General Introduction

Zhejiang Province -- "the land of silk" which produces one-third of the country's raw silk, brocade and satin-- lies on the southeastern coast with an area of more than 100,000 square kilometers and a coastline 2,200 kilometers long. It has a population of 38.27 million, of which 3.81 million, or 9.9 per cent of the total, live in the cities. The province is named after its largest river, now known as the Qiantang.

Scenic Spots

Fuchun River
Hangzhou -- 'Paradise on Earth'
Nanxun Old Town
Ningbo -- Ancient Seaport
Nanxi River Scenic Spot
Putuo Mountain
Shaoxing -- City of Rivers and Canals
Wuzhen
Xitang Old Town
Xin'an River
Yandang Mountain -- Captivating Grandeur

Topography

Hills and mountains make up 70.4 per cent of Zhejiang's total area, plains 23.2 per cent and rivers and lakes 6.4 per cent. Sloping from southwest to northeast, it covers two topographical zones. 1) The northern part consists of the Hangjia Plain north of Hangzhou Bay and the Ningshao Plain south of it. With low, flat terrain, numerous waterways and fertile soil, this area produces grain and silk. 2) The hills and mountains in the west and south make up the greater part of the province. The Tianmu and Longmen mountains in the west are an important bamboo and tea growing region, while the Guiji, Siming and Tiantai mountains in the east with their many small intermontane basins are a grain-producing region. The scenic, tree-covered Xianxia, Donggong, Yandang and Kuocang mountains in the south are interspersed with the small Huangyan and Wenzhou plains. The central part of the province consists of the Jinhua, Quxian, Dongyang and Pujiang basins, which are drained by the middle-upper Qiantang River and its tributaries and have a large concentration of farmland. Zhejiang is the province with the largest number of offshore islands. Of the 2,000 islands, the best- known is the Zhoushan Archipelago. Strewn along its zigzag coastline are many harbours and bays, notably Hangzhou Bay, Xiangshan Harbour, Sanmen Bay and Wenzhou Bay.

Zhejiang has eight major rivers. They are, from north to south, the Tiaoxi, Qiantang, Caoe, Yongjiang, Lingjiang, Oujiang, Feiyun and Aojiang, the largest being the Qiantang. Of its few lakes, the better-known are West Lake at Hangzhou and South Lake at Jiaxing.

Climate

Zhejiang has a sub-tropical monsoonal climate, warm, humid and rainy. It has a mean annual temperature of 150-18ºC, decreasing from south to north, and a mean annual precipitation of 1,200-1,800 mm. "Plum rains" occur between May and June and typhoons between summer and autumn.


Communications

Zhejiang has four trunk rail lines handling the bulk of its transport: the Shanghai-Hangzhou, Zhejiang-Jiangxi, Xiaoshan-Ningbe and Hangzhou-Changxing raihvays, and a highway mileage of 20,574 kilometers. Its inland navigation is convenient in the coastal plains in the north and east. Its maritime transport is also developed, the main ports being Ningbo, Wenzhou, Haimen and Dinghai.