Foshan? Shunde? Lecong? Which place to go?

It is always pretty difficult to remember names in a foreign language, especially in Chinese. Going through the information about the furniture sourcing in China, you will definitely find a lot of names of the cities that you have never heard before. Sometimes even the pronunciation of a very famous Chinese city - Guangzhou, can be wrong. The second difficulty is the amount of all these new names. Are all of them cities? Or some of them are just the districts of one city? Let’s figure it out.

Your trip to Foshan usually starts with arrival at Guangzhou International Airport. Guangzhou is the biggest city in the South of China and the third biggest city in China after Beijing and Shanghai. But we are not going to buy furniture here. The statement “I’m going to buy furniture in Guangzhou” is just a simplified version because everybody is familiar with this city. Our goal is to reach Foshan city. The most convenient and fastest way to get to the city is a taxi, 150-200RMB and one hour and a half on the way. It is a good opportunity to rest after a long flight. Of course, there is another option: from 2010 Foshan is connected to Guangzhou by subway. The ticket is much cheaper than a taxi fee but instead, you will spend one hour more on the way, and it will not be very comfortable.

Translation difficulties

We got to Foshan by the highway. Many people often have difficulties with the pronunciation of the name of the city “Foshan” [‘foshən]. There are versions like “Fooshan”, “Fooshon”. What does the name “Foshan” actually mean? This word consists of two parts. First is “Fo” which means “Budha”, and second is “shan” which means “a mountain”.

How to choose a hotel in Foshan?

We don’t advise you to stay close to the furniture markets because after 6-7p.m. life stops there till the next morning. To find a good restaurant or a shopping mall can be a difficult task. It’s better to stay somewhere close to the city centre, for example, near Zumiao metro station. So you will be not very far from a pedestrian zone Lingnan Tiandi where are a lot of coffee shops, bars, restaurants, and souvenir stalls.

Off to Shunde for buying furniture

Foshan is a big city with a population of 7,5 million people. It has 5 districts. For us, the most interesting one is Shunde district. It is in the south of the city center. Historically, this area was a traditional agricultural centre. Locals were engaged in fishing and silk production. Since the start of the political reform of openness in 1978, Shunde has become a modern industrial district which is now also one of the richest areas of Guangdong province and the mainland. Here are the manufactures of automobiles, electrical appliances, air conditioning, and household appliances. In addition, there are more than 1500 large and small factories that make furniture and building materials situated in Shunde district.

Lecong furniture markets

The place we are going for furniture sourcing is Lecong in Shunde district in Foshan city. The biggest furniture markets and showrooms with lighting and kitchens are located there. It is not another city, it is just a part of Foshan. It is easy to get there by car. It takes about 20 minutes from the city centre - not farther than the way from your house to the closest furniture market.

As for ceramics, plumbing, decoration materials, flooring, doors, you can find all of it in a central district of Foshan, even closer to your hotel - 10-15 minutes.

Lighting in Zhongshan

Don’t worry if you haven’t found lighting for your project in Foshan! Instead of a lighting shopping mall, we will take you to the whole lighting city - Zhongshan. Maybe you’ve heard another name of that place - Guzhen [gʊ’dʒən], or something like “Goozhen”, “Guchzhen”, “Guzhan”. These are misspelled names for the same place. Guzhen is a part of Zhongshan. It is situated 70 km from Foshan. The cities are connected by a highway, so it will take a bit more than an hour to get there. You can read about Guzhen shopping centres on our blog.

Sometimes, it is very hard to remember all the unusual names of new places and navigate them. Our company “GLOBUS” helps you not to be confused by the big amount of information and spend time as efficiently as possible. You will not get lost with us either in Guzhen, nor in Foshan, nor in Shunde.