Hangzhou is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division ("shì", 杭州市) or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people.The built up area of the Hangzhou municipality had a resident population of 4.227 million in 2003 (urban and suburban districts), of which there were 1.91 million residents in the six urban core districts.

A core city of the Yangtze River Delta, its position on the Hangzhou Bay 180 kilometres (110 mi) southwest of Shanghai gives it economic power, and moreover, it has also been one of the most renowned and prosperous cities of China for much of the last 1,000 years, due in part to its beautiful natural scenery; the city's West Lake is its most well-known attraction.