Foshan Ancestral Temple (Zumiao)

The Foshan Ancestral Temple, also known as Zumiao (Ancestral Temple), has been the ceremonial heart of the city since the Northern Song dynasty, though the current buildings date largely to the Ming and Qing periods. The complex is dedicated to Beidi, the Northern Emperor, a Taoist deity of water and the north — an unusual patron for a city in southern China, explained by the importance of water control in the Pearl River Delta. The main hall is dark and richly ornamented, its iron decorations and gilded carvings accumulating centuries of donation and restoration.

The memorial halls for Wong Fei-hung and Ip Man sit within the Zumiao grounds and form part of the same ticket. Beyond their cultural significance, the halls contain documentation of the martial arts tradition as it existed before the movie adaptations: photographs, training equipment, and written records of lineages and techniques. The combination of an ancient Taoist temple and a martial arts museum within the same walls is very Foshan.

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A story
The cast-iron warrior statue at the centre of the Zumiao complex has survived the Ming dynasty, the Qing dynasty, the Taiping Rebellion, the Japanese occupation, and the Cultural Revolution. It was cast in 1452 and weighs approximately 2.5 tonnes. Its survival through the iconoclasm of the Cultural Revolution — when most such objects were destroyed — is attributed variously to the local reverence for the god it depicts, to its sheer physical weight, and to the practical problem of moving it without machinery.