Hangzhou, or "hang" for short, was formerly known as Lin'an and Qiantang. It is the capital of Zhejiang Province, a vice provincial city, and the core city of Hangzhou metropolitan area. It is also the capital of Zhejiang Province, the economic, cultural, scientific and educational center of Zhejiang Province, and one of the central cities in the Yangtze River Delta approved by the State Council.
By 2019, the city has 10 districts, 2 counties and 1 county-level city under its jurisdiction, with a total area of 16853.57 square kilometers and a built-up area of 648.46 square kilometers. At 0:00 on November 1, 2020, Hangzhou has a permanent resident population of 1193601.
Hangzhou is located in East China, the lower reaches of Qiantang River, the southeast coast, the north of Zhejiang Province, and the south end of Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal. It is the core city of Dawan district around Hangzhou Bay and an important international e-commerce center.
There are many cultural relics in Hangzhou. There are a large number of natural and cultural landscape relics around the West Lake. The representative ones are the West Lake Culture, Liangzhu culture, silk culture, tea culture, and many stories and legends handed down.
Hangzhou has a history of more than 2200 years since it was established as a county in Qin Dynasty. It is one of the seven famous ancient capitals in China. It was once the capital of Wu Yue State and Southern Song Dynasty. Because of its beautiful scenery, it is known as "paradise on earth".
Thanks to the convenience of Beijing Hangzhou Grand Canal and trading ports, as well as its developed silk and grain industries, Hangzhou used to be an important commercial distribution center in history.
The discovery of ancient human fossils at wuguidong site in Hangzhou confirmed that there were ancient human beings living on the land of Hangzhou 50000 years ago. The excavation of Xiaoshan cross Lake Bridge site confirmed that there were modern human beings living here as early as 8000 years ago.
It is said that when Xia Yu controlled the flood, the whole country was divided into Kyushu, and the vast area to the south of the Yangtze River was generally called Yangzhou. In the 21st century B.C., during the southern tour of Xia Yu, the princes of the general assembly, Yu Kuaiji (now Shaoxing), once sailed here by boat and gave up their Hangzhou (the "hang" is the ark) here, hence the name "Yuhang".