eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
, coastal
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
of the People's Republic of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Its capital and largest city is
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
, and other notable cities include
Ningbo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...
and
Wenzhou
Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east o ...
. Zhejiang is bordered by
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
and
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
to the north,
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
to the northwest,
Jiangxi
Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...
to the west and
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...
to the south. To the east is the
East China Sea
The East China Sea is an arm of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. It covers an area of roughly . The sea’s northern extension between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula is the Yellow Sea, separated b ...
, beyond which lies the
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...
. The population of Zhejiang stands at 64.6 million, the 8th highest among China. It has been called 'the backbone of China' due to being a major driving force in the Chinese economy and being the birthplace of several notable persons, including the
Chinese Nationalist
Chinese nationalism () is a form of nationalism in the People's Republic of China (Mainland China) and the Republic of China on Taiwan which asserts that the Chinese people are a nation and promotes the cultural and national unity of all Chin ...
leader
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
and entrepreneur
Jack Ma
Jack Ma Yun (; born 10 September 1964) is a Chinese business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He is the co-founder and former executive chairman of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate. In addition, he co-founded Yunfeng ...
. Zhejiang consists of 90 counties (incl. county-level cities and districts).
The area of Zhejiang was controlled by the Kingdom of Yue during the
Spring and Autumn period
The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...
. The
Qin Empire
The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...
later annexed it in 222 BC. Under the late
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
and the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
that followed it, Zhejiang's ports became important centers of international trade. It was occupied by the
Empire of Japan
The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...
during the
Second Sino-Japanese war
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
and placed under the control of the Japanese puppet state known as the
Reorganized National Government of China
The Wang Jingwei regime or the Wang Ching-wei regime is the common name of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China ( zh , t = 中華民國國民政府 , p = Zhōnghuá Mínguó Guómín Zhèngfǔ ), the government of the pup ...
. After Japan's defeat, Zhejiang's economy became stagnant under
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1.01 trillion as of 2020, ranking between the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
with a GDP of US$ 913 billion and US$ 1.06 trillion respectively, the 16th and 17th largest in the world respectively. Zhejiang's economy is based on electromechanical industries,
textiles
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
, chemical industries, food and construction materials.
Zhejiang consists mostly of hills, which account for about 70% of its total area, with higher altitudes towards the south and the west. Zhejiang also has a longer
coast
The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...
line than any other mainland province of China. The
Qiantang River
The Qiantang River, formerly known as the Hangchow River and alternatively romanised as the Tsientang River, is a river in East China. An important commercial artery, it runs for through Zhejiang, passing through the provincial capital Hangz ...
runs through the province, from which it derives its name. Included in the province are three thousand islands, the most in China. The capital
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
Hangzhou Bay
Hangzhou Bay, or the Bay of Hangzhou (), is a funnel-shaped inlet of the East China Sea, bordered by the province of Zhejiang and the municipality of Shanghai, which lies north of the Bay. The Bay extends from the East China Sea to its head a ...
on the north of Zhejiang, which separates
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
and
Ningbo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...
. The bay contains many small islands collectively called the
Zhoushan Islands
Zhoushan , formerly romanized as Chusan, is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of ...
.
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
is a historically important city of China and is considered a World City with a "Beta+" classification according to
GaWC
The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leicestershire ...
. It includes the notable
West Lake
West Lake (; ) is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. It is divided into five sections by three causeways. There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and natural/artificial islands within the lake. Gushan (孤山) is the largest natural is ...
. Various
varieties of Chinese
Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...
are spoken in Zhejiang, the most prominent being
Wu Chinese
The Wu languages (; Romanization of Wu Chinese, Wu romanization and Romanization of Wu Chinese#IPA, IPA: ''wu6 gniu6'' [] (Shanghainese), ''ng2 gniu6'' [] (Suzhounese), Mandarin pinyin and IPA: ''Wúyǔ'' []) is a major group of Sinitic languag ...
. Zhejiang is also one of China's leading provinces in research and education. As of 2022, two major cities in Zhejiang ranked in the world's top 200 cities (Hangzhou 19th and Ningbo 170th) by scientific research output, as tracked by
Nature Index The Nature Index is a database that tracks institutions and countries and their scientific output since its introduction in November, 2014. Each year, Nature Index ranks the leading institutions (which can be companies, universities, government agen ...
.
Etymology
The province's name derives from the
Zhe River Zhe may refer to:
* Zhe (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet
* Zhe, a proposed gender-neutral pronoun (with: zhim, zhers, zhimself)
* '' Maclura tricuspidata'' (or zhè), a tree native to East Asia
* Že, a letter of the Perso-Arabic alp ...
(), the former name of the
Qiantang River
The Qiantang River, formerly known as the Hangchow River and alternatively romanised as the Tsientang River, is a river in East China. An important commercial artery, it runs for through Zhejiang, passing through the provincial capital Hangz ...
which flows past
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
and whose mouth forms
Hangzhou Bay
Hangzhou Bay, or the Bay of Hangzhou (), is a funnel-shaped inlet of the East China Sea, bordered by the province of Zhejiang and the municipality of Shanghai, which lies north of the Bay. The Bay extends from the East China Sea to its head a ...
. It is usually understood as meaning "Crooked" or "Bent River," from the meaning of
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, but is more likely a
phono-semantic compound
All Chinese characters are logograms, but several different types can be identified, based on the manner in which they are formed or derived. There are a handful which derive from pictographs () and a number which are ideographic () in origin, inc ...
formed from adding (the "water"
radical
Radical may refer to:
Politics and ideology Politics
*Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change
*Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...
used for river names) to phonetic (
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
''zhé'' but reconstructed
Old Chinese
Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
*''tet''), preserving a
proto-Wu
The Wu languages (; Wu romanization and IPA: ''wu6 gniu6'' [] ( Shanghainese), ''ng2 gniu6'' [] (Suzhounese), Mandarin pinyin and IPA: ''Wúyǔ'' []) is a major group of Sinitic languages spoken primarily in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Zhejiang Provin ...
Yuhang
Yuhang is one of ten urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, East China. Its 2013 population was estimated at 1.17 million. Its inhabitants speak both Mandarin and a variety of Hangzhounese, ...
,
Kuaiji
Shaoxing (; ) is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. It was formerly known as Kuaiji and Shanyin and abbreviated in Chinese as (''Yuè'') from the area's former inhabitants. ...
Kuahuqiao
The Kuahuqiao site () is an early Neolithic site of Kuahuqiao culture (跨湖桥文化 Kuahuqiao Wenhua) near Xianghu village, Xiaoshan District, in suburban Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It was first discovered in the early 1970s during the construc ...
culture was an early Neolithic culture that flourished in the
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
area in 6,000-5,000 BC.
Zhejiang was the site of the Neolithic cultures of the
Hemudu
The Hemudu culture (5500 BC to 3300 BC) was a Neolithic culture that flourished just south of the Hangzhou Bay in Jiangnan in modern Yuyao, Zhejiang, China. The culture may be divided into early and late phases, before and after 4000 BC respecti ...
(starting in 5500 BC) and Liangzhu (starting in 3400 BC).
Ancient history
The area of modern Zhejiang was outside the major sphere of influence of Shang civilization during the second millennium BC. Instead, this area was populated by peoples collectively known as Dongyue.
The kingdom of Yue began to appear in the chronicles and records written during the
Spring and Autumn period
The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...
. According to the chronicles, the kingdom of Yue was in Northern Zhejiang.
Shiji
''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese hist ...
claims that its leaders were descended from the
Xia
Xia (Hsia in Wade–Giles) may refer to:
Chinese history
* Xia dynasty (c. 2070 – c. 1600 BC), the first orthodox dynasty in Chinese history
* Xia (Sixteen Kingdoms) (407–431), a Xiongnu-led dynasty
* Xia (617–621), a state founded by Dou Ji ...
founder
Yu the Great
Yu the Great (大禹) was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and his upright moral character. He figures prominen ...
. The "
Song of the Yue Boatman The Song of the Yue Boatman () is a short song in an unknown language of southern China said to have been recorded around 528 BC.
A transcription using Chinese characters, together with a Chinese version, is preserved in the '' Garden of Storie ...
" () was transliterated into Chinese and recorded by authors in North China or inland China of Hebei and Henan around 528 BC. The song shows that the Yue people spoke a language that was mutually unintelligible with the dialects spoken in north and inland China. The
Sword of Goujian
The Sword of Goujian ( zh, c=越王勾践剑, p=Yuèwáng Gōujiàn jiàn, links=no) is a tin bronze sword, renowned for its unusual sharpness, intricate design and resistance to tarnish rarely seen in artifacts of similar age. The sword is gene ...
bears
bird-worm seal script
The bird-worm seal script () is a type of ancient seal script originating in China.
Names
The Chinese character (''Niǎo'') means "bird" and the character (') means "insect", but can also mean any creature that looks like a "worm", including ...
.
Yuenü
Yuenü () was a swordswoman from the state of Yue, in the modern Chinese province of Zhejiang. She is also known as ''Maiden of the Southern Forest''.
In Chinese mythology, she is a reincarnation of Jiutian Xuannü.
Life and legacy
Yuenü lived ...
() was a swordswoman from the state of Yue. To check the growth of the kingdom of Wu, Chu pursued a policy of strengthening Yue.
Under King Goujian, Yue recovered from its early reverses and fully annexed the lands of its rival in . The Yue kings then moved their capital center from their original home around
Mount Kuaiji
Mount Xianglu () is a mountain near Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China. Its summit has an elevation of .
History
Its historic name was Mount Kuaiji (), formerly romanized as Mount K'uai-chi It was an important site for ancient China's Yue civilization a ...
in present-day
Shaoxing
Shaoxing (; ) is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. It was formerly known as Kuaiji and Shanyin and abbreviated in Chinese as (''Yuè'') from the area's former inhabitants. ...
to the former Wu capital at present-day
Suzhou
Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
. With no southern power to turn against Yue, Chu opposed it directly and, in 333 BC, succeeded in destroying it. Yue's former lands were annexed by the
Qin Empire
The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...
in 222 BC and organized into a
commandery
In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...
named for Kuaiji in Zhejiang but initially headquartered in Wu in
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
.
Han and the Three Kingdoms
Kuaiji Commandery
Kuaiji Commandery (Chinese: t , s , p ''Kuàijī Jùn''), formerly romanized as K'uai-chi Commandery, was a former commandery of China in the area of Hangzhou Bay. When first established, its capital was at Wu (present-day ...
was the initial power base for
Xiang Liang
Xiang Liang (died 208 BC) was a military leader who led a rebellion against the Qin dynasty.
Early life
Xiang Liang was from Xiaxiang (下相; present-day Suqian, Jiangsu) and was a descendant of a family who served the Chu state in the Warring ...
and
Xiang Yu
Xiang Yu (, –202 BC), born Xiang Ji (), was the Hegemon-King (Chinese: 霸王, ''Bà Wáng'') of Western Chu during the Chu–Han Contention period (206–202 BC) of China. A noble of the Chu state, Xiang Yu rebelled against the Qin dynas ...
's rebellion against the
Qin Empire
The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...
which initially succeeded in restoring the kingdom of Chu but eventually fell to the
Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
. Under the
Later Han Later Han (後漢) may refer to two dynastic states in imperial China:
*Eastern Han (25–220), the second period of the Han dynasty, also called Later Han
* Later Han (947–951), a dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period
See al ...
, control of the area returned to the settlement below
Mount Kuaiji
Mount Xianglu () is a mountain near Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China. Its summit has an elevation of .
History
Its historic name was Mount Kuaiji (), formerly romanized as Mount K'uai-chi It was an important site for ancient China's Yue civilization a ...
but authority over the
Minyue
Minyue () was an ancient kingdom in what is now the Fujian province in southern China. It was a contemporary of the Han dynasty, and was later annexed by the Han empire as the dynasty expanded southward. The kingdom existed approximately from ...
hinterland was nominal at best and its Yue inhabitants largely retained their own political and social structures.
At the beginning of the
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...
era (220–280 CE), Zhejiang was home to the warlords
Yan Baihu
Yan Baihu () was a bandit leader active in the Wu or Jiangdong region during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China.
Life
"Baihu" was not Yan's real name, but a nickname given to him due to his physical prowess or skin colour; thus his name ...
and
Wang Lang Wang Lang may refer to:
*Wang Lang (Xin dynasty) (died 24), warlord during the Xin-Eastern Han transition
*Wang Lang (Cao Wei) (died 228), minor warlord during the late Han period who became an official of Cao Wei
*Wang Lang Market, in Bangkok Noi, ...
prior to their defeat by
Sun Ce
Sun Ce () () (175–200), courtesy name Bofu, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was the eldest child of Sun Jian, who was killed during the Battle of Xiangyang w ...
and
Sun Quan
Sun Quan (, Chinese: 孫權) (183 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of the Eastern Wu dynasty, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime es ...
, who eventually established the Kingdom of Wu. Despite the removal of their court from Kuaiji to Jianye (present-day
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
) and they continued development of the region and benefitted from influxes of refugees fleeing the turmoil in northern China. Industrial kilns were established and trade reached as far as
Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...
and
Funan
Funan (; km, ហ៊្វូណន, ; vi, Phù Nam, Chữ Hán: ) was the name given by Chinese cartographers, geographers and writers to an ancient Indianized state—or, rather a loose network of states ''(Mandala)''—located in mainla ...
(
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...
. Wu (229–280), commonly known as Eastern Wu or Sun Wu, had been the economically most developed state among the
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...
(220–280 CE). The historical novel
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD and ...
records that Zhejiang had the best-equipped, strong navy force. The story depicts how the states of Wei () and Shu (), lack of material resources, avoided direct confrontation with the Wu. In armed military conflicts with Wu, the two states relied intensively on tactics of camouflage and deception to steal Wu's military resources including arrows and bows.
Six Dynasties
Despite the continuing prominence of
Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
(then known as Jiankang), the settlement of Qiantang, the former name of
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
, remained one of the three major metropolitan centers in the south to provide major tax revenue to the imperial centers in the north China. The other two centers in the south were Jiankang and
Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...
. In 589, Qiantang was raised in status and renamed
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
Wu Hu uprising
The Upheaval of the Five Barbarians also translated as the Rebellion, the Revolt, or the Invasion of the Five Barbarians () is a Chinese expression which refers to a series of rebellions and invasions between 304 and 316 by non-Han Chinese, Han p ...
against the
Jin dynasty (266–420)
The Jin dynasty (; ) or the Jin Empire, sometimes distinguished as the (司馬晉) or the (兩晉), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed from 266 to 420. It was founded by Sima Yan (Emperor Wu), eldest son of Sima Zhao, who had pr ...
, most of elite Chinese families had collaborated with the non-Chinese rulers and military conquerors in the north. Some may have lost social privilege and took refuge in areas south of the Yangtze River. Some of the Chinese refugees from North China might have resided in areas near
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
. For example, the clan of
Zhuge Liang
Zhuge Liang ( zh, t=諸葛亮 / 诸葛亮) (181 – September 234), courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman and military strategist. He was chancellor and later regent of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He is r ...
(181–234), a chancellor of the state of
Shu Han
Han (; 221–263), known in historiography as Shu Han ( ) or Ji Han ( "Junior Han"), or often shortened to Shu (; pinyin: ''shŭ'' <
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...
period, gathered together at the suburb of
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
, forming an exclusive, closed village
Zhuge Village
Zhuge Village or Zhugecun () is a historic village located in Zhuge, Lanxi, Zhuge town (), Lanxi, Zhejiang, Lanxi, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, China. Originally called Gaolong (), the village changed its name to Zhuge during the Ming Dynasty due to ...
(Zhege Cun), consisting of villagers all with family name "Zhuge." The village has intentionally isolated itself from the surrounding communities for centuries to this day and only recently came to be known in public. It suggests that a small number of powerful, elite Chinese refugees from the Central Plain might have taken refuge south of the Yangtze River. However, considering the mountainous geography and relative lack of agrarian lands in Zhejiang, most of these refugees might have resided in some areas in South China beyond Zhejiang, where fertile agrarian lands and metropolitan resources were available, mainly Southern
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, Postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an Eastern China, eastern coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is o ...
, Eastern
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...
,
Jiangxi
Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...
,
Hunan
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
,
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
and provinces where less cohesive, organized regional governments had been in place. Metropolitan areas of
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
was another hub for refugees, given that the state of Shu had long been founded and ruled by political and military elites from the Central Plain and North China. Some refugees from North China might have found residence in South China depending on their social status and military power in the north. The rump Jin state or the
Southern dynasties
The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...
vied against some elite Chinese from the Central Plain and south of the Yangtze River.
Sui and Tang eras
Zhejiang, as the heartland of the
Jiangnan
Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...
(Yangtze River Delta), remained the wealthiest area during the
Six Dynasties
Six Dynasties (; 220–589 or 222–589) is a collective term for six Han-ruled Chinese dynasties that existed from the early 3rd century AD to the late 6th century AD. The Six Dynasties period overlapped with the era of the Sixteen Kingdoms, ...
(220 or 222–589), Sui and Tang. After being incorporated into the
Sui dynasty
The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...
, its economic richness was used for the
Sui dynasty
The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...
's ambitions to expand north and south, particularly into
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
and Vietnam. The plan led the
Sui dynasty
The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...
to restore and expand the network which became the
Grand Canal of China
The Grand Canal, known to the Chinese as the Jing–Hang Grand Canal (, or more commonly, as the「大运河」("Grand Canal")), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the longest canal or artificial river in the world. Starting in Beijing, it passes ...
. The Canal regularly transported grains and resources from Zhejiang, through its metropolitan center Hangzhou (and its hinterland along both the
Zhe River Zhe may refer to:
* Zhe (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic alphabet
* Zhe, a proposed gender-neutral pronoun (with: zhim, zhers, zhimself)
* '' Maclura tricuspidata'' (or zhè), a tree native to East Asia
* Že, a letter of the Perso-Arabic alp ...
and the shores of
Hangzhou Bay
Hangzhou Bay, or the Bay of Hangzhou (), is a funnel-shaped inlet of the East China Sea, bordered by the province of Zhejiang and the municipality of Shanghai, which lies north of the Bay. The Bay extends from the East China Sea to its head a ...
) and from
Suzhou
Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
and thence to the
North China Plain
The North China Plain or Huang-Huai-Hai Plain () is a large-scale downfaulted rift basin formed in the late Paleogene and Neogene and then modified by the deposits of the Yellow River. It is the largest alluvial plain of China. The plain is bord ...
. The débâcle of the Korean war led to Sui's overthrow by the
Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
, who then presided over a centuries-long golden age for the country. Zhejiang was an important economic center of the empire's
Jiangnan
Jiangnan or Jiang Nan (; formerly romanized Kiang-nan, literally "South of the River" meaning "South of the Yangtze") is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, incl ...
East Circuit and was considered particularly prosperous. Throughout the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
, The Grand Canal had remained effective, transporting grains and material resources to
North China plain
The North China Plain or Huang-Huai-Hai Plain () is a large-scale downfaulted rift basin formed in the late Paleogene and Neogene and then modified by the deposits of the Yellow River. It is the largest alluvial plain of China. The plain is bord ...
and metropolitan centers of the empire. As the Tang dynasty disintegrated, Zhejiang constituted most of the territory of the regional kingdom of
Wuyue
Wuyue (; ), 907–978, was an independent coastal kingdom founded during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960) of Chinese history. It was ruled by the Haiyan Qian clan (海盐钱氏), whose family name remains widespread in t ...
.
Wuyue era
After the collapse of the Tang dynasty in 907, the entire area of what is now Zhejiang fell under the control of the kingdom
Wuyue
Wuyue (; ), 907–978, was an independent coastal kingdom founded during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960) of Chinese history. It was ruled by the Haiyan Qian clan (海盐钱氏), whose family name remains widespread in t ...
Hangzhou
Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...
(a city in the modern day area of Zhejiang) as his kingdom's capital. Despite being under Wuyue rule for a relatively short period of time, Zhejiang underwent a long period of financial and cultural prosperity which continued even after the kingdom fell.
After Wuyue was conquered during the reunification of China, many shrines were erected across the former territories of Wuyue, mainly in Zhejiang, where the kings of Wuyue were memorialised, and sometimes, worshipped as being able to dictate weather and agriculture. Many of these shrines, known as "Shrine of the Qian King" or "Temple to the Qian King," still remain today, with the most popularly visited example being that near
West Lake
West Lake (; ) is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. It is divided into five sections by three causeways. There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and natural/artificial islands within the lake. Gushan (孤山) is the largest natural is ...
in Hangzhou.
China's province of Zhejiang during the 940s was also the place of origin of the
Hú In Hopi and Zuni dance rituals, Hú, also known as Huhuwa and Tithu, is the Kachina of the hummingbird.
The hummingbird was, and is, an important bird in puebloan cultures. Hopi legend speaks of the hummingbird as intervening on behalf of the Hopi ...
family (Hồ in Vietnamese) from which the founder of the
Hồ Dynasty
The Hồ dynasty (Vietnamese: , chữ Nôm: 茹胡; Sino-Vietnamese: ''Hồ triều, chữ Hán:'' 胡 朝) was a short-lived Vietnamese dynasty consisting of the reigns of two monarchs, Hồ Quý Ly (胡季犛) in 1400–01 and his second so ...
who ruled Vietnam, Emperor
Hồ Quý Ly
Hồ Quý Ly ( vi-hantu, 胡季犛, born 1336) ruled Đại Ngu (Vietnam) from 1400 to 1401 as the founding emperor of the short-lived Hồ dynasty. Quý Ly rose from a post as an official served the court of the ruling Trần dynasty and a milit ...
, came from.
Song era
The
Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
re-established unity around 960. Under the Song, the prosperity of South China began to overtake that of North China. After the north was lost to the JurchenJin dynasty in 1127 following the Jingkang Incident, Hangzhou became the capital of the Song dynasty under the name
Lin'an Linan or Lin'an may refer to the following locations in China:
*Hangzhou (), formerly named Lin'an () in the Song Dynasty
**Lin'an District (), a district of Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Towns and Townships
*Linan, Fujian, a town in Xianyou County, Fujian
* ...
, which was renowned for its prosperity and beauty, it was suspected to have been the largest city in the world at the time.
From then on, northern Zhejiang and neighboring southern Jiangsu have been synonymous with luxury and opulence in Chinese culture. The
Mongol
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...
conquest and the establishment of the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
in 1279 ended Hangzhou's political clout, but its economy continued to prosper. The famous traveler
Marco Polo
Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
visited the city, which he called "Kinsay" (after the Chinese ''Jingshi'', meaning "Capital City") claiming it was "the finest and noblest city in the world."
Greenware ceramics made from
celadon
''Celadon'' () is a term for pottery denoting both wares glazed in the jade green celadon color, also known as greenware or "green ware" (the term specialists now tend to use), and a type of transparent glaze, often with small cracks, that was ...
had been made in the area since the 3rd-century Jin dynasty, but it returned to prominence—particularly in
Longquan
Longquan () is a county-level city and former county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Lishui in southwestern Zhejiang Province, China, located on the upper reaches of the Ou River and bordering Fujian province to the sout ...
—during the Southern Song and Yuan. Longquan greenware is characterized by a thick unctuous glaze of a particular bluish-green tint over an otherwise undecorated light-grey porcellaneous body that is delicately potted. Yuan Longquan celadons feature a thinner, greener glaze on larger vessels with decoration and shapes derived from Middle Eastern ceramic and metalwares. These were produced in large quantities for the Chinese export trade to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and (during the
Ming
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
) Europe. By the Ming, however, production was notably deficient in quality. It is in this period that the Longquan kilns declined, to be eventually replaced in popularity and ceramic production by the kilns of
Jingdezhen
Jingdezhen is a prefecture-level city, in northeastern Jiangxi province, with a total population of 1,669,057 (2018), bordering Anhui to the north. It is known as the "Porcelain Capital" because it has been producing Chinese ceramics for at leas ...
in
Jiangxi
Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...
.
Yuan and Ming eras
Zhejiang was finally conquered by the Mongols in the late 13th century who later established the short lived
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
. Zhejiang became part of the much larger
Jiangzhe Province
Jiangzhe province () or Chiangche was a province of the Yuan dynasty established in 1276. It included the southern portion of Jiangsu south of the Yangtze River, Zhejiang, Fujian, modern-day Penghu of Taiwan Province and part of northern Guangdo ...
.
The
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
, which drove out the Mongols in 1368, finally established the present day province of Zhejiang with its borders having little changes since this establishment.
As in other coastal provinces, number of fortresses were constructed along the Zhejiang coast during the early Ming to defend the land against
pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
incursions. Some of them have been preserved or restored, such as Pucheng in the south of the province (
Cangnan County
Cangnan County ( ) is a county in the prefecture-level city of Wenzhou in southern Zhejiang. The county government is in Lingxi. Cangnan has 20 towns, 14 townships, and two nationality townships. The predominant Chinese dialect spoken in Cangnan ...
).
Qing era
Under the late Ming dynasty and the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
that followed it, Zhejiang's ports were important centers of international trade.
"In 1727 the to-min or 'idle people' of Cheh Kiang province (a
Ningpo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sa ...
name still existing), the yoh-hu or 'music people' of
Shanxi province
Shanxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is ...
, the si-min or 'small people' of Kiang Su (Jiangsu) province and the
Tanka people
The Tankas or boat people are a sinicised ethnic group in Southern China who have traditionally lived on junks in coastal parts of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan, Shanghai, Zhejiang and along the Yangtze river, as well as Hong Kong, and ...
or 'egg-people' of Canton (to this day the boat population there), were all freed from their social disabilities and allowed to count as free men." "Cheh Kiang" is another romanization for Zhejiang. The Duomin () are a caste of outcasts in this province.
During the
First Opium War
The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
, the British navy defeated
Eight Banners
The Eight Banners (in Manchu language, Manchu: ''jakūn gūsa'', ) were administrative and military divisions under the Later Jin (1616–1636), Later Jin and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasties of China into which all Manchu people, Manchu households ...
forces at
Ningbo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...
and
Dinghai
() is a district of Zhoushan City made of 128 islands in Zhejiang province, China.The total area is 1,444 square kilometres.The land area is 568.8 square kilometers, the sea area is 875.2 square kilometers, and the coastline is more than 400 kilo ...
. Under the terms of the
Treaty of Nanking
The Treaty of Nanjing was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese later termed the Unequal Treaties.
In the ...
, signed in 1843, Ningbo became one of the five Chinese
treaty ports
Treaty ports (; ja, 条約港) were the port cities in China and Japan that were opened to foreign trade mainly by the unequal treaties forced upon them by Western powers, as well as cities in Korea opened up similarly by the Japanese Empire.
...
opened to virtually unrestricted foreign trade. Much of Zhejiang came under the control of the
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, later shortened to the Heavenly Kingdom or Heavenly Dynasty, was an unrecognised rebel kingdom in China and a Chinese Christian theocratic absolute monarchy from 1851 to 1864, supporting the overthrow of the Qi ...
during the
Taiping Rebellion
The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted fr ...
, which resulted in a considerable loss of life in the north-western and central parts of the province, sparing the rest of Zhejiang from the disastrous depopulation that occurred. In 1876,
Wenzhou
Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east o ...
became Zhejiang's second treaty port.
Jianghuai Mandarin
Lower Yangtze Mandarin () is one of the most divergent and least mutually-intelligible of the Mandarin languages, as it neighbours the Wu, Hui, and Gan groups of Sinitic languages. It is also known as Jiang–Huai Mandarin (), named after the ...
speakers later came to settle in these depopulated regions of northern Zhejiang.
Republican era
During the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
, which led into
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, much of Zhejiang was occupied by Japan and placed under the control of the Japanese puppet state known as the
Reorganized National Government of China
The Wang Jingwei regime or the Wang Ching-wei regime is the common name of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China ( zh , t = 中華民國國民政府 , p = Zhōnghuá Mínguó Guómín Zhèngfǔ ), the government of the pup ...
. Following the
Doolittle Raid
The Doolittle Raid, also known as the Tokyo Raid, was an air raid on 18 April 1942 by the United States on the Japanese capital Tokyo and other places on Honshu during World War II. It was the first American air operation to strike the Japan ...
, most of the B-25 American crews that came down in China eventually made it to safety with the help of Chinese civilians and soldiers. The Chinese people who helped them, however, paid dearly for sheltering the Americans. The
Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
began the
Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign
The Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign or the Chekiang–Kiangsi campaign (Japanese: 浙贛作戦, ), also known as Operation Sei-go (Japanese: せ号作戦), was a campaign by the China Expeditionary Army of the Imperial Japanese Army under Shunroku Hat ...
to intimidate the Chinese out of helping downed American airmen. Imperial Japanese forces killed an estimated 250,000 Chinese civilians from the area of Hangzhou to
Nanchang
Nanchang (, ; ) is the capital of Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. Located in the north-central part of the province and in the hinterland of Poyang Lake Plain, it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east ...
and also
Zhuzhou
Zhuzhou (, ), formerly Jianning (建宁), is a prefecture-level city of Hunan Province, China, straddling the Xiang River southeast of the provincial capital, Changsha, and bordering Jiangxi province to the east. It is part of the " Greater Chan ...
while searching for Doolittle's men.
People's Republic era
After the People's Republic of China took control of
Mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
in 1949, the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
government based in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
continued to control the
Dachen Islands
The Dachen Islands, Tachen Islands or Tachens () are a group of islands off the coast of Taizhou, Zhejiang, China, in the East China Sea. They are administered by the Jiaojiang District of Taizhou. Before the First Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1955, ...
off the coast of Zhejiang until 1955, even establishing a rival Zhejiang provincial government there. During the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
(1966–76), Zhejiang was in chaos and disunity and its economy was stagnant, especially during the high tide (1966–69) of the revolution. The agricultural policy favoring grain production at the expense of industrial and cash crops intensified economic hardships in the province. Mao's self-reliance policy and the reduction in maritime trade cut off the lifelines of the port cities of Ningbo and Wenzhou. While Mao invested heavily in railroads in interior China, no major railroads were built in South Zhejiang, where transportation remained poor.
Zhejiang benefited less from central government investment than some other provinces due to its lack of natural resources, a location vulnerable to potential flooding from the sea and an economic base at the national average. Zhejiang, however, has been an epicenter of capitalist development in China and has led the nation in the development of a market economy and private enterprises. Northeast Zhejiang, as part of the Yangtze Delta, is flat, more developed and industrial.
Geography
Zhejiang consists mostly of hills, which account for about 70% of its total area. Altitudes tend to be the highest to the south and west and the highest peak of the province,
Huangmaojian Peak
Huangmaojian () is a mountain in Longquan County in southwest of Zhejiang province in eastern China. The mountain is the highest peak of Zhejiang and part of the Wuyi Mountains that have their bulk in Fujian province. Huangmaojian is an ultra pro ...
Tiantai
Tiantai or T'ien-t'ai () is an East Asian Buddhist school of Mahāyāna Buddhism that developed in 6th-century China. The school emphasizes the ''Lotus Sutra's'' doctrine of the "One Vehicle" (''Ekayāna'') as well as Mādhyamaka philosophy, ...
and Mogan, which reach altitudes of .
Valleys and plains are found along the coastline and rivers. The north of the province lies just south of the
Yangtze Delta
The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta (YRD, or simply ) is a triangle-shaped megalopolis generally comprising the Wu Chinese-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. The area lies in the heart of the Jiangnan reg ...
and consists of plains around the cities of Hangzhou,
Jiaxing
Jiaxing (), alternately romanized as Kashing, is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province, China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the ...
and
Huzhou
Huzhou (, ; Huzhounese: ''ghou² cieu¹'') is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province (Hangzhou–Jiaxing–Huzhou Plain, China). Lying south of the Lake Tai, it borders Jiaxing to the east, Hangzhou to the south, and the provinc ...
, where the
Grand Canal of China
The Grand Canal, known to the Chinese as the Jing–Hang Grand Canal (, or more commonly, as the「大运河」("Grand Canal")), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the longest canal or artificial river in the world. Starting in Beijing, it passes ...
enters from the northern border to end at Hangzhou. Another relatively flat area is found along the
Qu River
Qu River () is a river of in China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality. It is a left tributary of the Jialing River, which in its turn is a left tributary of the Yangtze; it is thus part of the East China Sea basin. Its length is 720  ...
around the cities of
Quzhou
Quzhou is a prefecture-level city in western Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the upper course of the Qiantang River, it borders Hangzhou to the north, Jinhua to the east, Lishui to the southeast, and the provinces o ...
and
Jinhua
, alternately romanized as Kinhwa, is a prefecture-level city in central Zhejiang province in eastern China. It borders the provincial capital of Hangzhou to the northwest, Quzhou to the southwest, Lishui to the south, Taizhou to the east, ...
. Major rivers include the Qiangtang and Ou Rivers. Most rivers carve out valleys in the highlands, with plenty of rapids and other features associated with such topography. Well-known lakes include the
West Lake
West Lake (; ) is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. It is divided into five sections by three causeways. There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and natural/artificial islands within the lake. Gushan (孤山) is the largest natural is ...
of Hangzhou and the South Lake of Jiaxing.
There are over three thousand islands along the rugged coastline of Zhejiang. The largest,
Zhoushan Island
Zhoushan Island is the principal and namesake island in the Zhoushan Islands, formerly romanized as the ChusanIslands, an archipelago administered by Zhoushan Prefecture in Zhejiang Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the province ...
, is Mainland China's third largest island, after
Hainan
Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...
Hangzhou Bay
Hangzhou Bay, or the Bay of Hangzhou (), is a funnel-shaped inlet of the East China Sea, bordered by the province of Zhejiang and the municipality of Shanghai, which lies north of the Bay. The Bay extends from the East China Sea to its head a ...
is the largest. Zhejiang has a humid subtropical climate with four distinct seasons. Spring starts in March and is rainy with changeable weather. Summer, from June to September is long, hot, rainy and humid. Fall is generally dry, warm and sunny. Winters are short but cold except in the far south. Average annual temperature is around , average January temperature is around and average July temperature is around . Annual precipitation is about . There is plenty of rainfall in early summer and by late summer Zhejiang is directly threatened by
typhoon
A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...
prefecture-level cities
A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure.
During the Republican era, many of China' ...
district
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
s, 20
county-level cities
A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...
, 33
counties
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
, and one
autonomous county
Autonomous counties () and autonomous banners () are county-level autonomous administrative divisions of China. The two are essentially identical except in name.
There are 117 autonomous counties and three autonomous banners. The latter are fo ...
). Those are in turn divided into 1,570
township-level divisions
The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there a ...
(761
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
s, 505
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
s, 14
ethnic township
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
s, and 290
subdistrict A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district.
Equivalents
* Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language
* Kelurahan, in Indonesia
* Mukim, a township in Brunei, In ...
s). Hengdian belongs to Jinhua, which is the largest base of shooting films and TV dramas in China.
Hengdian World Studios
Hengdian World Studios () is a film studio located in Hengdian, a Chinese town in the city of Dongyang, Zhejiang Province. It is one of the largest film studios in the world. The movie studio is operated by the privately owned Hengdian Group
foun ...
is called "China's Hollywood." At the year end of 2017, the total population is 56.57 million.
Urban areas
Politics
The politics of Zhejiang is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in Mainland China. The
Governor of Zhejiang
The politics of Zhejiang Province in the People's Republic of China is structured in a dual party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China.
The Governor of Zhejiang is the highest-ranking official in the People's ...
is the highest-ranking official in the People's Government of Zhejiang. However, in the province's dual party-government governing system, the Governor is subordinate to the Zhejiang
Chinese Communist Party
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
(CCP) Provincial Committee Secretary, colloquially termed the "Zhejiang CCP Party Chief."
Several political figures who served as Zhejiang's top political office of Communist Party Secretary have played key roles in various events in PRC history.
Tan Zhenlin
Tan Zhenlin (; 24 April 1902 – 30 September 1983) was a political commissar in the People's Liberation Army during the Chinese Civil War, and a politician after the establishment of the People's Republic of China.
Tan Zhenlin was born in You C ...
(term 1949–1952), the inaugural Party Secretary, was one of the leading voices against Mao's
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
during the so-called
February Countercurrent
The February Countercurrent (), also known as the February Adverse Current, refers to the joint efforts by a group of conservative Chinese Communist Party veterans to oppose the ultra-leftist radicalism at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution ...
of 1967.
Jiang Hua
Jiang Hua (August 1, 1907 – December 24, 1999) was a Chinese politician and President of the Supreme People's Court of China.
Biography
Jiang Hua was born in Jianghua, Hunan. He was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of China in Z ...
(term 1956–1968), was the "chief justice" on the Special Court in the case against the
Gang of Four
The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...
in 1980. Three provincial Party Secretaries since the 1990s have gone onto prominence at the national level. They include CPC General Secretary and President
Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...
(term 2002–2007),
National People's Congress
The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China.
With 2, ...
Chairman and former Vice-Premier
Zhang Dejiang
Zhang Dejiang (; born 4 November 1946) is a Chinese retired politician. He served as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress, roughly the equivalent of a speaker of parliament in other countries between ...
(term 1998–2002), and
Zhao Hongzhu
Zhao Hongzhu (; born July 1947) is a retired Chinese politician and previously a member of the Chinese Communist Party's national leadership. Zhao served as the Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the Com ...
(term 2007–2012), the Deputy Secretary of the
Central Commission for Discipline Inspection
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is the highest internal control institution of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), tasked with enforcing internal rules and regulations and combating corruption and malfeasance in the par ...
, China's top anti-corruption body. Of Zhejiang's fourteen Party Secretaries since 1949, none were native to the province.
Zhejiang was home to
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 – 5 April 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng and Jiang Jieshi, was a Chinese Nationalist politician, revolutionary, and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China (ROC) from 1928 ...
and many high-ranking officials in the
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
, who fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the Civil War.
Economy
Zhejiang is one of the richest and most developed provinces in China. As of 2020, Zhejiang's nominal GDP was
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
1.01 trillion, ranking between the Netherlands and Indonesia with a GDP of US$ 913 billion and US$ 1.06 trillion respectively, the 16th and 17th largest in the world respectively.
As of 2018, its
nominal GDP
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is often ...
was
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
849 billion ( CN¥ 5.62 trilion), about 6.24% of the country's GDP and ranked 4th among province-level administrative units; the province's primary, secondary and tertiary industries were worth CN¥196.70 billion (US$29.72 billion), CN¥2.3506 trillion (US$355.22 billion) and CN¥3.0724 trillion (US$464.29 billion) respectively. Its nominal GDP per capita was US$14,907 (CN¥98,643) and ranked the 5th in the country. The private sector in the province has been playing an increasingly important role in boosting the regional economy since
Economic Reform
Microeconomic reform (or often just economic reform) comprises policies directed to achieve improvements in economic efficiency, either by eliminating or reducing distortions in individual sectors of the economy or by reforming economy-wide polici ...
in 1978.
Zhejiang's main manufacturing sectors are electromechanical industries,
textiles
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
, chemical industries, food and construction materials. In recent years Zhejiang has followed its own development model, dubbed the "Zhejiang model," which is based on prioritizing and encouraging entrepreneurship, an emphasis on small businesses responsive to the whims of the market, large public investments into
infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
, and the production of low-cost goods in bulk for both domestic consumption and export. As a result, Zhejiang has made itself one of the richest provinces and the "Zhejiang spirit" has become something of a legend within China. However, some economists now worry that this model is not sustainable, in that it is inefficient and places unreasonable demands on raw materials and public utilities, and also a dead end, in that the myriad small businesses in Zhejiang producing cheap goods in bulk are unable to move to more sophisticated or technologically more advanced industries. The economic heart of Zhejiang is moving from North Zhejiang, centered on Hangzhou, southeastward to the region centered on Wenzhou and Taizhou. The per capita disposable income of urbanites in Zhejiang reached 55,574 yuan (US$8,398) in 2018, an annual real growth of 8.4%. The per capita disposable income of rural residents stood at 27,302 yuan (US$4,126), a real growth of 9.4%.
Traditionally, the province is known as the "Land of Fish and Rice." True to its name,
rice
Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima
''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...
is the main crop, followed by
wheat
Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...
; north Zhejiang is also a center of
aquaculture
Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...
in China, and the
Zhoushan
Zhoushan , formerly romanized as Chusan, is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of H ...
fishery is the largest
fishery
Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, both ...
in the country. The main cash crops include
jute
Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ''Corchorus olit ...
and
cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
and the province also leads the provinces of China in
tea
Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and northe ...
production. (The renowned
Longjing tea
Longjing tea (; Standard Chinese pronunciation ), sometimes called by its literal translated name Dragon Well tea, is a variety of pan-roasted green tea from the area of Longjing Village in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. It is produced mos ...
is a product of Hangzhou.) Zhejiang's towns have been known for handicraft production of goods such as
silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...
, for which it is ranked second among the provinces. Its many market towns connect the cities with the countryside.
As of 1832, the province was exporting silk, paper, fans, pencils, wine,
dates
Date or dates may refer to:
*Date (fruit), the fruit of the date palm (''Phoenix dactylifera'')
Social activity
*Dating, a form of courtship involving social activity, with the aim of assessing a potential partner
**Group dating
*Play date, an ...
, tea and "golden-flowered"
ham
Ham is pork from a leg cut of pork, cut that has been food preservation, preserved by wet or dry Curing (food preservation), curing, with or without smoking (cooking), smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. Lo ...
s.
Ningbo, Wenzhou, Taizhou and Zhoushan are important commercial ports. The
Hangzhou Bay Bridge
Hangzhou Bay Bridge () is a long highway bridge with two separate cable-stayed portions, built across the mouth of Hangzhou Bay in the eastern coastal region of China. It connects the municipalities of Jiaxing and Ningbo in Zhejiang province.
Co ...
Cixi
Empress Dowager Cixi ( ; mnc, Tsysi taiheo; formerly romanised as Empress Dowager T'zu-hsi; 29 November 1835 – 15 November 1908), of the Manchu Yehe Nara clan, was a Chinese noblewoman, concubine and later regent who effectively controlled ...
, is the longest bridge over a continuous body of sea water in the world.
Economic and Technological Development Zones
* Huzhou Economic Development Zone
* Dinghai Industrial Park
* Hangzhou Economic & Technological Developing Area
* Hangzhou New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
* Hangzhou Export Processing Zone
* Hangzhou Zhijiang National Tourist Holiday Resort
* Jiaxing Export Processing Zone
* Ningbo Economic and Technical Development Zone
* Ningbo Daxie Island Development Zone
* Ningbo Free Trade Zone
* Ningbo Export Processing Zone
* Quzhou Industrial Park
* Shenjia Economic and Technological Development Zone
* Wenzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone
* Xiaoshan Economic and Technological Development Zone
* Zhejiang Quzhou Hi-Tech Park
* Zhejiang Zhoushan Economic Development Zone
* Zhejiang Donggang Economic Development Zone
Economic and technological development concerns
Waste disposal
On Thursday, September 15, 2011, more than 500 people from Hongxiao Village protested over the large-scale death of fish in a nearby river. Angry protesters stormed the Zhejiang
Jinko Solar
JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. () is a solar panel manufacturer headquartered in Shanghai, China. The company started out as a wafer manufacturer in 2006 and went public on the New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed ...
Company factory compound, overturned eight company vehicles, and destroyed the offices before police came to disperse the crowd. Protests continued on the two following nights with reports of scuffles, officials said. Chen Hongming, a deputy head of
Haining
() is a county-level city in Zhejiang Province, China, and under the jurisdiction of Jiaxing. It is in the south side of Yangtze River Delta, and in the north of Zhejiang. It is to the southwest of central Shanghai, and east of Hangzhou, the p ...
's environmental protection bureau, said the factory's waste disposal had failed pollution tests since April. The environmental watchdog had warned the factory, but it had not effectively controlled the pollution, Chen added.
Demographics
Han Chinese make up the vast majority of the population and the largest Han subgroup are the speakers of Wu varieties of Chinese. There are also 400,000 members of
ethnic minorities
The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...
, including approximately 200,000
She people
The She people (; Shehua: ; Cantonese: , Fuzhou: ) are an ethnic group in China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.
The She are the largest ethnic minority in Fujian, Zhejiang, and Jia ...
and approximately 20,000
Hui Chinese
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
.
Jingning She Autonomous County
Jingning She Autonomous County () is an autonomous county for the She people, under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Lishui in the south of Zhejiang Province, China.
The county covers an area of and in 1999 had a population of 175 ...
in
Lishui
Lishui (; Lishuinese: ''li⁶ syu³'' ) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It borders Quzhou, Jinhua and Taizhou to the north, Wenzhou to the southeast, and the province of Fujian to ...
is the only She autonomous county in China.
Religion
The predominant religions in Zhejiang are
Chinese folk religion
Chinese folk religion, also known as Chinese popular religion comprehends a range of traditional religious practices of Han Chinese, including the Chinese diaspora. Vivienne Wee described it as "an empty bowl, which can variously be filled ...
Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, ...
. According to surveys conducted in 2007 and 2009, 23.02% of the population believes and is involved in
ancestor veneration
The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of t ...
, while 2.62% of the population identifies as Christian, decreasing from 3.92% in 2004. The reports didn't give figures for other types of religion; 74.36% of the population may be either irreligious or involved in worship of nature deities, Buddhism,
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...
, Taoism, folk religious sects. As of the mid-2010s, Zhejiang has 34,880 registered folk religious temples greater than 20 sqm and 10,000 registered places of worship of the five doctrines (Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam).
In mid-2015 the government of Zhejiang recognised folk religion as "civil religion" beginning the formal registration of the province's folk religious temples under the aegis of the provincial Bureau of Folk Faith.
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
has an important presence since its arrival in Zhejiang 1,800 years ago.
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
arrived 400 years ago in the province and
Protestantism
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
150 years ago. Zhejiang is one of the provinces of China with the largest concentrations of Protestants, especially notable in the city of
Wenzhou
Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east o ...
. In 1999, Zhejiang's Protestant population comprised 2.8% of the provincial population, a small percentage but higher than the national average.
The rapid development of religions in Zhejiang has driven the local committee of ethnic and religious affairs to enact policies to rationalise them in 2014, variously named "Three Remodelings and One Demolition" operations or "Special Treatment Work on Illegally Constructed Sites of Religious and Folk Religion Activities" according to the locality. These regulations have led to cases of demolition of churches and folk religion temples or the removal of crosses from churches' roofs and spires. An exemplary case was that of the
Sanjiang Church
Sanjiang Church (三江基督教堂) was a Christian church located in Yongjia County, near Wenzhou, in Zhejiang Province, China. The church was completed in December 2013. The city of Wenzhou is a port city believed to have China's largest Chri ...
. Despite English-language media focused on Christian churches, only 2.3% of the buildings affected by the regulations were Christian churches; most of them were folk religious temples.
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
arrived 1,400 years ago in Zhejiang. Today Islam is practiced by a small number of people including virtually all the
Hui Chinese
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
living in Zhejiang. In 2020, there are 117,000 Muslims in Zhejiang. Another religion present in the province is She shamanism (practiced by
She
She most commonly refers to:
*She (pronoun), the third person singular, feminine, nominative case pronoun in modern English.
She or S.H.E. may also refer to:
Literature and films
*'' She: A History of Adventure'', an 1887 novel by H. Rider Hagga ...
ethnic minority).
Media
The Zhejiang Radio & Television, Hangzhou Radio & Television Group, Ningbo Radio & Television Group are the local broadcasters in Zhejiang Province.
Culture
Languages
Zhejiang is mountainous and has therefore fostered the development of many distinct local cultures. Linguistically speaking, Zhejiang is extremely diverse. Most inhabitants of Zhejiang speak varieties of Wu, but those Wu dialects are very diverse, especially in the south, where one valley may speak a dialect completely unintelligible to the next valley a few kilometers away. Other
varieties of Chinese
Chinese, also known as Sinitic, is a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family consisting of hundreds of local varieties, many of which are not mutually intelligible. Variation is particularly strong in the more mountainous southeast of main ...
are spoken as well, mostly along the borders;
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
and
Huizhou
Huizhou ( zh, c= ) is a city in central-east Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, Heyua ...
dialects are spoken on the border with Anhui, while
Min
Min or MIN may refer to:
Places
* Fujian, also called Mǐn, a province of China
** Min Kingdom (909–945), a state in Fujian
* Min County, a county of Dingxi, Gansu province, China
* Min River (Fujian)
* Min River (Sichuan)
* Mineola (Am ...
dialects are spoken on the border with Fujian. (See
Hangzhou dialect
The Hangzhou dialect (, ''Rhangzei Rhwa'') is spoken in the city of Hangzhou, China and its immediate suburbs, but excluding areas further away from Hangzhou such as Xiāoshān (蕭山) and Yúháng (余杭) (both originally county-level cities ...
,
Shaoxing dialect
The Shaoxing dialect () is a Wu dialect spoken in the city of Shaoxing more specifically in the city center of Yuecheng and its surrounding areas. It is a representative Wu dialect with a tripartite distinction on voiced stop initials and a textb ...
,
Ningbo dialect
The Ningbo dialect () is a dialect of Wu Chinese, one subdivision of varieties of Chinese, Chinese language. Ningbo dialect is spoken throughout Ningbo and Zhoushan prefectures, in Zhejiang province.
Intelligibility
Ningbo dialect native speaker ...
,
Wenzhou dialect
Wenzhounese (), also known as Oujiang (), Tong Au () or Au Nyü (), is the language spoken in Wenzhou, the southern prefecture of Zhejiang, China. Nicknamed the "Devil's Language" () for its complexity and difficulty, it is the most divergent div ...
,
Taizhou dialect
The Taizhou dialect (Taizhou dialect: T'e-tsiu wa; ) is a dialect of Wu Chinese. It is spoken in the city of Taizhou in Zhejiang province, China. It is only partially intelligible with Shanghainese
The Shanghainese language, also known a ...
,
Jinhua dialect
The Jinhua dialect () is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Jinhua, China and the surrounding region in central Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republ ...
and
Quzhou dialect
The Quzhou dialect (衢州話; pronounced in the Quzhou dialect) is a dialect of Wu Chinese
The Wu languages (; Wu romanization and IPA: ''wu6 gniu6'' [] ( Shanghainese), ''ng2 gniu6'' [] (Suzhounese), Mandarin pinyin and IPA: ''Wúyǔ'' ...
for more information)
Throughout history there have been a series of ''lingua francas'' in the area to allow for better communication. The dialects spoken in Hangzhou, Shaoxing and Ningbo have taken on this role historically. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949,
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
, which is not mutually intelligible with any of the Wu dialects, has been promoted as the standard language of communication throughout China. As a result, most of the population now can, to some degree, speak and comprehend Mandarin and can
code-switch
In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation or situation. Code-switching is different from plurilingualism ...
when necessary. A majority of the population educated since 1978 can speak some Mandarin. Urban residents tend to be more fluent in Mandarin than rural people. Nevertheless, a Zhejiang accent is detectable in almost everyone from the area communicating in Mandarin and the home dialect remains an important part of the everyday lives and cultural identities of most Zhejiang residents.
Music
Zhejiang is the home of
Yue opera
Yue opera, also known as Shaoxing opera, is the Chinese opera genre. Only Peking opera is more popular nationwide.
Originating in Shengzhou, Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province in 1906, Yue opera features actresses in male roles as well as femininity ...
, one of the most prominent forms of
Chinese opera
Traditional Chinese opera (), or ''Xiqu'', is a form of musical theatre in China with roots going back to the early periods in China. It is an amalgamation of various art forms that existed in ancient China, and evolved gradually over more tha ...
. ''Yueju'' originated in
Shengzhou
Shengzhou (), formerly Shengxian or Sheng County, is a county-level city in central Zhejiang, south of the Hangzhou Bay, and is the south-eastern part of the prefecture-level city of Shaoxing. It is about 1.5 hours drive from the provincial ca ...
and is traditionally performed by actresses only, in both male and female roles. Other important opera traditions include Yongju (of Ningbo), Shao opera (of
Shaoxing
Shaoxing (; ) is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. It was formerly known as Kuaiji and Shanyin and abbreviated in Chinese as (''Yuè'') from the area's former inhabitants. ...
),
Ouju
Ou opera (), originally known as Wenzhou luantan () or Yongjia luantan (), is a regional form of Chinese opera from Yongjia County, Wenzhou in southeastern Zhejiang province. In addition to Wenzhou and parts of neighboring Lishui and Taizhou (all ...
(of Wenzhou),
Wuju
Wuju (), also known as Jinhua opera, is a form of Chinese opera from Jinhua, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, China. It is also performed in Lishui, Linhai, Jiande, Chun'an, Zhejiang, as well as in northeastern Jiangxi province, in citie ...
(of
Jinhua
, alternately romanized as Kinhwa, is a prefecture-level city in central Zhejiang province in eastern China. It borders the provincial capital of Hangzhou to the northwest, Quzhou to the southwest, Lishui to the south, Taizhou to the east, ...
), Taizhou Luantan (of Taizhou) and Zhuji Luantan (of
Zhuji
Zhuji () is a county-level city under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Shaoxing, in north-central Zhejiang province, China, located about south of Hangzhou. It has with a population of 1,218,072 inhabitants at the 2020 census e ...
).
Cuisine
Longjing tea (also called dragon well tea), originating in Hangzhou, is one of the most prestigious, if not ''the'' most prestigious Chinese tea. Hangzhou is also renowned for its silk umbrellas and hand fans.
Zhejiang cuisine
Zhejiang cuisine, alternatively known as Zhe cuisine, is one of the Eight Culinary Traditions of Chinese cuisine. Zhejiang cuisine contains four different styles, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Ningbo, and Wenzhou (also known as Ou cuisine). It derives fro ...
(itself subdivided into many traditions, including Hangzhou cuisine) is one of the eight great traditions of
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many ot ...
.
Place names
Since ancient times, north Zhejiang and neighbouring south Jiangsu have been famed for their prosperity and opulence and simply inserting north Zhejiang place names (Hangzhou, Jiaxing, etc.) into poetry gave an effect of dreaminess, a practice followed by many noted poets. In particular, the fame of Hangzhou (as well as
Suzhou
Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
in neighbouring Jiangsu province) has led to the popular saying: "Above there is heaven; below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou" (), a saying that continues to be a source of pride for the people of these two still prosperous cities.
Tourism
Tourist destinations in Zhejiang include:
* Baoguo Temple, one of the oldest intact wooden structures in Southern China, north of Ningbo.
*
Mount Putuo
Mount Putuo (, from Sanskrit: "Mount Potalaka") is an island in Putuo District, Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China. It is a renowned site in Chinese Buddhism and is the bodhimaṇḍa of the bodhisattva Guanyin.
Mount Putuo is one of the four sacre ...
, one of the most noted Buddhist mountains in China. Chinese Buddhists associate it with
Guan Yin
Guanyin () is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. She is the East Asian representation of Avalokiteśvara ( sa, अवलोकितेश्वर) and has been adopted by other Eastern religions, including Chinese folk religion. She w ...
.
*
Qita Temple
The Qita Chan Buddhist Temple (), or Seven Pagodas Temple, is a Chan Buddhist temple located in the Yinzhou District of Ningbo, Zhejiang, China. It is the only major Chan Buddhist temple complex within the city proper of Ningbo.
It is listed a ...
, Ningbo.
*
Shaoxing
Shaoxing (; ) is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. It was formerly known as Kuaiji and Shanyin and abbreviated in Chinese as (''Yuè'') from the area's former inhabitants. ...
, site of the Tomb of
Yu the Great
Yu the Great (大禹) was a legendary king in ancient China who was famed for his introduction of flood control, his establishment of the Xia dynasty which inaugurated dynastic rule in China, and his upright moral character. He figures prominen ...
,
Wuzhen
Wuzhen (, Wu: Whu-tsen lit. "Wu Town") is a historic scenic town, part of Tongxiang, located in the north of Zhejiang Province, China.
It lies within the triangle formed by Hangzhou, Suzhou and Shanghai. Covering an area of , Wuzhen has a tota ...
and other waterway towns.
* The ancient capital of Hangzhou.
*
Mount Tiantai
Tiantai Mountain (also Tí Taî in the local language) is a mountain in Tiantai County, Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Its highest peak, Huading, reaches a height of . The mountain was made a national park on 1 August 1988. One of nine ...
, a mountain important to Zen Buddhism.
*
West Lake
West Lake (; ) is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. It is divided into five sections by three causeways. There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and natural/artificial islands within the lake. Gushan (孤山) is the largest natural is ...
, in Hangzhou.
*
Yandangshan
Yandang Mountains or Yandangshan (Chinese language, Chinese: traditional characters, t , simplified characters, s , pinyin, p ''Yàndàng Shān'', lit. "Wild Goose Pond Mountain(s)") refers, in the broad sense, to a coasta ...
, a mountainous scenic area near Wenzhou.
*
Qiandao Lake
Qiandao Lake (), a human-made, freshwater lake located in Chun'an County, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, was formed after the completion of the Qiantang River, Xin'an River Hydroelectricity, hydroelectric station in 1959.
Geography
1,078 ...
, lit. ''Thousand-island lake''.
*
Guoqing Temple
The Guoqing Temple () is a Buddhist temple on Tiantai Mountain, Mount Tiantai, in Taizhou, Zhejiang, Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Originally built in 598 CE during the Sui dynasty, and renovated during the reign of the Qing dynasty, Qing Yo ...
, founded in the Sui dynasty, the founding location of
Tiantai
Tiantai or T'ien-t'ai () is an East Asian Buddhist school of Mahāyāna Buddhism that developed in 6th-century China. The school emphasizes the ''Lotus Sutra's'' doctrine of the "One Vehicle" (''Ekayāna'') as well as Mādhyamaka philosophy, ...
Buddhism
*
Mount Mogan
Mount Mogan or Moganshan () is a mountain located in Deqing County, Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, 60 kilometers from the provincial capital Hangzhou and 200 km from Shanghai. It is part of the Moganshan National Park and at its base is ...
, a scenic mountain an hour from Hangzhou with many pre-World War II villas built by foreigners, along with one of Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang compounds
*
Zhejiang Museum of Natural History
The Zhejiang Museum of Natural History is a museum that mainly focuses on exhibitions, collections and analysis on specimens of life science and earth science.
The museum is one of the earliest museums of natural history created by Chinese peopl ...
, in Hangzhou.
Sports
Professional sports teams based in Zhejiang include:
*
Chinese Basketball Association
The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier professional men's basketball league in China.
The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...
**
Zhejiang Golden Bulls
The Zhejiang Golden Bulls, or Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Rent are a Chinese professional basketball team based in Yiwu in Zhejiang, China. It competes in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), in the Southern Division. Its corporate sponsor is Z ...
**
Bayi Rockets
The Bayi Rockets () was a professional basketball team based in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China, which played in the South Division of the Chinese Basketball Association.
On 20 October 2020, Chinese Basketball Association announced that Bayi Rockets h ...
(in Ningbo)
*
China League One
The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League.
Prior to the formation of ...
Zhejiang is one of China's leading provinces in research and education. As of 2022, two major cities in Zhejiang ranked in the world's top 200 cities (Hangzhou 19th and Ningbo 170th) by scientific research output, as tracked by
Nature Index The Nature Index is a database that tracks institutions and countries and their scientific output since its introduction in November, 2014. Each year, Nature Index ranks the leading institutions (which can be companies, universities, government agen ...
.
Colleges and universities
*
Zhejiang University
Zhejiang University, abbreviated as ZJU or Zheda and formerly romanized as Chekiang University, is a national public research university based in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is a member of the prestigious C9 League and is selected into the na ...
(; Hangzhou)
*
Zhejiang Sci-Tech University
Zhejiang Sci-Tech University (ZSTU; ) is a university in Zhejiang province that provides programs in the fields of engineering, sciences, humanities (arts), economics, management and law with engineering being its main focus. It is run jointly by ...
(; Hangzhou)
*
China Academy of Art
China Academy of Art (), also translated as China National Academy of Fine Arts, was founded in Hangzhou in 1928 by the government of the Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China and the renowned educator Cai Yuanpei. It was the first a ...
(; Hangzhou)
*
Hangzhou Dianzi University
Hangzhou Dianzi University (HDU) () is a government funded public university in Hangzhou, China. It is under the co-guidance of the Zhejiang Provincial Government and the Ministry of Information Industry of China. It was founded in 1956 as the s ...
Hangzhou Normal University
Hangzhou Normal University (), or Hangzhou Teachers College, is a public university in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, China.
Having merged with Hangzhou Education College and Hangzhou Medical Junior College, HNU comprises nine ca ...
(; Hangzhou)
*
Ningbo University
Ningbo University (NBU; ) is located in Jiangbei District, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China. It is a provincially governed key university in Zhejiang Province. It is a Chinese state Double First Class University Plan university, identified by the Mini ...
(; Ningbo)
*
University of Nottingham Ningbo China
, mottoeng = "A City is built on Wisdom"
, established = 2004
, type = Public
, chancellor = Fujia Yang
, vice_chancellor = Shearer West
, provost = Nick M ...
(; Ningbo)
*
Zhejiang A & F University
Zhejiang A & F University (ZAFU; ), formerly referred to as Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, is a provincial university established in 1958. It is in Lin'an District, Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also rom ...
(; Hangzhou)
*
Zhejiang University of Technology
The Zhejiang University of Technology () is a public research university in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is considered one of the top industrial universities in mainland China and the second largest university in Zhejiang Province after the mo ...
(; Hangzhou)
*
Zhejiang Medical University
Zhejiang Medical University () was a former university in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. In 1998, was merged into Zhejiang University to become its Medical School.
History
In 1952–53, due to the Adjustment for University Colleges and Depa ...
*
Zhejiang Normal University
Zhejiang Normal University (ZJNU) is a comprehensive public university in Jinhua city, Zhejiang province, China. Its main campus is next to the Shuanglong Cave national park and covers an area of more than 220 hectares with a total floor space ...
(; Jinhua)
*
Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics
Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics (abbreviated ZUFE; ; also colloquially referred to as ) is an institution of higher education located in Hangzhou, China. The university specializes in economic disciplines and provides education ...
Shaoxing University
Shaoxing University () is located in Shaoxing, Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cit ...
(; Shaoxing)
*
Wenzhou Medical University
Wenzhou Medical University (WMU); ), designated as a key university in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, is an institution of higher learning under the leadership of Zhejiang Provincial Government.
History
Wenzhou Medical University (WMU) is a higher inst ...
(; Wenzhou)
* Wenzhou Teachers College
*
Wenzhou-Kean University
Wenzhou-Kean University () is a Wenzhou University–Kean University joint venture university in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China.
In March 2014, the Ministry of Education of China approved the formal establishment of Wenzhou-Kean University. The univer ...
* Shaoxing College of Arts and Science
* Zhejiang Institute of Education
* Hangzhou Institute of Electronic Engineering
* Hangzhou University of Commerce
* Hangzhou Institute of Financial Managers
Notable people
*
Wang Yangming
Wang Shouren (, 26 October 1472 – 9 January 1529), courtesy name Bo'an (), art name Yangmingzi (), usually referred to as Wang Yangming (), was a Chinese calligrapher, general, philosopher, politician, and writer during the Ming dynasty ...
: Ming dynasty philosopher
*
Su Shi
Su Shi (; 8 January 1037 – 24 August 1101), courtesy name Zizhan (), art name Dongpo (), was a Chinese calligrapher, essayist, gastronomer, pharmacologist, poet, politician, and travel writer during the Song dynasty. A major personality of ...
: Poet and writer from the Song era, also known as a government official who contributed to the maintenance of West Lake.
See also
*
List of railway stations in Zhejiang
Railway transport is the principal means of transportation in China, with over 1.2 billion railway trips taken each year. The following is a list of railway stations in Zhejiang (浙江) Province, China. The top 20 stations (ordered by the numbe ...
HKTDC
The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 as the international marketing dedicated to creating opportunities for Hong Kong's businesses. The organisation has 50 offices around the world, includin ...