Foshan, you have really changed! In the past, the traffic was inconvenient and there were not as many roads as it is now. It took a long time to go to other places, like Guangzhou. The buildings were not as high, with less population in the city. The neighbours were familiar to each other. The entertainment choices were a lot fewer. People were happy when they paid a visit to a park. Life has had great changes before we know it. Can you feel any of them?
In 2006, Dafu Road was renamed Lingnan Avenue, and since then it has been extended north to Foshan New City, becoming the central axis linking Chancheng to Foshan New City. But in fact, before the reform and opening up, this was still a very short road, connecting with Weiguo Road in the north with small street shops on both sides.
Donghua Li, the charm of Lingnan, was once the street for the powerful and the wealthy in Foshan. Later the area was renovated, which made it a prefect integration of history and modernity.
With the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the consumption that once flowed to Hong Kong and Macao has returned to the local areas. Donghua Li was transformed into Lingnan Tiandi. On the basis of retaining the historical charm of the project, it has introduced more international fashion brands. It has transformed from the cultural, business and tourism projects that tourists like to visit to the fashion and social destinations where local young people love to hang out.
Jihua Warehouse is a shopping paradise for old Foshan citizens. It attracted a large number of loyal customers with its high-quality goods at a low price. Every year before the Spring Festival, every family would come here to buy New Year goods. Now it has replaced by CRW Fashion City.
Foshan Creative Industrial Park was transformed from the original twelve old factories, which is a really successful transformation. Today, there is a strong literary and artistic atmosphere here, with food from all over the world.
Foshan Creative Industrial Park is on Jihua Road, Foshan City, covering an area of 180 mu and a building area of 200,000 square meters. After transformation, the twelve processing plants have become more than 500 creative enterprises, forming a cluster of cultural industries, productive services, and high-end life supporting services. Creative Park is committed to creating a special economic zone, life zone, and cultural zone for urban white-collar workers that integrates food, leisure, entertainment, shopping, gathering and leisure. Since its establishment, it has attracted many enterprises to settle in, including 40 characteristic catering enterprises, with the proportion of business area and main business status no more than 10%. As a living support for nearly 20000 white-collar workers in the park, these catering enterprises come from different regions. They not only provide convenience for the life of white-collar workers in the park, but also become an important place for leisure and entertainment in the hearts of Foshan citizens.
A pan-home e-commerce creative park
The predecessor of the park was the old workshop of a ceramic factory. After a few years of transformation, this land has completed the magnificent transformation from the old factory building to the pan-furniture e-commerce creative park, from the original industrial workers gathering place to a where young makers’ dreams start.
From a farmland to a “living room” of Nanhai City, Qiandeng Lake Park, a cross-century renovation project, is a microcosm of Nanhai's urbanization. The delightful scenery and convenient transportation have attracted many large-scale luxury real estate and contiguous commercial projects, and more and more industrial carriers have settled here.
Kuixing Pavilion is located at the top of Leigang Mountain. In the old days, people came to this pavilion to worship Wenquxing (a constellation of art subjects in ancient China) in order to gain good grades in exams. It was later demolished and rebuilt on the original site in 2012. Today, the Kuixing Pavilion is the visual center of the entire Qiandeng Lake. From the highest point, you can overlook the beautiful scenery of Chancheng and Guicheng.
Sanshan New Town
Sanshan used to be a fishing village with a history of more than 40 years, but it still retains the original life style of the villagers in the Pearl River Delta. As it is located in the forefront of Guangzhou-Foshan metropolitan business district, this golden land was planned as Hong Kong City in 2015, and it is now a modern new city full of charm.
Since 2006, the renovation construction has been started in the area. The whole disordered low bungalows have been demolished and replaced by high-rise office buildings and standardized workshops. From the waste steel trading market to the national environmental protection industry gathering area, Hantian science and technology city is an excellent example of the transformation of Foshan's village-level industrial park.
Pingzhou Jade Street was originally an old street where thousands of private jade workshops gathered. The renovation started in 2005, and now it is one of the seven characteristic pedestrian streets in Foshan, which is rated as national 4A scenic spot.
Pingzhou Jade Street is located in Yong'an Road, Guicheng Street, Nanhai District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province. It is quite famous in the industry, with the largest production and sales volume, ranking first in the four major jade markets in China. There are more than 1000 Jade Manufacturers in Pingzhou Jade Street, with more than 8000 employees. About 5000 tons of Myanmar Jadeite are purchased and processed every year. The total market sales of jadeite products exceed 2 billion yuan. On-site testing services are also provided to ensure the authenticity of the goods.
In 2003, on a sparsely populated farmland in Shunde, a rapid city building movement began. A few years later, a new central city of Foshan rose. Foshan New City, is also known as Dongping New City. It is located in the hinterland of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. It is the 21st century CBD under construction in Foshan.
Rongqi Shichu was the most glorious grain trade export station in Ronggui in the 1960s. Now, the wharf has changed into a brand new appearance, and has become a new commercial landmark for nostalgia, leisure and entertainment.
Where CIC creative Industrial Park is standing now was a bicycle parts factory with a history of 40 years. Today, it has become a post industrial art and creative park built in Ronggui, and it is also one of the most literary and artistic places in Ronggui.
This new creative landmark of Ronggui covers an area of 16000m² and integrates office, industrial design, and food culture. It is one of the most artistic and artistic places in Foshan. Here, the bits of literature and art can be captured everywhere, and you can take pictures and have fun all day.
678 Cultural Street is located in the Lunjiao Sanzhou Community. This old street of only a few hundred meters reproduces the style of Lunjiao Sanzhou in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. The old-style barber shop, the historical People’s Hall, the granary, the Dazhou Bay and the Hejia Bay with water town characteristics. The street is full of memories.
In 2011, the construction of the core area of the Xijiang New City was officially launched, and a tidal flat on the edge of the Xijiang River was developed into a “name card” of Gaoming District.
Convenient passages, neat layouts, high-rise buildings... Xijiang New City is located in the southwest of Foshan City, east of Gaoming District, starting from Xijiang River in the East, adjacent to the original Gaoming City in the south, Cangjiang Industrial Park and CRRC base, the new material industry base of the national Torch Program in the west, Guangming Expressway and the science and Education University Park of our district in the north. It is an important part of the large-scale urban cluster of Foshan City. As the core of Gaoming City in the future, developments are expected.
Hecheng Paradise, once filled with childhood memories of the generations born in the 80s and 90s in Gaoming, was transformed into Century Plaza in 1999, and now it is further transformed into a riverside landscape belt. Although the former paradise has been beyond recognition, in the hearts of the old Gaoming neighbors, this paradise that brought them laughter will not be forgotten.
The Kuigang Pagoda has a history of more than 400 years and is the oldest cultural relic protection unit in Sanshui. Thirty years ago, there was farmland near Wenta. And now, it stands in the center of Wenta Park in Xinan Sub-district, surrounded by green trees and lake, witnessing the changes of Sanshui.
Confluence of three rivers
Sixian Jiao, the confluence of the three rivers, has been a vital waterway. With the development of the city, now it is a transportation hub integrating shipping, high-speed rails and light rails.
What other city landmarks that have huge changes do you know?
