Special supplement: A city in the heart of the Pearl River Delta

A next-door neighbor to Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong province, Foshan has the districts of Chancheng, Nanhai, Shunde, Gaoming and Sanshui in its jurisdiction. The 3,900 sq km city has a population of 5.9 million.

Over its long history, the city was the cradle of Cantonese Opera and Cantonese cuisine. It is also known for the popularity of martial arts and as the ancestral home of the well-known action movie star Bruce Lee and the hometown of Huang Feihong, one of the greatest masters of martial arts of all time.

Only a 45 minute-drive to downtown Guangzhou, Foshan benefits generously from the well-developed logistics facilities in the provincial capital, including the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, the Nansha Port and Guangzhou Railway Station, as well as other financing, personnel and information resources.

The city enjoys a favorable position in the traffic network of the prosperous Pearl River Delta, making transport to other delta cities, as well as Hong Kong and Macao, convenient and swift.

Foshan is one of the most-developed and affluent cities in the region. Its gross domestic product ranks third in Guangdong after only Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Its manufacturing industry is among the best developed in the province and even the nation.       

Top industries in Foshan include household appliances, textiles and garments, ceramics and other building materials, metal materials, equipment manufacturing, electronic information, food and beverages, plastics, petrochemicals, medicines and furniture.

It is one of the most important commercial hubs in south China, with 129 wholesale markets totaling 5.67 million sq m.

Foshan is also one of Guangdong's hotspots for foreign investors. The city has more than 7,000 overseas-funded enterprises, including those by the businesses in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, with their total foreign investment surpassing $18 billion.

Multinationals that have invested in facilities in the city include Siemens, Dupont, Tetra Pak, Sumsung, Denso, Nortel, Tokai Rika, Osram, Thomson, Bosch, Toyota, Boshoku, Itochu, Koyo, JTEKT, Usinor, Teijin, Nichiwa, Sanyo, TDK, Tyco, Premier, Mitac, Altia Hashimoto, Panasonic, Kobelco, Groupe Arcelor, Esquel Group, Alpharma, Shell, Caterpillar, Tamron, Whirlpool, Messer, Posco, Hitachi Chemical, Total Fina Elf, Magna, Hoechst, Texon, Kohler, Enkei, Yazaki, Honda, Toshiba, Aisin and Yuasa.

Foshan has a State-level hi-tech industrial development zone with six industrial parks located in the districts of Chancheng, Shunde, Nanhai, Sanshui and Gaoming. The zone and its industrial parks are now home to about 3,000 enterprises.

(China Daily 03/10/2008 page7)