4 Days Foshan Culture Seeking with Guangzhou Must-sees

Day 1 Guangzhou Arrival

Airport / Train Station Pick Up

Welcome to Guangzhou, the City of Rams! Situated in south China, Guangzhou is a “hot” metropolis for relaxation, food exploration, business communication and seeking of culture, history, arts of Lingnan Area. Upon your arrival, your local guide and driver will meet you at the arrival hall of Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport or railway stations in Guangzhou and then escort you to your hotel in downtown and help you check in. The rest of the day is free on your own to take a nice break or explore this city.

Arrival Idea: Guangzhou is a large international city with great transportation connections including many international and domestic flights to and from. Furthermore, high speed trains are quite convenient from most domestic cities including Hong Kong (about 1 hour), Shenzhen (0.5-1.5 hours), Guilin (2.5-3.5 hours), Beijing (8-10 hours), Shanghai (7-8.5 hours), Chengdu (9-10 hours), Guiyang (4-6.5 hours), Xian (8-9 hours), Hangzhou (6-7.5 hours), and so on.

Evening Optional Experience: Enjoy the 70-minute fascinating Pearl River night cruise sailing along the mother river of Guangzhou people and soak in the wonderful sightseeing of lights and neon of historical architectures and new modern towering buildings to feel the pulse of this developed city. You won’t miss the Canton Tower during the cruise.

• Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
• Pearl River Night Cruise to Enjoy Canton Tower

Day 2 Guangzhou (B, L)

Yuexiu Park - Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall - Chen Clan Ancestral Hall - Shamian Island - Huacheng Square

After breakfast, your local guide and driver will pick you up at your hotel. Start to explore the old and new Guangzhou City from Yuexiu Park, the largest city park in Guangzhou. Stroll leisurely in the verdant park to see the Five Rams Statue from which you will savor the interesting legendary story of the five rams and know why Guangzhou is called the “City of Rams”. Then, continue to appreciate a five-storey ancient structure in red - Zhenhai Tower which was changed as Guangzhou Museum. Have a brief learning about Guangzhou’s over 2000 years’ history and if you like, climb up the tower to get a bird’s-eye view of Guangzhou City. After the morning stretching with fresh air, move your steps to the nearby Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall which was built in memory of the great revolutionist Sun Yat-sen. Enjoy the Chinese and Western combining styled octagon-shaped main building in bright red and blue from outside. Enter the hall to know Dr. Sun deeper with excellent exhibitions of his biography and contribution to the country and people, and get a simple learning about the contemporary history of China in the 18th - 19th centuries. Before leaving, admire the 5.5-meter tall bronze statue of Dr. Sun outside in the yard and show your respect to this world famous great Father of the Nation in China.

In this afternoon, visit the must-see Chen Clan Ancestral Hall which is regarded as the largest, most beautifully decorated and best preserved traditional ancestral temple in Guangdong Province. Roam among the tranquil houses and courtyards built during 1888-1894 to discover its architectural origin and find out whether it was an ancestral hall or an academy for the Chen Family in Guangdong initially. Since it is famous as the “Pearl of Lingnan Architectural Art”, you will taste the super exquisite colorful decorations of vivid patterns of various flora and fauna, figures and immortals to feel the highly skillful construction and decoration of Lingnan people and know their typical folk culture and best wishes of harvest and prosperity in ancient China. Later, be transferred for about 10 minutes’ driving to see the quite different Shamian Island where over 150 European styled old buildings from the colonial period from 19th century are well preserved for a nice savory. Take a relaxing walk in the strongly exotic street block in emerald and imagine the past life and changes of Guangzhou told by those historical remains.

After the exploration, be transferred to the urban central axis in Zhujiang New Town to see the modern cityscape of Guangzhou at Huacheng Square. Have a leisure stroll between the glittery skyscrapers and peculiar shaped modern buildings to feel the fast development of this metropolis, including Guangzhou IFC Tower, CTF Finance Center, Guangdong Museum, Guangzhou Grand Theater, etc. Most importantly, appreciate the slim outline of the iconic Canton Tower on the opposite bank of Pearl River.

After the tour, be escorted back to your hotel.

• Yuexiu Park Five Rams Statue
• Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall Guangzhou
• Exquisite Decoration of Chen Clan Ancestral Hall
• Church of Our Lady of Lourdes at Shamian Island
• Huacheng Square - To See Stunning Guangzhou Skyline and Canton Tower

Day 3 Foshan (B, L)

Drive to Foshan - Ancestral Hall - Lingnan Tiandi - Ancient Nanfeng Kiln - Shiwan Doll Street - Back to Guangzhou

After breakfast, your local guide and driver will pick you up from your hotel in Guangzhou downtown and drive about 1 hour to Foshan City that is famous for martial arts, ceramics and lion dancing.

Start your cultural exploration from the must-visit Ancestral Temple. Here with rich arrays of relics and materials, you will have a good understanding of Yip Man (Ye Wen) and Wong Fei Hung (Huang Feihong), two real masters of martial arts in modern times of China who have influences on the world about Kung Fu in China! Yip Man is a master of Wing Chun Martial Art and is the master of the world well known Bruce Lee. Wong Fei Hung is a representative master of Hung boxing, and also excellent at lion dance. You won’t miss the wonderful live lion dance performance (0.5 hour) to enjoy the folk art combining martial arts, dance and music together and know why it is so favored by Cantonese around the world on festivals and red-letter days. Furthermore, you will appreciate many fantastic typical Lingnan styled decorations of vivid sculptures and carvings about historic stories and traditional operas.

Continue your steps to the nearby Lingnan Tiandi, once was the rich area in Foshan and now is a top best to admire the multiple exquisite historic Lingnan constructions to seek the traditional culture of Foshan as a famous thousand-year-old commercial city. Walk in leisure to savor the prosperity left and the modern leisure life style along the winding paved streets.

Then, be driven about 15 minutes to visit Ancient Nanfeng Kiln in Shiwan. This site tells the high status of Shiwan in Foshan as the “Capital of Ceramics in Southern China”. Its rare Nanfeng Kiln and Gao Kiln built 500 years ago and listed in the World Guinness Record are still under production. Visit the kilns, houses and paths to feel the past bustling production by ancient Foshan workers. Besides, take another fun stroll on Shiwan Doll Street outside, where countless interesting ceramic dolls with high skills are displayed in those shops hidden in the ancient arcade buildings.

After the visiting, you will be sent back to your hotel in Guangzhou downtown with 1 hour’s driving. Have a nice sleep.

Optional Cultural Experience: You can also enrich your Foshan cultural experience by learning the pottery art making (0.5 hour), martial arts practicing (1 hour) or paper cutting (1 hour) during your visit at Ancient Nanfeng Kiln. Such optional cultural activities need extra fees. Just tell us if you are interested.

Tip of Lion Dance Performance: The Lion Dance performance in Ancestral Hall is held on 10:00-10:40, 14:15-14:55 and 15:30-16:10 every day, however, it is not available on rainy days.

• Foshan Ancestral Temple Lion Dance Performance
• Foshan Ancestral Temple
• Foshan Lingnan Tiandi Buildings
• Ancient Nanfeng Kiln in Foshan

Day 4 Guangzhou Departure (B)

Flight / Train off Guangzhou

Today, you will say goodbye with Guangzhou! After breakfast, your local guide and driver will send you from your hotel to the airport / train station to catch the flight / train to your next destination or home. Service ends!