International Airport, Guangzhou Nansha Port and Guangzhou Railway Station).
Foshan is adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao. It is 231 km and 143 km away from Hong Kong and Macao respectively. Foshan aims to accommodate its economic development with international standard, extensively involve itself in the world economy and realize the globalization by making use of the market advantages of Hong Kong.
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3. Profound background of History and Culture
Foshan, founded in Jin Dynasty and named in Tang Dynasty, is the well-known historical and cultural city in China. Five thousand years ago, people began to create original civilization by means of fishing, farming and fabricating ceramics. In the second year of Zhenguan rein in Tang Dynasty (AD 628), three figures of Buddha were unearthed at Tapo Hillock in the city and a stone tablet inscribed with the name of “Foshan” ever since.
Early in Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty (more than 1000 years ago), Foshan was a prosperous place with developed handicraft industry, commerce and culture. In Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, it developed into a prosperous town with swarms of merchants as well as developed industry and commerce. It was then honored as one of “Four Famous Towns” represented by Hankou Town in Hubei Province, Jingdezhen Town in Jiangxi Province and Zhuxianzhen Town in Henan Province. It was also regarded as one of “Four DistributionCenters” nationally together with Beijing, Suzhou and Hankou. Foshan has a long history of ceramic fabrication, and is crowned the name of “Capital of Ceramic in South China”.
The centuries-old historical civilization of Foshan has nurtured unique traditional Lingnan Culture. Foshan is known as the cradle of folk arts in PRD as well as the birthplace of Canton Opera, the “Red Bean in South China” and the martial arts. It is the hometown of prominent figures of Kungfu, represented by Li Xiaolong (Bruce Lee) and Huang Feihong. Culture of ceramics, martial arts, flower, herbal medicine, canton opera and Qiuse (parade celebrating autumn harvest) of Foshan enjoy high reputation both at home and abroad.
4. Grand Urban Development
Planning
2+5 City Cluster: Foshan plans to construct two new downtowns with a population of more than 1 million and five new downtowns with a population of more than 0.3 million to 0.50 million. The distance among the city clusters will be shortened with the establishment of modern communication network of express traffic line and high-speed information transmission network.
Key Construction Projects: in the coming five years, Foshan is planning to put into practice nine construction projects, and construct 155 key engineering projects with total investment of RMB 429 billion.
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