Foshan now governs Chancheng District, Nanhai District, Shunde District, Gaoming District and Sanshui District. The city has a total area of 3848.49 square kilometers and a permanent population of 5.923 million, of which the registered population is 36 1. 1 10,000. Foshan is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese, with 6.5438+0.48 million overseas Chinese and compatriots from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, including more than 800,000 compatriots from Hong Kong and Macao.
Foshan is located at the intersection of East Asia and Southeast Asia, and the Asia-Pacific economy is active. It is geographically connected with Guangzhou and has the same history and culture. It is also located in the middle of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone with the most economic strength and vitality in China. * * * jointly build the "Guangfo Economic Circle". With its unique geographical advantages, Foshan can fully accept the radiation and drive of Guangzhou, and share resources such as infrastructure, transportation network, financial capital, talent education, scientific and technological information and market services with Guangzhou, so as to achieve close ties, industrial linkage and complementary functions, and accelerate the process of regional economic integration and urbanization. Foshan city is 1 hour drive from Guangzhou's three major transportation hubs (Guangzhou New Baiyun Airport, Guangzhou Nansha Port and Guangzhou Railway Station). Foshan is adjacent to Hong Kong and Macao, with a distance of 23 1km and 143km respectively. It takes about 2 hours by car, which enables Foshan to make full use of Hong Kong and Macao's market advantages and status as an international metropolis and promote Foshan's extensive participation in the world economy and internationalization process.
[A famous cultural city with the integration of history and modernity]
Foshan, formerly known as Ji Hua Township, is a famous historical and cultural city with a long history and profound cultural background. According to textual research, Foshan's human history originated from Shi Lan Street in Chancheng District. About 4500-5500 years ago, the ancestors of Baiyue came here along the Xijiang River and Beijiang River to thrive and create primitive civilization by fishing and pottery making. In the second year of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty (AD 628), because three Buddha statues were excavated on Tapogang in the city, they thought this place was a place of Buddhism, so they set up a stone table and changed Ji Hua Township to "Foshan".
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the handicraft industry, commerce and culture in Foshan were very prosperous. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, it developed into an important town in Lingnan, with many businessmen and developed industry and commerce. Together with Hankou Town in Hubei, Jingdezhen Town in Jiangxi and Zhuxian Town in Henan, it is also called the "Four Famous Towns" in China, and the "Four Great Meetings" in the world with Beijing, Hankou and Suzhou. The four major industries of ceramics, textiles, casting and medicine in the south are very prosperous. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Foshan became one of the cradles of modern national industries in China. The first new reeling factory and the first match factory in China were born one after another, and the "Bamboo Mouth Factory of Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company" was established.
The long history has given birth to the unique charm of Lingnan traditional culture. Foshan is known as the hometown of pottery, Cantonese opera, martial arts, Guangzhou yarn center, Lingnan medicine center, southern casting center and folk art center.
Foshan is the "Tao Dou of South China", and its pottery has a long history of more than 700 years. Since ancient times, it has had the reputation of "Shiwanwa is the best in the world". Nanfeng ancient stove, built in Zhengde period of Ming Dynasty, is the oldest firewood burning dragon kiln in the world. It has been handed down from generation to generation for more than 400 years and is known as the "living fossil of ceramics". In 2005, Foshan won the title of "Ceramic Capital of China".
Foshan is the birthplace of Cantonese opera Southern Red Bean. The nickname of Cantonese opera artists-"Children of the Red Boat", the earliest organization of Cantonese opera-Qionghua Guild Hall was born. It is a major feature of Foshan culture that folk spontaneously organize Cantonese opera to sing Private Bureau, which lasts for a long time. The Qionghua Cantonese Opera Art Festival, held every year, makes Foshan present a grand occasion of "berthing a red boat in the sand at night and watching Qionghua by thousands of people".
Foshan is the "hometown of Lingnan medicine". The ancient prescription medicine has a history of more than 400 years, and its products are complete, which can be divided into seven categories: ointment, Dan, pill, powder, tea, oil and wine. It is an essential Chinese patent medicine for artisans, families and tourists, and a number of time-honored and famous medicines such as "Huangxianghua" Ruyi oil, "popular" medicinal liquor and "Yuanjilin" Ganhe tea have emerged.
The foundry industry in Foshan began more than 2000 years ago. Pots, pots, bells and towers cast in Foshan in the Song Dynasty were famous all over the country. By the Ming Dynasty, Foshan's casting technology had reached a fairly high level and became the smelting center of South China. During the Opium War, the cannons cast in Foshan played an important role in resisting foreign invasion. Foshan is a famous hometown of Wushu and the main birthplace of Wushu in southern China. In the early Ming Dynasty, Foshan Wushu was quite popular. At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, there were many martial arts schools in Foshan, and a number of internationally influential martial artists and martial arts organizations emerged and went to the world through various channels. Nowadays, many boxing styles and schools, such as Cai Lifo Boxing, Hong Boxing and Wing Chun Boxing, which are widely circulated in the world, all follow Foshan, and so do the ancestral homes and students of Bruce Lee, a famous martial arts master and martial arts star. In 2004, Foshan was awarded the title of "Wushu City". Foshan is the "hometown of lion art" and the birthplace of southern lions. Dragon and lion dance is a sports activity integrating martial arts, dance and music, and it is also one of the important events of Foshan Wushu. The annual "Lion King Competition" has attracted the participation of martial arts lovers at home and abroad. Chancheng District is the "hometown of dragon and lion sports", and Xiqiao Town in Nanhai District is the only "hometown of dragon and lion" in China.
Foshan is the cradle of folk art in the Pearl River Delta, which breeds and retains a large number of folk arts and folk customs that embody the essence of Lingnan culture, such as autumn scenery, lion dance, dragon dance, dragon boat rap and dragon boat race. Traditional handicrafts such as autumn colors, paper-cutting, woodcut New Year pictures, pottery sculptures, gray carvings and brick carvings are exquisite and unique. At present, 13 projects, such as lion dance, Cantonese opera, dragon boat rap, Foshan woodblock New Year pictures, Guangdong paper-cutting, Shiwan pottery sculpture skills, lion head, Xiangyun yarn dyeing and finishing skills, temple fair, autumn scenery, Fan Shi, dragon lion and lantern, have been selected into the national intangible cultural heritage list. The traditional custom of "promoting economic development", which began in the early Qing Dynasty and flourished on the 16th day of the first month in Qianlong period, has been well continued to this day and has been gradually endowed with modern colors. Now it is more and more vigorous, with hundreds of thousands of people participating every year. Foshan has a long history of food culture and is the "hometown of food" in the Pearl River Delta. Foshan is one of the cradles of Cantonese cuisine and is known as "Eating in Guangdong and Learning in Foshan". Foshan has always been famous at home and abroad for its rich folk recipes, numerous restaurants and superb cooking skills. In 2004, Shunde was named "the hometown of chefs in China" by China Cuisine Association. In order to promote Foshan food culture, the "Foshan Food Festival" held during the "Eleventh" period every year has become a grand tourism festival integrating food, tourism, culture and art.
Since ancient times, Foshan has been rich in humanities and talented people. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, there have been nine champions in Guangdong, and Foshan ranks fifth. The Ming and Qing Dynasties were "a humanistic country with equal emphasis on both Qi and Qi". In modern times, Kang Youwei, the leader of the Reform Movement, political activists Zhang, Dai Hongci, Tan Pingshan, He Xiangning, Luo Dengxian and Deng Pei, national industrialists Chen Qiyuan, Jane and Jane Yujie, scientists Zhan Tianyou and Zou, writers Wu, Cantonese opera stars, Ma Shiceng, martial arts masters Liang Zan, Bruce Lee and famous doctors were born.
Foshan attaches great importance to the inheritance and development of culture. In recent years, while strengthening the protection and utilization of cultural heritage, we have constantly improved the public cultural service system, comprehensively promoted public cultural and artistic industries such as radio and television coverage, overall conversion of cable digital TV, digital projection of rural movies, sharing of cultural information resources (including joint libraries) and the "farmer's bookstore" project, and built urban cultural brands. A series of cultural activities of "Charming Foshan" were launched. In 2007, it successfully hosted the rematch of Music and Quyi 14 "Stars Award", and the comprehensive renovation project of the ancestral hall was officially launched. The "Foshan Excellent Achievement Award for Philosophy and Social Sciences" was established.
[Commercial city with strong economic strength]
Since the reform and opening-up, Foshan, under the guidance of Scientific Outlook on Development, has been innovating ideas, changing the development mode, promoting the sound and rapid coordinated development of economic and social undertakings, and continuously improving the comprehensive strength of the city. Since 2003, the city's GDP has grown at an average annual rate of 18.7%. It is estimated that the city's GDP will reach 358.85 billion yuan in 2007, an increase of 19.2%. According to the resident population, the per capita output value is 609 17 yuan (equivalent to 7956 US dollars), an increase of 18%. According to "Blue Book of China's Urban Competitiveness in 2007" issued by China Academy of Social Sciences, Foshan's comprehensive urban competitiveness ranks 9th among major cities in China (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). Foshan is also one of the top ten "Best Business Cities in Chinese mainland in 2007" published by Forbes Chinese Edition.
As early as the early days of reform and opening up, Foshan established the policy of accelerating the development of private economy, and successively formulated a series of specific measures to protect and promote private enterprises to become stronger and bigger. The rapid economic development of private enterprises in the city and the gratifying situation of promoting development have become an important force to promote the sustained and rapid economic development of Foshan. Since 2003, private industries above designated size have grown at an average annual rate of over 30%. In 2007, the total output value of private industries above designated size was 4,833.79 yuan, an increase of 34.3%, accounting for 57.5% of the total output value of industries above designated size.
Foshan is one of the earliest commercial ports in the history of China. Since the reform and opening up, it has become one of the earlier commodity export bases in China, and its products have been exported to more than 100 countries and regions. At present, Foshan has innovated the mechanism of attracting investment and introduced preferential policies to reduce business costs and attract foreign investment with remarkable results. In 2007, the actual utilization of foreign direct investment in the city was $65.438+57.3 million, an increase of 38.3%; The total import and export value was US$ 37.85 billion, up by 22.2%, of which US$ 26/kloc-0.90 billion was imported, up by 23.9%, 87 projects with an investment of over US$ 0.00 million were introduced, and 7 Fortune 500 projects were added. Chimei thin film liquid crystal, Invista spandex and other leading projects with high technology content and strong driving ability have been introduced. At present, 39 Fortune 500 companies such as DuPont, Tyco, Nortel, Siemens, Bosch, Aventis, Total, Dutch Shell, Stora Enso, Luxembourg Arcelorè s, Toyota, Aisin Seiki, Samsung, Posco and China Baosteel have invested in 77 projects in Foshan, and 73 domestic Fortune 500 companies have invested 10.
In recent years, Foshan has actively built the Guangfo Economic Circle with Guangzhou. In 2007, with the construction of Guangzhou-Foshan rail transit as a breakthrough, we actively promoted the traffic network and industrial cooperation with Guangzhou. Constantly strengthen economic and trade cooperation with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and other parts of the country. It has successively established economic and trade cooperation relations with Yanbian, Jilin, Hezhou, Wuzhong, Ningxia and Honghe, Yunnan. The local government and people actively carried out friendly exchanges with foreign countries, and successively established sister city relations with the Japanese city of Itan, the Mauritian city of Port Louis, the American city of Stockton, the French city of Poseidon in Reunion Province, and the Australian city of townsville.
[Beautiful Lingnan Water Town] Foshan has profound historical and cultural heritage and rich tourism resources. Foshan ancestral temple, Xiqiao Mountain, Nanfeng ancient stove, Qinghui Garden, Zaopingfeng Mountain, Nanguo Taoyuan, Chencun Flower World and Sanshui Lotus World were rated as "the New Eight Scenes of Foshan". Among them, Foshan ancestral temple is known as "the palace of oriental art", which integrates ancient ceramics, wood carving, casting and architectural art; Xiqiao Mountain is a national-level scenic spot with the reputation of "two famous mountains in southern Guangdong". Shunde Qinghui Garden and Foshan Liangyuan are four famous gardens in Guangdong in Qing Dynasty. Gaoming Zaoping Mountain is the highest peak in Foshan. Chencun Flower World is the largest flower production and trading base and flower culture theme park in southern China. Sanshui Lotus World is a large-scale lotus ecological park with rich variety resources in the world. There are Li Donghua, Kang Youwei's former residence, Baolin Temple, Lubao Ancestral Hall, Huang Feihong Memorial Hall and Bruce Lee Memorial Hall, which allow visitors to appreciate the unique Lingnan culture. At present, Foshan's characteristic tourism with the theme of history and culture, southern martial arts, business exhibitions, industrial sightseeing, leisure and vacation, shopping and food, and beautifying home is in the ascendant. In 2007, the main tourist attractions in the city received 22.02 million tourists, and the tourism income reached 654.38+05.978 billion yuan.
Foshan is a unique Lingnan water town with dense river network and beautiful ecological environment. This year, with the goal of "promoting change in three years", Foshan has implemented the project of "green hills, green spaces, blue sky and clear water", unified road planning and greening standards in the city, constantly strengthened environmental improvement, infrastructure construction and urban management, comprehensively improved the living environment, and built Foshan into a garden city more suitable for living and entrepreneurial development, creating "blue sky, clear water and green space" for the city. At present, the water quality compliance rate of drinking water sources in the city is 100%, and the days when the ambient air reaches good (API is less than or equal to 100) are 35 1 day. In 2007, Foshan established a national environmental protection model city and passed the acceptance of the State Environmental Protection Administration. There are 18 national health towns, 3 provincial health towns, 44 provincial ecological demonstration towns,/kloc-0 national ecological villages and 2 towns with beautiful environment.
Chancheng District: Located in the middle of the urban area, it is the seat of Foshan Municipal People's Government, with a total area of 154.02 square kilometers and a population of 597,000. Administer a town (three streets). In 2007, the region's GDP was 68.384 billion yuan, an increase of 65.438+09.2%. Chancheng District actively implements the strategy of "Excellent Two Enters Three", constantly promotes the development of urban economy and fine economy, and improves the comprehensive competitiveness of the central city, taking on a new look. Chancheng District is an important ceramic exhibition, research and development, logistics information center and ceramic art and cultural tourism center in China. It has a number of leading large ceramic enterprises and famous ceramic brands such as Eagle Brand, Dong Peng, Xinzhongyuan, New Pearl, Diamond, Golden Rudder and Shangyuan, and the distribution capacity of China Ceramic City and Huaxia Ceramic Expo City ranks among the top in China. In 2007, the construction of China ceramic industry headquarters will promote the development of ceramic industry to a higher level, such as brand, R&D, logistics, exhibition and headquarters economy. Pillar industries such as machinery, electronics, plastic products, knitting, children's wear and non-ferrous metals have developed steadily, and the headquarters economy and creative industries have developed rapidly.
Nanhai District: Located in the middle of the city, with an area of 1074.05 square kilometers and a population of1143,000, it governs 8 towns (streets). In 2007, the GDP of the whole region was12169.7 billion yuan, an increase of 20.8%. Nanhai District ranked fifth among the top 100 counties (cities, districts) in China in 2005. Nanhai District has always adhered to the concept of "development wins", firmly grasped the development theme, vigorously developed industries, and built a modern manufacturing base. Traditional industries such as household appliances and non-ferrous metals have developed to the high end, and emerging industries such as LCD TVs, auto parts and electronic information have accelerated their agglomeration, and major breakthroughs have been made in financial services, animation online games and software services. Nanhai District is a national informatization pilot city, and its information infrastructure construction, information technology application and information industry development are at the forefront of the country. Nanhai Software Science Park is one of the four major software parks supported by Guangdong Province. The leading industries are non-ferrous metal processing, textiles and clothing, decorative boards, hardware, shoemaking and tanning, toys and so on. The rapid development of private economy is the main force of economic growth in the whole region.
Shunde District: located in the south of the city, with an area of 806.55 square kilometers, population 1 19. 10000 people, and governs 10 towns (streets). In 2007, the regional GDP was127.925 billion yuan, an increase of 18%. Shunde District ranked second among the top 100 counties (cities, districts) in China in 2005. Shunde District is an important production base of household appliances, paints and furniture in China. It has formed a modern industrial system based on high technology and supported by light manufacturing industries such as household appliances, machinery manufacturing, information, electronic communication, building materials and furniture, and has a large number of provincial famous trademarks and brand-name products. Shunde District focuses on the construction of headquarters economic park, capital of white goods, hot spot of independent innovation, modern logistics base and eco-friendly city. At present, Country Garden, Midea, Xishan Furniture and many other well-known enterprises have set their headquarters in Shunde District.
Gaoming District: Located in the west of the urban area, with an area of 960 square kilometers and a population of 292,000. Now it has jurisdiction over 4 towns (streets). In 2007, the region's GDP was 27.276 billion yuan, an increase of 24.0%. Gaoming District ranked 36th among the top 100 counties (cities, districts) in China in 2005. Gaoming has a high degree of comprehensive agricultural development, and owns many well-known agricultural products brands, including "He Hui Pueraria lobata" and other national geographical indication products. With Guangdong Yida as the leader, the industry has formed a relatively complete industrial system focusing on textiles, chemicals, plastics, building materials, household appliances and metal products. Gaoming has a beautiful ecological environment with a forest coverage rate of 45.2%. Zaojiao Mountain, the highest peak in Foshan, is located in it. The unique natural environment has formed a rare "landscape capital" in the Pearl River Delta and won the title of the first batch of "green famous counties (districts)" in Guangdong Province.
Sanshui District: Located in the northern part of the urban area, with an area of 874.22 square kilometers and a population of 389,000, it governs 5 towns (streets), 1 economic zone. In 2007, the region's GDP was 33,465.438 billion yuan, an increase of 22.5%. Sanshui District ranked 2 1 among the top 100 counties (cities, districts) in China in 2005. Sanshui District actively implements the development strategy of "strong industrial area", devotes itself to energy conservation, emission reduction and ecological environment protection, and promotes the coordinated development of economic development and environment. It has formed a leading industrial cluster with beverages, packaging, metal products, plastic products, electronic appliances and chemical industry as the backbone and internationally renowned beverage Jianlibao as the representative, which is known as the "hometown of longevity". In recent years, Sanshui District has made full use of the location advantages adjacent to Guangzhou New Baiyun International Airport to vigorously develop the airport economy and made initial progress.