Honors of the City
 The Best Human Settlement Award by the UN
 International "Garden City" awarded by International Federation of Park and Recreation Administration
 City with Best Security in China awarded by the Ministry of Public Security
 City with Greatest Economic Vitality in China awarded by CCTV
 5th place on National Urban Comprehensive Competitive Ability Ranking
 6th place on National Urban Development Capacity Ranking
 1st place for two successive years on Best City for Investment in China awarded by the World Bank
 1st place for two successive years on Best Commercial City in Mainland China awarded by Forbes

Overview of Hangzhou
Hangzhou is located along the southeast coast of China. It is the capital and center of politics, economy, science, education and culture of Zhejiang Province. Hangzhou is a key national tourist city, historical and cultural city and sub-provincial level city as confirmed by the State Council. Hangzhou is renowned as "Paradise on Earth", "Cultural State", "Home to Silk", "Home of Tea" and "Land of Fish and Rice".
Eight districts¡ªShangcheng, Xiacheng, Gongshu, Xihu, Jianggan, Binjiang, Xiaoshan, and Yuhang, and five counties (county-level cities)¡ªFuyang, Lin'an, Jiande, Tonglu, and Chun'an are under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou. The total area of the city is 16,596 km² with a population of 6,604,500.

Geographic Features
Hangzhou is located in the southern part of the Yangtze River Delta, at the western end of Hangzhou Bay, in the lower reaches of the Qiantang River, and at the southern end of Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It is an important and central city in the Yangtze River Delta and a traffic hub in southeast China. The geographic coordinates of the center of Hangzhou proper are 30¡ã16' north and 120¡ã12' east. The northwest and southwest of Hangzhou fall under the West and Central Zhejiang hilly region, while the northeast and southeast fall under the North Zhejiang Plain with dense river networks, making it a part of the famous land of fish and rice. The hilly land of the city accounts for 65.6% of the total area, the plain 26.4%, rivers, lakes, ponds, reservoirs, etc. 8%. Under the subtropical and monsoon conditions, Hangzhou has four distinct seasons with a mild and humid climate and plentiful sunshine and rainfall. The average temperature is 16.2¡æ around the year, 28.6¡æ in summer and 3.8¡æ in winter. The number of frost-free days is between 230 and 260. The average annual rainfall is 1,435 mm and the average relative humidity 76%.

History
Hangzhou is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. Kuahuqiao Culture in Xiaoshan District has a history of 8,000 years, and Liangzhu Culture in Yuhang District has a history of 5,000 years. Since Hangzhou was set up as a county capital in the Qin Dynasty, it has a history of more than 2,200 years as a city. As the capital of the Wuyue Kingdom (907¨C978 AD) in the period of Five Dynasties and of the Southern Song Dynasty, it is one of the seven ancient capitals in China. Hangzhou was called Qiantang in ancient times. In 589, the 9th year of Kaihuang of the Sui Dynasty, Qiantang Prefecture was upgraded as Hangzhou (Hang State), the debut of the name "Hangzhou" in recorded history. In 1129, the 3rd year of Jianyan of the Southern Song Dynasty, Emperor Gaozong visited Hangzhou and upgraded it as Lin'an Fu. In 1138, the 8th year of Shaoxing, the Southern Song Dynasty officially established its capital in Lin'an and remained there for over 140 years. In the 13th century, Marco Polo, a famous traveler from Italy praised Hangzhou as the "most magnificent city of beauty and grandeur in the world" in his travel log.

Comprehensive Strength
In 2005, the GDP of Hangzhou reached RMB 291.861 billion yuan, a 12.5% increase over the previous year in terms of the comparable prices, and a two-digit growth for the 15th consecutive year. According to the average RMB exchange rate of 8.1917 against US dollar as announced by the state in 2005, the per capita GDP in terms of household registered residents topped US$ 5,000 and reached US$ 5,431, and per capita GDP in terms of permanent residents reached US$ 4,844. Its fiscal revenue has maintained a rapid increase. In 2005, the total fiscal revenue of the city was RMB 52.079 billion yuan, a 17.6% increase over the previous year, in which the local fiscal revenue was RMB 25.046 billion yuan, a 19.7% increase over the previous year.

Investment Structure
In 2005, the investment in fixed assets maintained a moderate growth. The total investment in fixed assets around the year reached RMB 138.668 billion yuan, an increase of 15.3% over the previous year. As far as investment structure is concerned, the investment in the primary industry reached RMB 140 million yuan, an increase of 5%; RMB 44.925 billion yuan in secondary industry, an increase of 4.7%, in which investment in energy industry was RMB 6.578 billion yuan, an increase of 11.5%, and tertiary industry RMB 82.658 billion yuan, an increase of 23.3% over the previous year.

Industrial Structure
Vigorous development of tertiary industry, adjustment and optimization of secondary industry and steady development of primary industry were accompanied by great efforts in coordinating the three industries. In 2005, the added value of the primary industry was RMB 14.536 billion yuan, a 4% increase over the previous year; RMB 149.615 billion yuan in secondary industry, an increase of 11.6%, and RMB 127.71 billion yuan in tertiary industry, an increase of 14.7%. The ratio of the added values of the three industries was 5.0:51.2:43.8.

Foreign Trade
The scale of foreign capital utilization continued to grow. 756 contracted projects with direct foreign investment were approved, totaling US$ 4.005 billion in contracted foreign capital, increased by 30.1% over the previous year. Actual foreign investment was US$ 1.713 billion, increased by 21.5%. Among all the projects, 227 exceeded US$ 10 million in contracted investment, totaling US$ 3.090 billion, accounting for 77.1% of the total amount of foreign investment. The structure of foreign capital had been optimized and the quality upgraded. By the end of 2005, this city had attracted 55 of the world top 500 enterprises to establish 85 enterprises in Hangzhou.
The export trade maintained a rapid growth. The total import and export volume of the whole year reached US$ 29.87 billion, increased by 21.9% over the previous year, in which total import volume was US$ 10.07 billion, increased by 8%, and total export 19.8 billion, an increase of 30.5%. The export product structure was continuously optimized as the proportion of the export of hi-tech products had been raised. The total export volume of hi-tech products was US$ 3.681 billion, up 54.2% from the previous year, accounting for 18.6% of the total export volume of the city (up from 15.7% in the previous year). The leading position of the export of mechanical and electric products had been strengthened. The total export volume of mechanical and electric products was US$ 7.992 billion, increased by 39.4% over the previous year, accounting for 40.4% of the total export volume of the city (up from 37.8% in the previous year). The achievement of the multiple market strategies was significant. The volume of export to the USA was US$ 5.588 billion over the whole year, 43.3% up; to Japan, US$ 2.668 billion, 35.4% up and to EU, US$ 4.856 billion, 22.8% up.
The enterprises are accelerating the implementation of the Overseas Development strategy. The competitive ability in outbound investment, contracting and labor cooperation has been improved continuously in international cooperation. In the past year, outbound investment projects totaled 51, an increase of 21.4% over the previous year, in which 12 were non-trade investment projects. The total volume of outbound contracting and labor cooperation was US$ 259 million, increased by 9.3% over the previous year.

Science and Education
The city adhered to the strategy of "Revitalizing the City through Science and Education" and promoted the development of science and technology through innovation. The industrialization of scientific and technological achievements had been advanced further. The city had actively developed hi-tech enterprises and R&D centers and steadily promoted the business incubator of science and technology. In 2005, the city was awarded 2 state-level and 69 city-level scientific and technological progress prizes. In the whole year, the number of appraised enterprises at the state and provincial levels totaled 57 and 739 respectively. There were 178 hi-tech R&D centers in above-city-level enterprises and 231 enterprise technical centers. The innovative ability of the enterprises had been improved. 3 new incubating bases and 190 new incubating enterprises had been established, with an additional area of 191,000 m².
Over 80% of the colleges, universities and research institutes of Zhejiang Province were grouped in Hangzhou. In the 36 general colleges and universities there were 351,900 undergraduate students, a 12.1% increase over the previous year, and 23,400 graduate students, an increase of 13.3% . There were over 80 natural science research institutes and over 300,000 specialists in various fields. The prestigious Zhejiang University enjoys abundant research resources and enormous potentiality.

Tourism Resources
Hangzhou boasts rich tourism resources. The golden tourist line integrating three rivers (the Qiantang, Fuchun and Xin'an Rivers), two lakes (the Thousand-Islet Lake and the West Lake) and Tianmu Mountain is renowned both at home and abroad. The West Lake, covering 60.8 km², is one of the top 10 landscapes in China. It integrates historic sites, gardens, mountains and water and is on the application list for World Natural and Cultural Heritage. In 2002, the reconstruction of the south bank of West Lake was finished and the Lei Feng Pagoda was re-erected, bringing back the beautiful view of Evening Glow on Lei Feng Pagoda. In 2003, Hangzhou completed the construction of Yanggong Causeway, new lakeside gardens and Meijiawu Tea Cultural Village, restoring the grandeur of  "one lake mirroring two pagodas, three islets mounting the lake, and three causeways arching the green waves", a landscape that existed 300 years ago. In 2004, the north bank of the lake underwent overall rehabilitation, giving more charm to the night scene of Beishan Street. 1,513,600 international tourists and 32,659,600 domestic tourists visited Hangzhou, bringing total revenues of RMB 46.5 billion yuan.

Infrastructures
¡øAirport
Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport is a key trunkline airport, a tourist city airport, an international regular-flight airport as well as an A-Class airport which is open to the outside world. Its passenger, freight and post throughputs are all among the top 10 in China. By the end of 2005, there were 159 airlines, 22 of which were international airlines to Tokyo, Osaka, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, HK, Macao, etc.

¡øHighway
Hangzhou is the hub of Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo Expressway, Hangzhou-Nanjing Expressway, Hangzhou-Jinhua-Quzhou Expressway and 11 national and provincial highways. With expressways and special highways for automobiles as the framework, it has formed a fast, convenient, well-equipped and modernized regional network, connecting the main and branch roads.

¡øRailroad
As a key railroad hub in southeast China where the Shanghai-Hangzhou complex line, Zhejiang-Jiangxi double track, Hangzhou-Ningbo line, and Xuancheng-Hangzhou line meet, Hangzhou is connected to the national railroad network.

¡øWaterways
Hangzhou has given full play to its advantages of inland river ports by connecting Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to Qiantang River, constructing a water transportation network linked with the rivers, lakes and seas over the country.

¡øEnvironmental Protection
Hangzhou Municipal Government is making great efforts to improve the urban environment by polishing the brand of "Residing, Traveling, Studying and Starting a Business in Hangzhou", and vigorously implementing the Four Projects¡ªBlue Sky, Green Water, Greenness and Cleanliness. In 2005, there were 301 days of Grade I and II air quality in the city proper, or 82.5% around the year. The proportion that SO₂ emission and wastewater disposal from industry meet the standards was raised from 97.1% and 97% to 97.5% and 98% respectively. The 2nd-phase project of Qige Wastewater Treatment Plant was near completion. The central wastewater treatment rate reached 72%, up 1.8% percent from the previous year. 770.1 hectares of new greenbelt had been constructed, including 258.4 hectares in the city proper. By the end of the year, the green coverage rate reached 36.83% and the per capita greenbelt reached 10.25 m².

¡øPublic Services and Utilities
The comprehensive level of public services and utilities had been improved steadily. 2,713,500 KVA was added to the city's electricity network through transmission & transformation projects of 35 KV and above. Also added were 251.5 km of 110 KV lines and above. The volume of power supply reached 32.076 billion KVH, an 18.2% increase over the previous year, and that of water supply 6,350 billion m³, an increase of 2%. In 2005, the total telecommunications income reached RMB 8.508 billion yuan, or an 8.3% increase; wired telephone households totaled 4,111,700, or a 14% increase. The main line diffusion rate of wired telephones reached 63.97 lines/100 persons, 21.1% up from the previous year. There were 6,072,500 mobile phone subscribers, 26.6% up. China Telecom provides ADSL, LAN, VDSL, VPN, IPHOTEL, optical fiber and other broadband access services, which can basically satisfy the market demands.

Industrial Features
Industry is the backbone of the national economy of Hangzhou. It has constructed a complete manufacturing system. The five backbone industries¡ªelectronics & information, medicine & chemical engineering, machinery manufacturing, textiles & garments, and food & beverage¡ªhave solid foundations with strong competitive advantage. The construction of an advanced manufacturing base focusing on "Information Port" and "New Medicine Port" is accelerating its steps. In 2005, the added industrial value reached RMB 133.039 billion yuan, 12% up from the previous year; the total production volume of the major industrial enterprises reached RMB 542.827 billion yuan, 22.1% up, and sales volume RMB 533.283 billion yuan, 22.1% up.

¡øElectronics & Information Industry
Hangzhou is a national experimental city of informationalization, E-commerce, E-government and hi-resolution TV and is a key national base for software and IC design industries. Its information industry is prospering. The six new industries¡ªcommunications, software, IC, digital TV, animation and online games¡ªare developing into an industrial chain. With Eastcom, Soyea, Futong and UT Starcom as the flagships, Motorola, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, Nokia and other communication tycoons have all set up their production and R&D centers in Hangzhou, focusing on mobile communication, communication & transmission equipment, digital audio and video, semiconductor material and IC, computer and application software, etc. By vigorously promoting network technology and speeding up e-commerce, Hangzhou has become an E-information city and a key development and production base of communication products.

¡øMedicine and Chemical Engineering
There are approximately 600 above-scale enterprises in this industry. The sales volume in 2005 reached approximately RMB 55 billion yuan. Mingsheng Pharmaceutical, Qingchunbao Pharmaceutical, Hangzhou Rubber Group, Transfar Group, etc. are major enterprises of this industry. In the medicine section, a joint development pattern of biomedicine, chemical medicine and Chinese traditional patent medicine has been formed. While centering on the construction of New Medicine Port, the city also focuses on modern Chinese traditional medicine, biomedicine, new medicine and optical-mechanical-electric medical equipments. In the chemical engineering section, there are more than 1,000 types of products in four categories: refined chemical engineering, agricultural chemical engineering, basic chemical engineering and rubber processing. Hi-tech will go into the modernization of industries. Refined chemical engineering will be vigorously developed, and small chemical factories with high pollution, high-energy consumption and low efficiency will be gradually replaced.

¡øFood and Beverage Industry
There were totally 2,584 above-scale enterprisesin this industry. The sales volume in 2005 reached approximately RMB 140 billion yuan. In the four industries of foodstuff processing, foodstuff production, beverage production and tobacco processing, Wahaha Group, Dingyi Foodstuff, Nongfu Spring and Zhongcui are among the leading state-level enterprises. As a tourist city, it will speed up its development of convenient, natural, green, nutritious and healthy food with more technological contents to increase the brand popularity. Great efforts will also be made in the development of refined processing of foodstuff.

¡øMechinery Manufacturing Industry
There are totally 1,761 above-scale enterprises in this industry. The sales volume in 2005 was approximately RMB 124.2 billion yuan. Representatives of the trade are state- and private-run enterprises like Wanxiang Group, Hangyang Group, Steam Turbine and Power Group, Holley Group and international enterprises like GM and Siemens. Automobile parts, electric meters, industrial turbines, hydropower equipment, etc. have had a good market share. The government is trying its best to revitalize equipment manufacturing industry, improve its design and manufacturing level and promote optical-mechanical-electric integration. The foci of development include automobile parts, electric engineering and equipment, instruments and meters, engineering machinery, environment protection equipment, etc.

¡øTextiles and Garment Industry
There are totally 1,760 above-scale enterprises in this industry. The sales volume in 2005 reached approximately RMB 105.2 billion yuan. Major enterprises included Wanshili Group, Huading Group, Hengyi Group, Rongsheng Chemical Fiber, etc. There was a complete industrial system of cotton textile, wool textile, chemical textile, knitting textile, printing and dyeing, decoration, garments, textile machinery, etc. With the establishment of Hangzhou female fashion brands in the lead, and the development of decoration and industrial textile products as the main target, this industry will increase the ratio of high-grade fabric and will construct production bases for chemical fabric, color woven cloth, garment supplementary materials, etc.

Introduction to Economic Development Zones
There are five state-level economic development zones: Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone, Zhejiang Hangzhou Export Processing Zone, Hangzhou Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, Xiaoshan Economic and Technological Development Zone, and Hangzhou Zhijiang National Tourism and Holiday Zone; six provincial-level economic development zones: Yuhang Economic Development Zone, Lin'an Economic Development Zone, Fuchunjiang Economic Development Zone, Tonglu Economic Development Zone, Thousand-islet Economic Development Zone and Jiande Economic Development Zone.

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