Foshan Ancestral Temple

Chinese new year, the most important festival for chinese. Many staff will have 7 days vacation, which can make good use of these day to travel and have relax. Most customers from Synotrip contact me whether to be their tour guide and interpreter during the new year .I was born in Guangzhou ,my hometown is Guangzhou, I know the culture of Guangzhou and Guangdong the best, that's why so many clients choose me to their interpreter.

One of clients contact me from Synotrip, now we become friends. He is obsess with chinese martial art and Bruce Lee, so he decide to come to China to follow the step of martial idol. 

He ask me to plan a “discovery of martial art” trip for him. No doubt that Foshan, which is renowned for its martial art form, is the best place to him. In fact, the city of Foshan can be called the birth place and home town of this particular martial art form. The notable celebrity are Ip Man, Bruce Lee, and Wang Fei Hong who is a legendary martial art master and doctor and seldom foreigner know him.

We plan to visit Ip Man memory hall in Ancestral Temple first, after that, go to Bruce Lee ancestor house. Actually, we can go Ancestral Temple by metro from Guangzhou. There is a Guangfo line connected Guangzhou and Foshan, which it is more convenience for the people of two city. But considering the distance from Guangzhou East to Foshan, tight schedule, and the place of Bruce Lee ancestor house is a remote village hard to get there by public transportation, we decided to rent a car for traveling.

My friend arrived at about 9:30 am at Guangzhou East station,and after picking him up we headed to Ancestral Temple. The Foshan Ancestral Temple is commonly called Zumiao. It is a Daoist temple, museum, and exhibition center. The architecture, decor and articles on view in Foshan Ancestral Temple are remarkably refined, and are part of the unique historical heritage of Foshan. 

Because my friend is a martial art fans, so we directly to the Ip Man memory hall.Ip man, a man dedicated to a Wing Chun, is a famous Chinese martial art master, had been a master of Bruce Lee. Bruce Lee learn Wing Chun and develop it in his Jeet Kune Do. In the museum, you can see a likeness of Ip Man, martial arts training equipment, and a plaque with information about him.

There is another memory hall for famous legendary martial artist and doctor named Wang Fei Hong. In this place,we also see a chinese traditional customs performance ---lion dance.

We are so deep addicted to enjoying the time in the Ip Man hall and lion dance without noticing that it comes to the afternoon. We need to head to next place - Bruce Lee Ancestor House, which it take one hour to arrive from temple.

Bruce Lee who is considered by many as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century, and an important cultural icon. He used Wing Chun, as his base, learned from the influences of other martial arts, and later created his own martial art philosophy — Jeet Kune Do.

The Bruce Lee Ancestral House located in Jun'an Town is another site for Bruce Lee fans to visit.Built by his grandfather, Lee came back to the house once and lived in the house for only a few days. Even though we only just saw the furniture and the introduction of him and his family, we still felt exciting stand a place which Bruce had been lived.

We spent a great day to feel the martial art culture and gorgeous historical building in Foshan. My friend is pretty good impressed and said that he must would share this experience to his martial art friend when he go back to UK.