Day trips from Hong Kong: Foshan, for Bruce Lee memories, heritage shops, and a spot of nature
- Highlights of a visit to the Greater Bay Area city include Lingnan Tiandi, a redeveloped heritage area of boutiques and restaurants
- Xiqiao Shan has a national forest park and a national geological park, and Bruce Lee Paradise, south of the city, is a tribute to the martial arts star
Living in Hong Kong, I am aware that the Greater Bay Area has become a megalopolis, but there is still something astonishing about heading to Foshan, a city in the heart of the region.
The city centre is around 30 kilometres from Shunde, terminal of a ferry route from Hong Kong. The journey there passes clusters of high-rise flat blocks – many newly built and unoccupied, surviving villages with modern houses up to seven storeys high, motorways, railways, power lines strung from imposing pylons that line roads, then veer off to march across the landscape.
At times, the route leads over bridges spanning river channels. There are reminders of the delta’s role as a giant factory for the world, such as occasional power plants spewing steamy fumes, and a sprawling two-storey mall dedicated to selling steel goods for manufacturing. Otherwise, one part of the landscape looks much like any other. It is like travelling a boundless ocean of development.
Even Foshan itself has an oddly amorphous, haphazard quality. There are thoroughfares lined with shops, a smattering of malls and hotels, but at no point do you feel you have finally reached downtown.
Happily, however, there are rewarding places to visit and enjoy, akin to islands in this sea of soulless concrete sprawl.
The place to head when in Foshan is in the midst of the main city: Lingnan Tiandi, which roughly translates as “Cantonese World”. In October 2008, property company Shui On began a redevelopment project in a neighbourhood that includes 22 historic sites, some dating from the Qing dynasty.
Lingnan Tiandi includes a pedestrian-only district that is popular with residents and tourists alike. Here, you can roam narrow streets and alleys past restored two- and three-storey buildings with sturdy brick walls, some featuring tiled roofs and ear-shaped gables.