People in Zhongshan love their country and hometown. They are diligent and honest, active and innovative, nimble and practical, with a relatively open mind. They treat each other politely and friendly, and they love helping each other and uphold justice.

In 2004, the CPC Zhongshan Committee and the municipal government redefine the city's spirit as "Love, Innovation, Inclusiveness and Harmony".

Zhongshan features diversified folk arts, including Zhongshan folk songs, dance in the form of dragon, lion, crane and phoenix, Yakou Piao-se (a folk art of drama performing on a mobile stage), etc. 

As a hometown to folk songs, Zhongshan embraces a great number of folk songs, including Salty Water Song, Gaotang Song, Dazeng Song, Hakka Mountain Folk Song, Crane Song, Gumei Song, Fishing Drum, Dragon Boat Song and Minor Children's Song. Among them, Salty Water Song and Gaotang Song show local characters the most, with more than 300 years of history, and spread widely in Tanzhou Town and other tidal land areas. 

Dragon Dance in Zhongshan is divided into eight types, namely Wood Dragon, Fire Dragon, Gold Dragon, Sand Dragon, Grass Dragon, Wandering Dragon, Board Dragon and Cloud Dragon. 

In 2006, Tanzhou-based Salty Water Song, Xiaolan Chrysanthemum Fair and Shaxi Herbal Tea were included in the national intangible cultural heritage list, while Nanlang Yakou Piao-se, Wuguishan Baikoulian Mountain Folk Song, Shaxi Crane Dance, Huangpu Kylin Dance and Huangpu Piao-se were included in the Guangdong provincial intangible cultural heritage list. 

The city flower of Zhongshan is chrysanthemum.