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Foshan’s calendar is built around the lunar new year, the Dragon Boat Festival and the autumn harvest, with modern additions like the Canton Fair reshaping hotel demand twice a year. The biggest local event is the Foshan Qiuse Festival, a centuries-old autumn parade. For the weather during each season, check our Foshan weather by month guide, and start from our full Foshan destination guide.
Foshan Events and Festivals: Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year, usually in late January or February, is Foshan’s biggest celebration. The Ancestral Temple hosts daily lion dance performances and kung fu demonstrations, and the temple fair draws thousands of worshippers. Expect transport to be jammed, many small restaurants to close for up to a week, and hotel rates to rise 20 to 40 percent. Book well ahead using our where to stay in Foshan recommendations.
Foshan Events and Festivals: Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, usually late May or June. Teams race long wooden dragon boats on the rivers of Nanhai and Shunde, and families eat zongzi, sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. The races are free to watch; arrive early for a good riverside spot, and see our Foshan travel tips guide for reaching the race venues.
Foshan Events and Festivals: Mid-Autumn Festival
In September or early October, the Mid-Autumn Festival fills parks with lantern displays and families gathering to eat mooncakes. Foshan is known for its paper lanterns, and Qiandeng Lake and Lingnan Tiandi put on evening light shows. It is a good time to try double-skin milk dessert in Shunde, a local festival treat.
Foshan Events and Festivals: Foshan Qiuse Festival
The Qiuse, or Autumn Colors, Festival is Foshan’s signature event, held over several days in October or November. A parade of decorated floats, dancers in traditional costume and lion dance troupes moves through central Chancheng, echoing a harvest tradition that dates back over 500 years. Dates are announced a few weeks in advance each year, so check locally before you book. It is a highlight of the things to do in Foshan calendar in autumn.
Foshan Events and Festivals: Canton Fair
Foshan is not the venue for the Canton Fair, but the trade show held twice a year in nearby Guangzhou, in mid-April to early May and mid-October to early November, reshapes the city. Many Foshan hotels run free shuttle buses to the fair and rates climb 30 to 50 percent during the three-week sessions. For help avoiding the crowds and the price spikes, see our best time to visit Foshan guide, and for where the fair crowds stay, our Foshan neighborhoods breakdown.
