Foshan Ancestral Temple Museum

Foshan Ancestral Temple Museum

The Foshan Ancestral Temple Museum is a Patriotic Education Base.

The Foshan Museum, established in 1959, is a municipal-level public comprehensive museum and is recognized as a Guangdong Provincial Patriotic Education Base and one of the Ten Civilized Tourism Scenic Spot Demonstration Sites in Guangdong. The Foshan Ancestral Temple Museum is located at No. 21 Zumiao Road, Chancheng District, Foshan, covering an area of 18,000 square meters, which includes the Ancestral Temple, Confucius Temple, Wong Fei-hung Memorial Hall, Ip Man Hall, and also administers cultural heritage sites such as the Guangdong Cantonese Opera Museum and the Foshan Hung Sing Memorial Hall. Its collection mainly consists of local cultural relics, including porcelain, ceramics, jade artifacts, calligraphy and paintings, wood carvings, Duan inkstones, coins, and folk cultural relics from Foshan, totaling 20,000 items. Its exhibitions focus on themes such as Foshan’s history, martial arts culture, Cantonese opera culture, and Foshan folk arts. The museum regularly hosts dynamic cultural displays such as the “Foshan Confucius Temple Children’s First Writing Ceremony,” “Foshan Wong Fei-hung Lion Dance Performance,” “Foshan Youth Wong Fei-hung Martial Arts & Lion Dance Performance,” and “Foshan Cantonese Opera Performance.”

Foshan Museum

Foshan Museum

Stepping into the Foshan Museum by the side of Zumiao Road feels like entering a majestic and ancient temple hall. The museum is currently hosting exhibitions such as "Foshan Martial Arts Exhibition," "Foshan History Display," "A Brief History of Cantonese Opera Exhibition," "Qing Dynasty Gold and Wood Carved Deity Exhibition," and "Ming and Qing Craftsmanship & Fan Art Masterpieces Exhibition." Wandering through these exhibits is like reading a concise history of Foshan, where thousands of years of evolution from the late Neolithic Age to the present are unfolded before visitors’ eyes, alongside accumulated artifacts and unearthed relics from various dynasties, presenting a spectacular sight.

Foshan Museum

Foshan Museum

In the lush ancient-tree-filled front courtyard of the museum, a collection of ancient daily life artifacts is displayed — a “wooden oil press” used for extracting oils like peanut and soybean oil, a “stone mill” for dehulling and crushing grains, a wooden “horse-drawn carriage” used as a transport vehicle, a “large boat” used for short-distance passenger transport in river-network areas, and wooden “jacquard looms and waist looms” for weaving... The daily life of Foshan people during the Ming and Qing dynasties comes vividly to life. A large Qing Dynasty Shiwan kiln antique bronze-glazed carved porcelain fish tank with a diameter of 118 cm and a height of 95 cm, a polychrome painted ceramic screen by Huang Guzhen, a Shiwan artist from the late Qing period, the “Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea” ceramic tile ridge made by Shiwan Junyu Shop during the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, and the “Lion Rolling Embroidered Ball” tile ridge created by Shiwan Qiyu Shop in the Daoguang reign — all these exquisite ceramic pieces demonstrate that Shiwan’s pottery art has a long history, and that by the Qing Dynasty, Shiwan was already renowned both in China and abroad as the “Pottery Capital of the South.”

Two “stone-carved foreigner column bases” displayed in the front courtyard depict foreigners carved in the likeness of dwarfs. These are representative stone carving artworks from the later Qing period in Foshan, telling the story of how, after the Opium War in 1840, the Qing authorities signed a series of unequal treaties with Britain, France, Russia, the United States, Japan, and other countries. Originally a thriving hub of commerce and industry, Foshan suffered under foreign economic aggression, leading to hardship among its business community and sparking intense outrage among its people. This gave rise to multiple anti-imperialist struggles. The carving of foreigners as dwarfs used as relief decorations reflects the contempt of the creators toward foreign invaders.

After the mid-Qing Dynasty, the Chenglong Street area in Chancheng saw a proliferation of woodcarving workshops and skilled artisans, who produced many woodcarving artworks known for their distinctive style and strong local flavor. In the museum’s treasure gallery, hanging from the beams are floral panels carved with popular folk stories such as “Guan Yu Refusing Gold,” “Xu Chu Rescuing Cao Cao,” “Yue Fei Spearing Young Liang Wang,” and “Guo Ziyi Celebrating His Birthday.” The “Double Phoenixes and Pomegranates” and “May All Your Wishes Come True” panels on the front of the building feature exquisitely designed and finely crafted ornamentation. In addition to using traditional high-relief openwork techniques, the carvers employed additional methods to enhance the three-dimensional effect, making these pieces exemplary works of late Qing Dynasty Foshan woodcarving and showcasing the wisdom and creativity of the people of Chancheng.

More than 30 stone tablets displayed in the stele corridor reflect various aspects of Foshan as a famous commercial and handicraft town in China during the Ming and Qing periods. Among them, the “Guangzhou Prefecture Nanhai County Prohibition of Excessive Taxation for Official Business Tablet” erected in the eighth year of the Chongzhen era of the Ming Dynasty (1635) records details about Foshan’s ironware manufacturing industry at the time and serves as important material for studying the local iron smelting industry. The “Huafengtai Assembly Tablet” from the fifteenth year of the Shunzhi era of the early Qing Dynasty (1658) describes why Foshan became the “Number One Metropolis in Guangdong” and a “major town.” The “Cunyuanwei Foundation Map Tablet Inscription” from the 57th year of the Kangxi era of the Qing Dynasty (1718) details the maintenance of the Cunyuanwei embankment and flood prevention efforts in Foshan during the Kangxi reign. The “Qingyong Tablet Notice” from the ninth year of the Guangxu era (1883) documents the clearing of canals in Foshan. The “Reconstruction of Foshan Tapo Ancient Temple Tablet Inscription” from the sixteenth year of the Guangxu era (1890) clarifies the origin of the name “Foshan.”

Viewing the “Foshan History Display” reveals the moving story of Foshan’s development — from a sandbank in the hinterland of the Pearl River Delta, transformed through the hard work of generations into a bustling market town, then growing into a major commercial hub attracting merchants from all directions during the Ming Dynasty, and eventually becoming one of the “Four Great Gathering Places of the World” alongside Beijing, Suzhou, and Hankou in the early Qing Dynasty. Visitors can admire precious Foshan-origin artifacts such as red pottery cups from the late Neolithic period, Western Han dynasty string-patterned bronze bowls, Eastern Han dynasty pottery chickens, ducks and geese, Ming dynasty imitation antique pottery tripods, and Qing dynasty silk textiles, gaining insight into the advanced agricultural and handicraft technologies mastered by Foshan people throughout history, evoking a deep sense of admiration. For teenagers, it is indeed an excellent place for patriotic and local heritage education.

Further Reading:

· National Second-Class Museum of China