Foshan: Kung Fu, Ceramics and Cantonese Kitchens

The Delta's Craft City

Foshan sits in the Pearl River delta twenty minutes from Guangzhou, and it is the source of two things Cantonese culture is known for worldwide: martial arts — the traditions associated with Wong Fei-hung and Ip Man both grew here — and ceramics, fired in the Shiwan kilns for centuries. Add ancestral halls, Lingnan gardens and some of the best everyday Cantonese cooking in the region, and it earns a day or two.

Martial Arts and Ancestral Halls

The city's martial heritage is celebrated in museums and in the ancestral halls, whose roof ridges carry some of the densest ceramic sculpture in southern China. Watching a morning class in a park or a martial arts school is easy and free, and the intensity of the practice is the point rather than a performance.

Shiwan Ceramics

The Shiwan kilns have produced household and sculptural ceramics since the Ming dynasty, and the tradition is still working: studios and museums in the Shiwan district show the process and sell pieces from the utilitarian to the collectable. Look for the glazes and the figurative sculpture — housewares and figures of folk characters are the local specialities.

Lingnan Gardens and Food

The Lingnan gardens — the classical garden style of the delta — are smaller and more shaded than Jiangnan's, and Foshan's are among the best surviving examples. Food is Cantonese and unfussy: congee, roast meats, double-skin milk desserts and claypot rice, eaten at street level.

Frequently Asked Questions