Hangzhou, China’s Silicon Valley

Saturday, 27 July 2024 - 11:00 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time:  3 minutes

West Lake and its surrounding mountains © Wanderingchina/cc-by-4.0

West Lake and its surrounding mountains © Wanderingchina/cc-by-4.0

Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northeastern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, which separates Shanghai and Ningbo. Its West Lake, a UNESCO World Heritage Site west of the city, is among its best-known attractions.

As of 2022, the Hangzhou metropolitan area was estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product (nominal) of 4 trillion yuan (US$590 billion), making it larger than the economy of Sweden. As of the 2020 Chinese census, it had a total population of 11,936,010 inhabitants. However, its metropolitan area, populated by 13.035 million people over an area of 8,107.9 km² (3,130.5 sq mi), consists of all urban districts in Hangzhou and 3 urban districts of the city of Shaoxing.

Qianjiang New City © MasaneMiyaPA/cc-by-sa-4.0 Coastline of West Lake © Wanderingchina/cc-by-4.0 Leifang Pagoda © PromoteMyCity/cc-by-sa-4.0 West Lake and its surrounding mountains © Wanderingchina/cc-by-4.0 West Lake © Nat Krause Qianjiang New City © EditQ/cc-by-sa-4.0
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West Lake and its surrounding mountains © Wanderingchina/cc-by-4.0
Hangzhou is the eighth largest GDP among cities in mainland China with a GDP of around 1.8 trillion RMB ($280 billion). Home to the headquarters of large global tech companies such as Alibaba Group, Ant Group, and NetEase, Hangzhou is known for attracting professionals and entrepreneurs who work in information technology. As of August 2023, Hangzhou has the tenth-most Fortune Global 500 headquarters of any city in the world and the fourth-most in China – after Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen – within its city limits. According to the 2020 Hurun Global Rich List, Hangzhou ranks 11th in the world and 6th in China (after Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou) in the number of resident billionaires.

Hangzhou ranks 16th globally by scientific outputs. It hosts several notable universities, including Zhejiang, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou Normal, Hangzhou Dianzi, Zhejiang A&F, Zhejiang Sci-Tech, Zhejiang Chinese Medical, Westlake, China Jiliang and Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics. In 2023, it became the third Chinese city to host the Asian Games, after Beijing 1990 and Guangzhou 2010. It was also the second Chinese city to host the Asian Para Games after the Guangzhou 2010. Hangzhou also hosted the 11th G20 summit in 2016.

Read more on Wikivoyage Hangzhou and Wikipedia Hangzhou (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Global Passport Power Rank - Travel Risk Map - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). Photos by Wikimedia Commons. If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.





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