Tourism and culture festival headed for Foshan features kung fu, Qiu Se parade

The southern China city of Foshan will host the 2015 Guangdong International Tourism and Culture Festival on Saturday, seeking to attract investment and tourists to the city of kung fu, Lingnan culture, pottery and more.

Foshan is the hometown of kung fu stars Wong Fei-hung (1847-1924), Yip Man (1893-1972) and Bruce Lee (1940-1873), and the festival will showcase martial arts and other folk arts and customs, including a Qiu Se parade of autumn colors and a dragon boat race.

Art troupes from the other 20 cities in Guangdong province and nearby Guizhou province and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region will join the Qiu Se parade.

The city boasts numerous tourist attractions that appeal to those seeking traditional culture and leisure activities. It has seven national cultural relics and 16 highly rated scenic spots, more than any other city in the province.

In concert with the festival, many of Foshan's scenic spots and hotels will offer a month of discounts, starting Saturday.

Foshan also has invited its sister cities in South Korea, Russia and Australia, and its partners in its cultural alliance of "China's Big Four Towns" to display their folk customs and cultural heritage at the parade. The partners are Wuhan in Hubei province, Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province and Kaifeng in Henan province.

"We want to build a platform where cities exchange ideas and cooperate on taking the preservation and development of historical and cultural heritage to a new level," said Mai Jiehua, the city's deputy mayor.

xujingxi@chinadaily.com.cn