General Introduction
Foshan City
{General Introduction]
Situated in the midsouth of Guangdong and the middle of the Pearl River Delta and bordering Guangzhou eastward and Hong Kong and Macao southward, Foshan is the joint linking the central and western part of the Pearl River Delta. It administers 5 districts, covering an area of 3,848.49 square kilometers with 5,858,300 residents.
[History]
Foshan is a well-famed historical and cultural city. As three Buddha statues were unearthed in its Tapo Hill in 628, a stone monument was erected reading “Foshan” (Literally, Fo means “Buddha”, and Shan means “hill”), hence the name of the city. During the Tang (618-907) and Song Dynasty (960-1279), Foshan highly prospered in handicraft, commerce and culture. Amidst the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Foshan developed into a vital industrial and commercial town in Lingnan and was recognized as one of the “Four Famous Towns in China”, together with Hankou (in Hubei Province), Jingde (in Jiangxi Province) and Zhuxian (in Jiangsu Province). It led the country in becoming one of the seedbeds of China’s modern national industry.
[Economy]
Foshan, as one of the most important domestic and international manufacturing bases worldwide, has been awarded as “China’s Top 50 City Regarding Overall Economic Capacity”, “China’s Top 10 City Regarding Social and Economic Development”, and “China’s Ninth Ranking City Regarding Overall Competitiveness” respectively. Products made in Foshan boast a big market share home and abroad. Its home appliances production accounts for 15 percent of China’s total output, its world-leading microwave oven production takes up 48.6 percent of domestic total, camera production and aluminum alloy & stainless steel building material cluster consisting of electronic information, digital optical, environment-friendly home appliances, bioengineering and new material industry is under way in Foshan.
[Transportation]
As the linkage between the Pearl River Delta and west Guangdong as well as the gateway between the Pearl River Delta and southwest China, Foshan is 231 kilometers away from Hong Kong by land and 96 nautical miles by waterway as well as 143 kilometers away from Macao by land and 92 nautical miles by waterway respectively, both within 2 hours’ ride. Foshan is also within 1 hour’s drive from Guangzhou’s three major transport hubs including Guangzhou Airport, Nansha Port and New Guangzhou Railway Station. The Guangzhou-Foshan Subway in work, China’s first express intercity rail transport project, is expected to be completed in 2012, shortening the distance between Guangzhou to downtown Foshan to only 40-minute drive.
[Local Specialty]
Manggong (Blind Men) Cake, Yunzha (Braised and Binded) Trotters, Scallop Sauce Chicken, Xiangyun Gauze (Gambiered Canton Gauze), Embroidery, Colored Lantern, Wood Engraving Picture, Shiwan Ceramic, Shiwan Rice Wine, Nanhai Jiujiang Jiandui (Pastry), Pingzhou Shixia Longan, Shunde Fish Meat Dumpling, Daliang Double Skin Milk, Daliang Bengsha (Fried Pastry), Gaoming Rice Noodle, Heshui Watermelon, Sanshui Aquatic Product.
[Jiangmen City General Introduction]
Located in the west of the Pearl River Delta, facing South China Sea and adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, Jiangmen borders Foshan northward, and Yangjiang southward. Covering an area of 9,541 square kilometers with 420 kilometers’ coastline, Jiangmen administers three districts and four county-level cities, namely Taishan, Kaiping, Heshan and Enping, with a total of 4.1 million residents. It is historically known as “Wuyi” (five counties).
[History]
Jiangmen used to be a stopover of China’s ancient Maritime Silk Road. Jiangmen is also where the Sea Battle between the Song (960-1297) and Yuan Dynastry (1271-1368) occurred, which officially signified the ending of the Song Dynasty. Jiangmen Customs, one of the eight main customs in Guangdong, was founded in its Beijie Street in 1904. Jiangmen was proclaimed as a provincially administered municipality in 1951. Later on Jiangmen passed to the jurisdiction of Yuezhong Prefecture, Zhaoqing Prefecture and Foshan Prefecture respectively. The prefecture-level Jiangmen Municipality, a regional central municipality, was officially established in 1983, featuring a new mechanism with municipality administrating counties.
[Economy]
Jiangmen’s overall economic capacity has been remarkably expanded as a result of rapid economic development in recent years. Jiangmen was awarded as “China’s Top 100 City Regarding Economic Capacity” in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Newly developed industries, such as electronic information, auto part and fine chemical, are experiencing rapid growth while port-related industries, such as power generation, papermaking, iron & steel and building material, are in place. Jiangmen boasts 12 products as China Top Brand, 13 as National Inspection-Free Product, and 3 as China Famous Brand.
[Transportation]
As one of the three main road transport centers in Guangodng, transport network in Jiangmen is highly developed. Boasting a total of 7 expressways including Foshan-Kaiping Expressway, Kaiping-Yangjiang Expressway, Jiangmen-Heshan Expressway, Xinhui-Taishan Expressway, Western Coastal Expressway, Jiangmen-Zhongshan Expressway and Jiangmen-Zhuhai Expressway, Jiangmen tops the province and ranks second nationwide regarding total expressway mileage among all prefecture-level municipalities. Jiangmen is only 1 hour’s drive away from Guangzhou with a distance of 100 kilometers. Its is also easily accessible by sea with only 2 or 1 hour’s drive away from Hong Kong and Macao.
[Local Specialty]
Xinhui Palm Fan, Jiangmen Cloisonne, Porcelain Ostrich Egg, Sanhengwa Kitchen Knife, Enzhou Strange Stone Tea Set, Heshan Meiya Raschel.
