广州亚运会协办城市:佛山

佛山位于广东省中南部，珠江三角洲腹地，东倚广州，西接肇庆，南连珠海，北通清远，毗邻港澳，地理位置十分优越。佛山"肇迹于晋，得名于唐"。早在唐宋时期，佛山就成为我国南方的商贸重镇。佛山素有陶艺之乡、粤剧之乡、武术之乡、广纱中心、岭南成药之乡、南方铸造中心、民间艺术之乡等美誉。
佛山自古人文荟萃，才俊辈出。唐宋以来广东出过九个状元，佛山占其五。明清时为"气标两广的人文之邦"。近代以来，孕育了维新运动领袖康有为，政治活动家张荫桓、戴鸿慈、谭平山、何香凝、罗登贤、邓培，民族实业家陈启沅、简照南、简玉阶，科学家詹天佑、邹伯奇，文学家吴趼人，粤剧名伶薛觉先、马师曾，武术名家梁赞、黄飞鸿、李小龙，名医李广海，能工巧匠黄炳、陈渭岩、刘传，第一位华人牧师梁发等杰出人物。

Guangzhou won the bid to host the 2010 Asian Games in 2004 after its three fellow bidders - Amman, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul - withdrew from the competition. The games will be co-hosted by Foshan and Shanwei, two neighboring cities, from November 12 to 27. Today we introduce you to Foshan, where the Asian Games boxing and synchronized swimming events will take place. Liu Yan takes you to some places of interest in the city to learn about the rich local culture and traditions.
　　
Seventeen kilometers from Guangzhou, Foshan is one of the largest cities in Guangdong Province, with a population of more than 3 million. A sub-tropical monsoon climate with adequate rainfall, weather in Foshan is mild all year around, with a yearly average temperature of 22 degrees Celsius.

Foshan has convenient transportation and communication systems. Foshan airport, the Guangzhou-Foshan expressway and express ships to Hong Kong connect Foshan with the outside world.

The history of the city can be traced back to the Jin Dynasty some 1,800 years ago.

Foshan literally means "Buddha Mountain." It got the name in the Tang Dynasty more than 1,000 years ago, when China had a strong economy and Buddhism started to prosper. With developed foreign trade and logistics networks, it was ranked one of the top four cities in China in the 19th century.

Foshan has many tourist attractions and historic sites. Among the most popular are the Buddha Mountain Ancestral Temple, Saint Confucius Temple, Renshou Temple and Liangyuan Garden.

Foshan is a co-host city of the 16th Asian Games where boxing and synchronized swimming will be held during the games.

Wei Wenqi, deputy director of the Sports Bureau in Foshan, says an organizing committee has been set up in the city to ensure the success of the competitions held in the city.

"Preparations are well underway in Foshan, with emphasis on the city environment, air quality and construction of sports venues."　　

Foshan is the birthplace of Guangdong Opera, and its famous arts and crafts include Chinese martial arts and pottery. World-renowned martial arts masters Bruce Lee and Huang Feihong were natives of Foshan. Director Wei says martial arts are very popular in the city.

"Foshan has 160 martial arts schools in which some 90,000 people practice daily. Besides traditional martial arts, modern Wushu, which is based on traditional martial arts, and Taiji, or Chinese shadow boxing, are also popular."

The 16th Asian Games boxing competitions will be held in the Lingnan Mingzhu Gymnasium, while synchronized swimming will be held in the Shijilian Aquatics Center, events expecting 11 and three gold medals respectively.
　　
Director Wei says Foshan is experienced in hosting large-scale sports competitions, and the stadiums are perfectly capable of hosting the two events.

"Both stadiums were built and put to use in 2006 for the provincial games. With high-quality, international-level construction, they are qualified for Asian Games competitions. And, only minor adjustments and arrangements have been made to meet the special needs of the Asian Games."

Kong Xiangsheng, a local resident, is excited that the Asian Games will be held in his hometown.　

"I'm looking forward to the games. We nowadays are paying a lot more attention to environment protection in order to ensure a sound and safe environment for the Asian Games."

Lei Xiaohong, another resident, says hosting the Asian Games benefits local people as huge investments are put into improving the basic infrastructure of the city.　　

"Foshan has undergone tremendous changes since the provincial games were held here in 2006. The Asian Games will further accelerate the economic development for the host city of Guangzhou, its co-host cities as well as Guangdong Province as a whole."

As a co-host, Foshan doubled its efforts to push forward its infrastructure construction with transportation development as the key. With its round-the-city Expressway open to traffic, transportation between the city and Guangzhou has further improved.