Hangzhou，located along Southeast coast of China，is the capital of Zhejiang Province and works as the center of politics, economy, science, education, and culture of the province. Hangzhou is a key national tourism city, historical city and vice provincial level city as confirmed by the State Council. Hangzhou is renowned as “Paradise on Earth”, “Cultural State”, “Home of Silk”, “Tea Capital”, “Town of Fish and Rice”.

Eight districts, named Shangcheng, Xiacheng, Gongshu, Xihu, Jianggan, Binjiang, Xiaoshan, and Yuhang, and five counties (cities) - respectively Fuyang, Lin’an, Jiande, Tonglu, and Chun’an - respectively, are under the governance of Hangzhou City. The total area of the city covers 16,596 Km2 with a population of 6,776,400 as of December, 2008.

Geographic feature

Hangzhou is geographically located at the south wing of the Yangtze River Delta, at the west end of Hangzhou Bay, in the lower reaches of Qiantang River, and at the south end of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It is a key central city in Yangtze River Delta and a traffic hub in Southeast China. The central geographic ordinate of Hangzhou proper is north latitude 30°16' and east longitude 120°12'. The northwest and southwest of Hangzhou belong to the West and Central Zhejiang Hill Region; while the northeast and southeast to the North Zhejiang Plain Region with dense river networks, a part of the famous town of fish and rice. The hill regions of the city accounts for 65.6% of the total area, the plains 26.4%, the rivers, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, etc. 8%. Hangzhou is in subtropical zone with monsoon climate. It has clear distinction of four seasons. It is mild and humid, plenty of sunshine and rainfall. The average temperature is 16.2℃ around the year, 28.6℃ in the summer and 3.8℃ in the winter. There is no frost in 230-260 days. The average rainfall is 1435 mm around the year and the average relative humidity 76%.

History Evolution

Hangzhou is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. Kuahuqiao Culture within Hangzhou’s Xiaoshan District has a history of 8,000 years and Liangzhu Culture, within Yuhang District, has a history of 5000 years. Since Hangzhou was set up as a county capital in Qin Dynasty, it has a history of more than 2200 years as a city. It used to be the capital of Wuyue State (during the Five-Dynasty-Ten-State Era in Chinese history) and South Song Dynasty; that made Hangzhou one of the seven ancient capitals in China. Hangzhou was once called as Qiantang in the ancient time. In 589, the 9th year of Kaihuang Period of Sui Dynasty, Qiantang County was upgraded as Hangzhou (Hang City), which was the first time when the name “Hangzhou” came into history. In 1129, the 3rd year of Jianyan Period of South Song Dynasty, Emperor Gaozong visited Hangzhou and upgraded it as Lin’an Fu (prefecture). In 1138, the 8th year of Gaozong’s Shaoxing Period, South Song Dynasty established its capital in Lin’an and the city remained to be the national capital for over 140 years. In the 13th century, Marco Polo, a famous tourist from Italy, praised Hangzhou as the Most Magnificent City in the World in his travel journal.

Comprehensive Strength

In 2008, the GDP of Hangzhou reached RMB 478.116 billion Yuan, an 11% increase over the previous year. According to the average exchange rate of RMB to USD published by the state in 2008, the GDP per capita of household registered residents of Hangzhou reached USD 8,699. Hangzhou’s financial income keeps growing up. In 2008, the total financial income of the city reached RMB 91.055 billion Yuan, 15.5% over the previous year, in which local financial income RMB 45.535 billion Yuan, 16.3% over the previous year.

Science and Education

The city has persisted in the implementation of the strategy of “Reviving the City through Science and Education” and promoted the development of science and technology through innovation. The industrialization of scientific and technical results has been advanced further. The city has encouraged the establishment of hi-tech enterprises and R&D centers actively. In 2008, 18,549 patents in total from Hangzhou were bid and the number of authorized patents was 9,831, 39.6% and 29.8% over the previous year respectively.

Over 80% of colleges, universities and research institutions of Zhejiang Province are gathered in Hangzhou. The city has 36 general colleges and universities with 409,600 undergraduate students and 29,700 graduate students. Among them, the prestigious Zhejiang University enjoys abundant research resources. There are over 80 national-level research institutions and over 300 thousand scientific and technological professionals working in Hangzhou.