Hangzhou Life
Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang Province, China.
Famed for its natural scenery, Hangzhou and its West Lake have been immortalized
by countless poets and artists.
 As one of the most renowned and prosperous cities of China for much of the
last 1,000 years, Hangzhou is also well-known for its beautiful natural scenery,
with the West Lake as the most noteworthy location. Chinese now like to call
Hangzhou "Paradise on Earth". Sitting 200 kilometers (125 miles)
to the southwest of Shanghai, and ranking as one of China's most popular tourist
attractions a visit to Hangzhou provides a lovely, peaceful alternative to
the hustle and bustle of other big cities.
With a population of 6.6 million, Hangzhou is recognized as being one of China's
beauty spots and best resort city. It is an easy city for the tourist as many
of the best sites lie within 15 kilometers. Hangzhou is an important industrial
centre and transport hub, with the quality of silk produced here being legendary.
The city of Hangzhou was founded about 2,200 years ago during the Qin Dynasty.It is one of the cradles of China civilization and one of the Seven Ancient
Capitals of China. As early as over 5,000 years ago, there were human beings
living in the Hangzhou area, creating the Liangzhu Culture known as the Dawn
of Civilization. In the 13th century, the Italian traveler Macro Polo called
Hangzhou "the Most Splendid and Luxurious City in the World".
Hangzhou was called Qiantang in ancient time. In the ninth year of Kaihuang
of Sui Dynasty (589 AD), Hangzhou was founded to replace the original Qiantang
County and the name of Hangzhou was recorded for the first time in history.
In the third year of Jianyan of Southern Song Dynasty (1129 AD), Emperor Gaozong
moved southward to Hangzhou and upgraded it as the site of the prefecture city
of Lin'an.
In the eighth year of Shaoxing (1138 AD), Lin'an was officially determined
as the capital, which lasted more than 140 years. In the first year of the
Republic of China (1912), the original Qiantang County and Renhe County were
merged into Hangzhou County. In the 16th year of the Republic of China (1927),
Hangzhou County was dismantled and Hangzhou was founded as a city. It was
on May 3, 1949 when Hangzhou was liberated that the city began to write its
new chapter of development in history.
- Qin Dynasty (221 - 206 BC)
Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, the main builder of the Great Wall,
visited Hangzhou and declared the county a part of his empire.
- Sui Dynasty (581 - 618)
The Grand Canal, originating in Beijing, was extended to Hangzhou, thus linking
the city to the most profitable trading route in China. Since the city
wall was constructed during the Sui Dynasty in 591,
Hangzhou became increasingly powerful and prosperous.
- Tang Dynasty (618-907)
 Hangzhou's population increases as well as its regional power. Hangzhou also
served as the capital for the Wuyue Kingdom in the late 10th century.
It was the capital of the Wuyue
Kingdom from 907 to 978 during
the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. Named Xifu at the time, it was
one of the three great centers of culture in southern China during
the 10th
century, along with Nanjing and Chengdu.
Leaders of Wuyue were noted patrons of the arts, and especially of Buddhism
and associated temple architecture and artwork. It also became a cosmopolitan
center, drawing scholars from throughout China and conducting diplomacy not
only with neighboring Chinese states, but also with Japan, Korea,
and the Khitans.
- Northern Song Dynasty (907-1127)
In 1089, a 2.8 kilometer long dike was built across the West Lake. The
lake was once a lagoon tens of thousands of years ago. Silt then blocked the
way to the sea and the lake was formed. A drill in the lake-bed in 1975 found
the sediment of the sea, which confirmed its origin. Artificial preservation
prevented the lake to evolve into a marshland. The Su Dike built by Su Shi,
and the Bai Dike built by Bai Juyi, a famous Tang Dynasty Poet who was once
the governor of Hangzhou, are both built out of the mud cleaned from the bottom
of the Lake. The Lake is surrounded by hills on north and west side. The
Baochu Pagoda sits on the Baoshi Hill to the north of the Lake.
- Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279)
The city was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty from 1127 AD until the
Mongol invasion of 1276. This period was Hangzhou's golden age of prosperity.
Local industry flourished and worship of Taoism and Buddhism peaked. Many
of the temples seen today were built during that period.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, commercial expansion, an influx of refugees
from the conquered north, and the growth of the official and military establishments,
led to a corresponding population increase and the city developed well outside
its 9th century ramparts. It is believed that Hangzhou was the largest city
in the world from 1180 to 1315 and from 1348 to 1358.
- Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368)
Mongols ruled China and Marco Polo visited Hangzhou
in 1290 and referred to the city as "beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world." Although
he exaggerated that the city was over one hundred miles in diameter and had
12,000 stone bridges, he still presented elegant prose about Hangzhou, stating "the
number and wealth of the merchants, and the amount of goods that passed through
their hands, was so enormous that no man could form a just estimate thereof." And
he was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the Xi Hu, or West Lake, that he transcribed,
and thus popularized, a famous Chinese saying "Shang you tiantang, xia you
Suhang", which means in heaven there is paradise, on earth there is Suzhou
and Hangzhou. Chinese now like to call Hangzhou "Paradise on Earth".
Hangzhou was the capital of the Southern
Song Dynasty from the early 12th
century until the Mongol invasion
of 1276, and was known as Lin'an. It served as the seat of the imperial
government, a center of trade and entertainment, and the nexus of the main
branches of the civil
service. During that time, the city was the gravity centre of Chinese
civilization as what used to be considered the "central China" in
the north was taken by the Jin,
an ethnic minority dynasty. Numerous philosophers, politicians, and men
of literature, including some of the most celebrated poets in Chinese history
such as Su Shi, Lu
You, and Xin
Qiji came here to live and die. Hangzhou was also the birthplace and
final resting place of the famed scientist Shen Kuo (1031-1095 AD), his tomb
located in the Yuhang district in Hangzhou.
- Ming-Qing Dynasties (1368-1644, 1616-1911)
The city remained an important port until the middle Ming
dynasty when its harbor slowly silted up. Hangzhou continued to grow
and prosper from its local industries, especially silk weaving, and became
the silk center for all of China. As late as the latter part of the 16th
and early 17th centuries, the city was an important center of Chinese Jewry,
and may have been the original home of the more well-known Kaifeng Jewish
community.
- Recent History
 After the Tsing dynasty crumbled, Hangzhou lost economic status to Shanghai
with its foreign stakes in the 1920s. Internal warfare cost Hangzhou hundreds
of thousands of people and whole sections of the city were destroyed. Since
the opening of China in the 20th century, Hangzhou has been on the rebound.
Increasing foreign investment and a cluster of some of China's most successful
private enterprises have made Hangzhou, once again, one of the most prosperous
cities in China.
 Hangzhou is located in the north of Zhejiang Province, in eastern China.
It is also on the southern end of the Grand
Canal, on the plain of the mid-lower reaches south of the Yangtze
River. The prefecture level region of Hangzhou extends west to the border
with the hilly country Anhui Province, and east to the flatland of Hangzhou
Bay.
It is at 30.15 degrees north latitude and 120.16 degrees east longitude.
In southwest Hangzhou there is a foothill, joined by the undulated Tianmu Mountains,
with an altitude generally lower than 500 meters. The northeastern part of
the city is flat, with an altitude of 3 to 10 meters. The city centre is built
around the eastern and northern sides of the West Lake, just north of the Qiantang
River.
Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province at the sub-provincial administrative
level, is the provincial center in politics, economy, culture, science and
education. It is also an important national tourist city with its beautiful
scenery and a famous city in history & culture affirmed by the State Council.
The economy of Hangzhou has been developed consistently and rapidly. Its
general economic strength is one of the top ten in China and its GDP is ranked
number two among the provincial capitals in China.
Hangzhou is an industrial city with complete kinds and major in light industry,
which is considered as the most important manufacturing base and logistics
hub. Light industrial economy of Hangzhou ranks tops in the country. In Hangzhou,
there is the biggest flax textile factory in China. The silk industry has
a very long history and the output and quality of the products are ranked first
in China.
Hangzhou has made significant progress in developing its foreign economic
relations and trade, which plays an important part in Hangzhou's economy.
Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, Siemens and Ericsson have all set up research and
development centers in Hangzhou. Yahoo invested US$1 billion in Hangzhou-based
Alibaba in 2005, in the largest dotcom merger in China to date. Alibaba is
China's biggest e-commerce website. In 2006, Chinese internet and online games
provider NetEase.com set up a RMB304 million research and development center
in the city.
Moreover, the agricultural sideline occupations are developed too. The agricultural
foundation of Hangzhou is rather solid-- fertile soil and rich natural resources,
a temperate climate and abundant rainfall. Therefore, the development of production
of agricultural sideline products looks promising.
Hangzhou's real estate market has been booming.Sun Hung Kai of Hong Kong
took a 40% stake in a US$90 million property development venture with China
Resources in 2005. Hangzhou's construction boom has proved draw for machinery
producers. For instance, a Japanese owned excavator manufacturing venture
involving Toyota Tsusho and Kobe Steel was set up in the city in 2005.
A World Bank report published in October 2006 ranked Hangzhou as the leading
Chinese city in terms of overall investment climate, local government effectiveness
and progress towards a harmonious society. More than 50 of the world's top
500 companies have invested In Hangzhou.
Hangzhou owns the natural environment integrating rivers, lakes and hills.
The hilly area of the city accounts for 65.6 percent of the total, the plain
26.4 percent, rivers, lakes, ponds and reservoirs 8 percent. Its west, middle
and south belong to the hilly area of West Zhejiang and northeast to the plain
of North Zhejiang.
The Grand Cannal (Beijing-Hangzhou) is the longest cannel in the world
and Qiantang River, noted for its huge waves. Hangzhou has long been reputed
as the Land of Fish and Rice, the Land of Silk and Paradise on the Earth
with lengthwise and sidewise rivers. With its densely scattered lakes,
Hangzhou is a beautiful place to enjoy the scenery without worries. In
fact, Hangzhou was the first provincial capital to be designated a model
environmental city by the central government in 1998. It has one of the
best air quality indices of any major Chinese city, while its per capita
urban green space amounts to 6.8 square meters.
Hangzhou is the center of politics, economy and culture of Zhejiang province.
Hangzhou is equipped with a sound infrastructure system. As an important
hub of communications, Hangzhou is equipped with a complete land, water
and air transportation systems. Hangzhou has also seen a rapid development
of its telecommunications. At present, the city is making endeavor to make
itself a city of powerful economic strength, diversified culture and modernized
world-renowned tourist site.
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