Meaning of the name
"Winding River". Zhejiang is the ancient name of the Qiantang River, which is the estuary on which the city of Hangzhou is located. The same river is called Fuchun Jiang in its upper reaches.

Geographical location:
Zhejiang Province is situated on China's southeastern coast, on the southern part of the Yangtze River Delta. Its northeast is adjacent to Shanghai, the largest city of China. It covers a total land area of 101,800 square kilometers, of which the mountainous and hilly regions amount to 70.4 percent, the plains and basins make up 23.2 percent, and the rest 6.4 percent is rivers and lakes. The province's total coastline stretches 6,486 kilometers, ranking the first in China. Zhejiang also has the most islands in China. Among the province's numerous islands, 3,061 have a land area of 500 square meters or larger.

Capital: Hangzhou

Major Cities: Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Shaoxing, Jinhua, Jiaxing, Huzhou.

Neighboring areas: Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Jiangsu Provinces; Shanghai Municipality

Attractions in Zhejiang

Population:
In the year of 2000, the population of the whole province was 46.7698 million, with the birth rate of 10.64 per thousand and the natural growth rate of 4.29 per thousand. The population of Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and Taizhou has passed 5 million, while the population of Zhoushan is the smallest -- less than 1 million. Zhejiang Province is one of the most densely populated areas in China, with an average density of 439 persons per sq kilometer. Jiaxing City has the highest density, over 840 persons per sq kilometer, six times of that of Lishui, the lowest in the province.

Life expectancy:
The average expectancy of the residents in Zhejiang Province is 74 for male and 88 for female.

Administrative division :
The province is divided into 11 cities at the prefecture level: Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Jiaxing, Huzhou, Shaoxing, Jinhua, Quzhou, Zhoushan, Taizhou and Lishui. Under these there are 39 counties, 24 cities at the county level and 25 districts.

Ethnicity:
Over 400,000 of Zhejiang's population are of 49 minority ethnic groups, of which 200,000 are the She people and 20,000 are the Hui, who scattered in the southwestern region of the province. The Jingning She Autonomous County is China's only autonomous county where people of the She ethnic group live in concentrated communities.

History
Archaeologists have discovered evidence that rice agriculture has been practiced in Zhejiang Province for over 7000 years, and silk worms have been raised for at least 4700 years. The Zhejiang region comes into written history as a prize competed for by various kingdoms, a period which lasted from 400 BC until the 13th century AD. Industrial development began as early as the 1st and 2nd centuries AD when salt making and porcelain industries were established. Commerce and trading became important after 300 AD, and the quantities of grain available in Zhejiang resulted in the Grand Canal being extended to Hangzhou in the 7th century.

When the Southern Song dynasty emperors established their capital at Hangzhou in 1127 AD, northern Zhejiang became the political and cultural center for all of China, and the area was made famous by many painters and poets. The prosperity continued until time of the Taiping Rebellion in 1862, when Hangzhou was destroyed. It rose again in importance after the Chinese Revolution of 1911-12, when it was a power base for the Guomindang (Nationalist) party under Chiang Kai-shek. Zhejiang was occupied by the Japanese during the Second World War (1937-45) but was not severely affected by the Civil War of 1946-49 which brought the Communists to power.

Today Zhejiang is China's leading producer of tea, and the second biggest producer of silk. Its many other crops include: rice, wheat, corn (maize), potatoes, cotton, sugar cane, bamboo, oranges, mushrooms, fish, shellfish and kelp. Its most important mineral resources include fluorite, coal and salt. The industries of Zhejiang, and most of its wealth, are driven by its abundant hydroelectric power. Its leading products are machinery, textiles, petrochemicals, food products and building materials.

Culture
The native Wu and Yue cultures of Zhejiang have been blended with northern Chinese customs that were brought by the Song emperors in the 12th century. Among many interesting cultural traditions, Zhejiang is the home of several operatic styles, including the Yue Opera of Shaoxing.

Three famous handicrafts of Zhejiang province are: Boxwood Carvings, Dongyang Wood Carvings and Qingtian Stone Carving.

Food
The mingling of southern and northern Chinese peoples in Zhejiang over the centuries has resulted in a unique cuisine that combines southern ingredients with a northern cooking style. Dishes are typically based on fish and seafood, often with local specialties like ham and bamboo shoots added.

Folklore
Because of its exalted cultural history, the people of China consider Zhejiang natives to be highly civilized, but somewhat snobbish.

Elevation extremes:
Zhejiang¡¯s territory slopes down from the southwest to the northeast. Its southwest is mountainous, with the average height of 800 meters above sea level. Most of the province¡¯s mountains with a height of over 1,500 meters are found in this area. Huangmaojian in Longquan County, 1,929 meters above sea level, is the highest peak of the province. The middle part of Zhejiang is a hilly area, scattered with many large and small basins. The northeastern part is a low and flat alluvial plain covered with a thick layer of fertile soil and crisscrossed with waterways. The mountain ranges stretch towards the East China Sea, forming many peninsulas and islands.

Zhejiang Province covers a total land area of 101,800 square kilometers, of which 70.4 percent is mountainous region; 23.2 percent is plain; and rest 6.4 percent is covered by rivers and lakes. According to the statistics made in the end of 1999, the province has 1.609 million hectares of cultivated land and 6.3966 million hectares of forests. Stored in the forests, which cover up 54.6 percent of the province¡¯s total land, are 127 million cubic meters living timber.

Rivers: Qiantang River in the north; Qujiang River in the south, Fuchunjiang

Climate:
Zhejiang Province has a sub-tropical monsoon climate, with the clear division of four seasons and abundant sunshine. The average annual temperature is 15¡ãC - 18¡ãC and the average annual precipitation is 1,200-1,800 mm. Its rainy season is from May to June; its coldest and hottest days are seen in January and July respectively.

Average Temperature: 2C to 8C in January, 27C to 30C in July

Annual Average Rainfall: 850 - 1,700 mm; low precipitation in the north

Natural resources:
A rich reserve of more than 100 minerals is found in Zhejiang, including 12 non-metallic ones ranking among the top three in China in terms of the amount of reserve. Its reserves of stone coal, alunite, pyrophyllite, limestone for cement-making and limestone for construction rank the first in the country; fluorite occupies the second place in China and diatomite, the third. The reserves of silica, pearlite, granite, zeolite, silver, zinc, vanadium and cadmium all rank among the country¡¯s top tens.

Zhejiang Province has a total coastline (including island lines) of 6,486 kilometers, with a total domestic sea area of 30,900 square kilometers. Zhejiang is the China¡¯s largest in-shore fishery, with 400 square kilometers of shallow sea and 2,886 square meters of low beach for aquiculture. In addition, the continental shelf of the East China Sea is rich in petroleum and natural gas.

Zhejiang is famed as "a treasure house of plants in southeastern China." with a high forest-coverage rate, the province has as many as 3,800 species of plants. Among these, gingko and more than 50 others have listed in the Directory of Rare Plants under State Protection. There are more than 1,900 species of wild animals in the province, 120 of which being listed as first or second grade of wild animals under state protection, making up one third of the country¡¯s total protected rare animals.

The continental shelf rich in petroleum and natural gas resources has very good prospect for exploitation. The province¡¯s water resources total 93.7 billion cubic meters, ranking the fourth in China by per unit area.

Tourist resources:
Zhejiang is one of the birthplaces of the Chinese civilization. As early as in the Old Stone Age about 50,000 years ago, the primitive Jiande Man lived in the mountainous western region of the province. During the New Stone Age of about 7,000 to 4,000 years ago, human activities extended to a wider area, leaving more than 100 cultural sites in the area, including those belonging to the Hemudu Culture (about 6,000 to 7,000 years ago), the Majiabang Culture (about 6000 to 6000 years ago) and the Liangzhu Culture (about 4,000 to 5,000 years ago). Among the large amount of cultural relics found in the Yuyao Hemudu Cultural Site, are all types of farming and daily life utensils made of bones, stone, pottery and wood; grains; wooden parts of house-structures; colorful lacquer bowls and bone whistles that can still produce beautiful music now. All these are the evidence that the ancestors of the Chinese people created the magnificent prehistoric civilization as early as 7,000 years ago. During the 12th and 13th century, Hangzhou served as the Southern Song Dynasty¡¯s capital for about 150 years. In the 14th century, along with the designation of its border, ¡°Zhejiang¡± became the formal name of the province. In China¡¯s history, Zhejiang Province was famous for its developed farming skills and handicrafts. It led the country in industries such as silk, porcelain, papermaking, printing and shipbuilding.

Zhejiang is a favored tourist destination. It has 11 state-level scenic areas, including the West Lake, Fuchun River, Xin¡¯an River, Thousand-islet Lake, Mount Yantang, Nanxi River, Mount Putuo, the Shengsi Islands, Mount Tiantai, Mount Mognan, Mount Xuedou, Twin-Dragon Cave and Mount Xiandu, in addition to its 35 province-level scenic spots. The Hangzhou Rive is a national holiday resort, and 10 other resorts, including Xianghu Lake in Xiaoshan, Oujiang River in Wenzhou and Mount Huiji in Shaoxing, are of provincial level. The Surging Qiantang Tides, a unique natural view, attracts numerous visitors from both home and abroad each year.

Transportation
Sea Ports:
About 300 kilometers of Zhejiang's coastline in Province are good for building deep-water harbors. With the ports in Ningbo, Zhoushan, Zhapu, Haimen and Wenzhou as the mainstay, Zhejiang has 34 sea ports, offering 44 docks for ships of more than 10,000 tons, with an annual handling capacity of 270 tons. Zhejiang Province has established transporting relationship with 400 harbors in more than 70 countries and regions in the world and has opened scheduled passenger lines between Zhejiang and the United States, Japan and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Beicang Port in Ningbo, one of China's four major entrepot sea ports, can serve ships of 300,000 tons. It is the largest and best iron ore entreport in China. Zhoushan Port has become one of the nation's largest harbors; Qiaoshan of Zhoushan, with the shipping capacity of super oil tanks of 250,000 tons, is the largest oil transferring harbor in China.

Railways:
With the provincial capital Hangzhou as the core, Zhejiang's railway network totals 1,185 km in length. It includes three double-track railways (Hangzhou-Shanghai Railway, Hangzhou-Jiangxi Railway and Hangzhou-Ningbo Railway) and two trunk railways (Hangzhou-Xuancheng Railway and Jinhua-Wenzhou Railway).

Highways:
With a total mileage of 42,000 km, Zhejiang's highway network is composed of six state highways and 66 provincial highways, of which 2,000 km are of high grade, and 770 km are expressways. The expressways of Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo and Shangyu-Sanmen have open to traffic, and the Ningbo-Taizhou-Wenzhou, Hangzhou-Jinhua-Quzhou, Hangzhou-Nanjing and Jinhua-Lishui-Wenzhou expressways are under construction, with some sections of them having been open to traffic already. By 2002, the expressways in Zhejiang Province will stretch over 1,000 km to form a network with Hangzhou at the center. By then it will take no more than four hours to reach any city within the province from the provincial capital. Airports: Zhejiang Province has seven airports, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huangyan, Yiwu, Quzhou and Zhoushan, which operate 160 domestic or international air routes. The Xiaoshan Airport in Hangzhou City has been just completed and put into operation.

River routes:
The province has 10,400 km of river routes, ranking the third in the country, with 10 trunk water routes totaling 1,230 km and 105 harbors. Its annual cargo handling capacity is 210 million tons.

Telecommunications
Telephones: The province's total switchboard capacity is over 13.3 million lines and the total capacity of the mobile telecommunicating network is over 10 million lines. The distant telecommunication within the province has finished the transfer from the electric cable to optical fiber cable. Optical fiber cable has reached all townships. Zhejiang Province also leads the country in the application of digital telecommunication, voice telecommunication service and intelligent telephones. By the end of 2000, there were 1.10 million Internet users and 33,000 customers of digital telecommunication. The coverage of telephones reached 41.6 sets per hundred persons, ranking the first in the whole country.

Radio and Television Stations: There are 12 provincial and city-level radio stations with 98 broadcasting programs; 12 provincial and city-level television stations with 107 broadcasting programs.