“Walking Tongji” – A 5-Minute Mission with 400 Years of History (and One Million Participants)

三月 03, 2026

Starting from this post, the Foshan Mission Day organizing team will introduce our mission locations one by one, sharing the stories behind each selection.

Many portals may look ordinary at first glance, but they are actually witnesses to different stages of Foshan’s development. We hope that when you visit Foshan for Mission Day, you’ll not only complete missions, but also gain a deeper understanding of the city.

Today’s spotlight: “Walking Tongji” (行通济).

Why Tongji Bridge Is a “Must-Pick” Location

If Foshan hosts a Mission Day, some locations are simply non-negotiable:
Zumiao (Ancestral Temple), Lingnan Tiandi… and of course, Tongji Bridge.

Locally, “Walking Tongji” is humorously ranked alongside the Foshan 50km Hike and the Foshan Autumn Parade as one of the city’s three “legendary endurance events.”

The joke? Everyone knows they’re crowded, chaotic, and physically exhausting — yet people return year after year with unwavering enthusiasm.

Every year around the Lantern Festival (the 15th day of the Lunar New Year), over one million people walk across this bridge.

Yes. One million.

What Makes This Bridge So Special?

Visitors often ask:
How can one archway, one bridge, and one square attract a million people?

The answer lies in ancient Chinese folk traditions.

According to research from the Foshan Museum, the roots of “Walking Tongji” trace back to an ancient ritual called “Zou Bai Bing” (Walking Away a Hundred Illnesses) — a symbolic act of crossing a bridge to dispel illness and invite blessings.

Tongji Bridge itself was rebuilt in 1626 during the Ming Dynasty by Li Daiwen, a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Revenue. The name “Tongji” means:

“Only through passage can there be salvation.”

The symbolic meaning of crossing the bridge perfectly merged with the older ritual of “walking away illness,” and over centuries, the custom flourished.

By the Qing Dynasty, historical records describe entire families — carrying paper windmills, lanterns, and bells — walking across the bridge from dawn until midnight.

“Walk Tongji, No More Worries”

As Foshan prospered as a commercial and handicraft center in the Ming and Qing eras, merchants began associating the walk with good fortune in business.

A well-known Cantonese saying associated with the tradition is:

“Hang Tong Gai, mou bai ngai.”
(行通济，冇闭翳)

In Cantonese:

“Hang Tong Gai” means “Walk Tongji.”
“Mou bai ngai” literally means “no blockages, no gloom.”

“Bai ngai” (闭翳) is a Cantonese expression referring to frustration, bad luck, obstacles, or emotional heaviness.

So the full meaning is:

“Walk Tongji, and nothing will weigh you down.”

It’s less about superstition, and more about symbolic reset —
cross the bridge, leave your worries behind, start the year fresh.

For many locals, this phrase captures the real spirit of the event:
not just seeking wealth, but clearing away negativity.

Participants traditionally carry:

𖣘 Paper windmills (symbolizing smooth fortune)
🥬 Lettuce (in Cantonese, “lettuce” sounds like “make fortune”)

The phrase often heard during the event is:

“Saang choi, saang coi.”

In Cantonese, “saang choi” (生菜) means lettuce, while “saang coi” (生财) means to generate wealth.

They sound almost identical in Cantonese pronunciation — which is why lettuce became a symbol of prosperity in this tradition.

For centuries, people carried bundles of lettuce while walking across the bridge. After completing the walk, they would leave the lettuce at a nearby Earth God shrine as an offering, symbolically “planting wealth” and asking for good fortune in return.

From Folk Ritual to Urban Adaptation

As time passed, the shrine disappeared, but the habit of leaving lettuce behind remained.

This eventually turned into people simply throwing lettuce away after crossing the bridge.

In 2001, when Tongji Bridge was renovated, the local government encouraged people to “bring the fortune home” instead of discarding it.

But centuries-old customs are hard to change.

So instead of banning the practice, the city adapted:
They built a giant lettuce sculpture and a designated “lettuce pool” in Tongji Square — a clever balance between tradition and urban management.

And that giant lettuce sculpture would later gain unexpected significance for the Ingress community.

The “Lettuce King” and Operation Chronos

In 2023, Niantic introduced the Overclock gameplay and launched the global exploration campaign Operation Chronos.

The giant lettuce sculpture — affectionately known as the “Lettuce King” — became one of the first portals in Foshan successfully scanned, modeled, and activated for Overclock by the local Ingress community.

For both factions, it generated resources, activity, and shared memories.

When choosing the mission badge artwork for this location, we had three candidates:

Tongji Archway
Tongji Bridge
The Lettuce King

The organizing team unanimously chose the Lettuce King.

Because it represents both tradition and modern Ingress exploration culture.

The 6 Portals of the “Walking Tongji” Mission

This Mission Day set follows the traditional Walking Tongji route.
All six portals are within 200 meters — you can complete it in under 5 minutes.

They include:

The stone stele commemorating the bridge’s reconstruction
Tongji Archway
Foshan Historic Building Protection Plaque
The bridge structure itself
The windmill-shaped light sculpture
The iconic giant lettuce sculpture “Lettuce King”

Short, simple, and beginner-friendly — this will likely be one of the easiest missions in the entire Mission Day series.

A Five-Minute Walk Through Four Centuries

When you walk this mission, you are not just linking portals.

You are walking a route that, every Lantern Festival, over one million people walk together — carrying windmills, holding lettuce, and hoping for a smoother year ahead.

We hope this small mission gives you a glimpse of a living folk tradition that has survived for 400 years — and continues to evolve, just like Ingress itself.

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