Why it looks like this

Foshan was one of imperial China's 'four great market towns', famous for ceramics, metalwork and martial arts — this is the hometown of Wing Chun and of Bruce Lee's ancestors. The Nanfeng kiln at Shiwan has been firing pottery continuously for around five centuries.

The modern city is really a federation: Chancheng, Shunde, Nanhai and other delta towns, each with its own core, laced together by the branching channels of the Pearl River Delta and fused to neighbouring Guangzhou.