Welcome to the Paradise

Welcome to Hangzhou

Geography

Hangzhou is the capital city of Zhejiang Province in Southeast China and has a population of 6.6 million. The weather is mild in Hangzhou, the average temperature is 39 ℉ in winter and 61 ℉ in summer.

Also it is close to Shanghai, the largest city and economic center in China and the distance between them is only 200 km. It takes less than 2 hours in highway and less than 50 minutes in high-speed railway to reach Shanghai.

This city attracts over 20 million tourists from all around the world every year and West Lake is world-famous for its natural beauty. In Yuan dynasty, a famous Italian traveler called Marco Polo praised the city as the most splendid city in the world. There is a saying in China that “Above is paradise and below is Suzhou and Hangzhou” and Hangzhou is always called “the paradise on earth”.

The Economy of Hangzhou is developing very fast and ranking within the top ten big-middle cities in China. Also it is the safest tourist-city and one of the safest internal cities in China.

History and culture

The city has civilization for more than 4000 years and is one of the six ancient capitals. The most glorious period is in Southern Sung dynasty from 1132 to 1276 while it was the capital of China at that time. In that period of time, the city was very rich due to the prosperous silk trade with foreign nations and was center of art, literature, education in China. The population of the city at that time was already over one million.

The city was favored by many emperors after Southern Sung dynasty, in the 17^th century Emperor Kangxi of Qing Dynasty visited Hangzhou five times and wrote down calligraphy Ten Scenes of West Lake which made West Lake famous. Later his grandson Emperor Qianlong visited Hangzhou six times and left many famous poems and calligraphy works there to express his deep love of the city.

The Great Canal, one the four ancient greatest construction projects in the world, links Hangzhou to Beijing. It is the earliest and longest man-made canal in the world and it still in use today. The Great Canal with history of over 2400 years has become significant part of the city. Dozens of bridges built cross the canal which are beauty spots.

The most famous beauty spots are West Lake and Ten Scenes of West Lake around. Not only because of the natural beauty scenery but also the cultural heritage that ancient predecessors left for us.  For many centuries the Ten Scenes of West Lake are becoming more attractive and shining.

Welcome to the “paradise” city, the one that you will never forget!

link to official city guide