"Echos of Luoshui" / "Sacred Realm of Zumiao" - Where a River Became a Road: A Thousand Years of Foshan in One Walk
Hello Agents,
In this edition of the organizing team’s newsletter, we introduce two missions located along Zumiao Road: “Echoes of Luoshui” and “Sacred Realm of Zumiao.”
Along this central axis in downtown Foshan, we have carefully selected 10 historical landmarks that represent different stages of the city’s urban development. These have been combined into two missions, allowing you to walk what may seem like an ordinary street while actually tracing a condensed timeline of Foshan’s evolution across centuries.
About Zumiao Road
When people think of Foshan’s city center, beyond the official administrative district, the area with the highest recognition, densest commercial culture, and largest foot traffic is undoubtedly the Zumiao district.
Today, Zumiao Road appears to be just a standard four-lane road lined with a mix of old and new buildings. It may not look particularly remarkable—but beneath this ordinary appearance lies over a thousand years of urban history.
For this Mission Day, we focus on a ~980-meter stretch from the northern end of Zumiao Road to Zumiao Metro Station, forming two missions. Let’s start with the origin of the road and explore the 10 locations from north to south.
From “Luoshui Creek” to “Fragrant Flower Road”
The winding shape of Zumiao Road may seem unusual for a modern city street. That’s because it was originally Luoshui Creek, a waterway that once marked the edge of ancient Foshan.
For centuries, people settled along this creek. Important historical sites—including Renshou Temple, Zumiao Temple, and the Confucian Temple—were all built along its banks.
As the city expanded, the creek became shallow and difficult to maintain. In 1976, it was filled in and transformed into today’s Zumiao Road.
After construction, hundreds of white magnolia trees were planted along the street. During blooming season, the entire road filled with fragrance, earning it the nickname “Fragrant Flower Road.” These magnolias were later voted as the official city flower of Foshan in 1997.
Foshan Inscription Stones
At the northern end of the road, you’ll find large engraved stones installed in 2006. The inscriptions—such as “Foshan,” “Millennium Ancient Town,” and “Zen”—summarize the city’s historical identity and cultural roots.
Xuangong Hotel
A symbol of 1980s modernization
Opened in 1984, Xuangong Hotel was Foshan’s first joint-venture hotel and once the tallest building in the city.
Its rooftop rotating restaurant allowed diners to enjoy a 360-degree view—something extremely rare in China at the time. It stands as a symbol of Foshan’s rapid development during the early years of China’s Reform and Opening-Up era.
Renshou Temple
Tradition, destruction, and rebirth
Founded in 1656 during the Qing Dynasty, Renshou Temple was once one of Foshan’s four major Buddhist complexes.
It suffered heavy damage during wartime and was repurposed during later political movements. It was only returned to religious use in 1993.
The recent reconstruction, completed largely in 2025, features Tang-style wooden architecture built with traditional joinery techniques. However, this has sparked debate: some feel the Tang style conflicts with the site’s original Lingnan (southern Chinese) heritage.
As visitors, we’re curious—what’s your impression of this reconstruction?
Overseas Chinese Mansion
A 1960s landmark
Built in 1962, this was China’s first high-end hotel designed specifically for overseas Chinese visitors returning home.
Funded by prominent overseas Chinese philanthropists, its Soviet-inspired architectural style reflected the modern aesthetic of that era. Today, it remains a preserved historical building, continuing to tell the story of Foshan’s global connections.
Qionghua Grand Theatre
Birthplace of modern performing arts in Foshan
Originally built in 1980, this was Foshan’s first professional theater. It was later renovated and renamed in 2005.
The name “Qionghua” references a historical Cantonese opera guild, paying tribute to Foshan as the birthplace of Cantonese opera. The venue still hosts orchestras and large-scale performances today
New Plaza (Now Gone)
A vanished cultural center
This site once served as a major public square and stadium, hosting political gatherings, international sports events—including matches from the first FIFA Women’s World Cup—and concerts by famous artists.
Demolished in 2007, it has since been replaced by modern developments. Today, only the name remains, marking a collective memory for older residents.
Feihong Street
A lively pedestrian food street
Originally developed as a pedestrian street near the Wong Fei-hung Memorial, it is now a bustling area filled with local snacks and tourist souvenirs.
Despite attempts to upgrade its commercial mix, it remains a very grounded, popular street experience, reflecting what visitors actually enjoy.
Zumiao Museum: A “super-compressed archive” of Foshan’s history and culture
The word “Zu” (祖) in Zumiao does not refer to a family ancestral hall, but rather means “the foremost among all temples”—the “ancestor of temples” for the ancient town of Foshan.
Zumiao was first built during the Yuanfeng era of the Northern Song Dynasty (1078–1085). At the time, Foshan frequently suffered from flooding. Local residents constructed a temple dedicated to the Northern Emperor (Zhenwu), hoping to harness his divine power to calm the waters and protect the region.
Over the centuries, Zumiao has undergone more than 20 rounds of reconstruction and expansion, preserving architectural elements from multiple historical periods:
- The bracket structure (dougong) under the eaves of the main hall is currently the only surviving example of a specific Song Dynasty structural form
- Other parts of the main hall date back to a reconstruction in 1372 (Ming Dynasty)
- The Lingying Archway in front of the temple was built in 1451
- The Wanfu Stage (1658) is the most complete and most elaborately decorated ancient opera stage remaining in Guangdong
- The Confucian Temple located in the southern section of the complex was built during the late Qing Dynasty (Xuantong period)
In addition to the original structures, Zumiao also contains many relocated historical relics from other sites, including:
- The “Baochong Archway” from the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty
- The “Guluo Zhilian” Archway from the early Qing Dynasty
- An iron pagoda from the Yongzheng period
- The “Jiexiao Liufang” Archway from the Qianlong period
- An iron cannon that participated in the Opium Wars
- And the iconic green-glazed ceremonial archway at the entrance
It can be said that every structure here has its origin, and every detail carries historical significance.
All of these cultural relics accumulated over several hundred years correspond one-to-one with Ingress Portals, and some of them can even be reached from outside the scenic area.
In addition to ancient buildings and artifacts, the Zumiao complex also includes modern exhibition spaces such as the Ip Man Hall and the Wong Fei-hung Memorial Hall, highlighting Foshan’s identity as the “hometown of martial arts” and the “hometown of lion dance.”
There is also the large exhibition hall “Lingnan Sacred Domain,” which introduces the essence of Lingnan culture, as well as the “Treasures Pavilion,” which regularly hosts special exhibitions. These additions greatly enrich the depth and layers of the visitor experience.
In 1996, Zumiao was designated as a National Key Cultural Relic Protection Unit, and it remains the only national-level museum in Foshan.
The hundreds of cultural relics here—spanning the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties—cover a wide range of elements including ancient architecture, religious artifacts, Confucian traditions, Cantonese opera, ceramics, and Lingnan history.
Together, they form Zumiao into a true “super-compressed archive” of Foshan’s history and culture, often described as a one-stop palace of Eastern art.
So, what if you just want to pass by without buying a ticket—are there still things worth seeing outside? Yes, absolutely.
At the entrance plaza, there are two groups of bronze sculptures:
- The Dragon Dance sculpture, representing traditional folk entertainment
- The “Hundred Years of Harmony” sculpture, representing traditional marriage customs
For a long time in Foshan, newlyweds would visit multiple symbolic streets after their wedding ceremony—each with auspicious meanings. Passing by Zumiao was an essential part of this route. Firecrackers would be set off in front of the temple to announce the marriage to the Northern Emperor and pray for blessings.
With urban development, the plaza in front of Zumiao no longer has space for wedding processions to stop, and this tradition gradually faded away. Today, it survives only through the bronze sculpture, preserving this piece of local memory.
We have included the “Hundred Years of Harmony” sculpture in our mission route as a way to commemorate this traditional custom remembered by the people of Foshan.
Nimo Gang
A hidden industrial heritage site
While Foshan is famous for ceramics, fewer people know about its iron-casting industry, which dates back over a thousand years.
Nimo Gang is essentially a mound formed by accumulated casting molds over centuries—a physical reminder of Foshan’s industrial past.
Baihua Plaza: From the peak of urban commercial prosperity to a symbol of decline in the physical retail economy
Exiting from any of the Zumiao Metro Station exits, you will immediately notice a highly prominent cylindrical high-rise building—that is Baihua Plaza.
Baihua Plaza set several “firsts” in Foshan’s history. Construction began in 1992, with a total investment of approximately 700 million RMB. After four years, it was completed as a 54-story skyscraper reaching 204 meters in height.
Its 11,500 curved glass panels were all imported from Belgium. The fully glass curtain wall design was not only the first of its kind in Foshan, but also extremely rare across China in the early 1990s. The building also features a helipad and integrates shopping mall, office space, and residential apartments into a single complex—an extremely forward-looking concept at the time.
The completion of Baihua Plaza marked the peak of commercial activity in the Zumiao business district. Luxury brands, international chains, and large department stores gathered here, forming the core of the city’s retail scene.
However, as time passed, the building’s advanced design also began to reveal limitations.
The four-lane Zumiao Road became increasingly insufficient to handle the growing traffic. At the same time, the number of parking spaces reserved by Baihua Plaza was not enough to support the heavy visitor flow, leading to a decline in shopping convenience.
Internally, the fragmented property ownership of individual retail units made centralized management and large-scale tenant restructuring difficult.
In addition, years of metro construction around the area, followed by the redevelopment of nearby districts such as Lingnan Tiandi, caused further diversion of foot traffic.
Baihua Plaza attempted to reposition itself by introducing education and training businesses, successfully creating the “Baihua Education Center” brand. However, after government regulations tightened on the education sector, combined with the impact of the pandemic and the broader downturn of the offline economy, the challenges became increasingly severe.
By 2025, the vacancy rate of retail spaces in the mall had exceeded 70%.
How can this situation be explained in a way that Ingress players can easily understand?
It’s like the entire Zumiao Portal cluster has become densely active, while Baihua Plaza is left with only a few scattered Portals remaining.
The contrast between Baihua Plaza’s former glory and its present decline serves as a reflection of the broader transition of Foshan’s offline retail economy—from growth to downturn.
Final Thoughts
Zumiao Road still holds many more stories beyond what we’ve covered here. But these 10 locations already capture key moments across Foshan’s history—from imperial times to modern transformation.
We have selected 12 Portals from these landmarks to form two missions, covering approximately 980 meters. Whether you walk, bike, or explore at night, the route is easy and accessible.
We hope that after reading this, your experience of these missions will feel richer and more meaningful—not just a route, but a journey through time.
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