I Heart China

Zhèjiang (浙江) is a province in the east of China. It is one of the most beautiful places as well as attractive tourist spot in China. It is situated around the Qiántáng Jiāng which passes through Hángzhōu; the capital city of this province. The short name for this province is “Zhè”. It is surrounded by Jiāngsū;, Shànghǎi;, Ānhuī; and Fujian province. The East China Sea is located to the east of it.

Actually, Zhèjiāng has a long history through which one can know the ins and outs of this civilization. In short, it can be said that a unified Chinese empire was established in 221 BC during Qín Cháo and Zhèjiāng was then under its control. Though the unified Chinese state controlled it, there is a lack of control over the southern part of this province. As a result, Yue people started to inhabit there with own politics and cultures. With the passage of time, a kingdom was established there named Dōng Wú). Through different dynasties, Zhèjiāng started to enhance its prosperity and beauty. During the Yuan dynasty, Hangzhou was the finest and noblest city in the world, according to Marco Polo, who spent some 10 years living there. A special kind of ceramic was produced during the Southern Song and Yuan dynasty which made this province most popular in the world. It was also a connector between Shanghai, the national economic center, and wealthy Southern China. Now, it is one of the richest provinces in China.

Zhèjiāng is mainly mountainous area. Mountain covers about 70 percent of it. Tourists visit this place very often for its natural beauty. Among the mountains, Tiānmùshān, Mogan and Yandang are notable. Qiántáng Jiāng and the Ōujiāng are the two main rivers. Besides, the climate of this province is mainly subtropical type. Summer is too long and hot whereas winter is very short and cold. Thousands of islands lie in Zhèjiāng which makes this area most attractive to the tourists. Among the three main Islands of China, Zhoushan Island is exceptional which is also located in this province. The average temperature fluctuates from 15 to 19°C.

Hángzhōu is the main city of this province which is also the capital of Zhèjiāng. It is located in Yangtze River Delta region and renowned for its beautiful natural scenery with the west lake (a famous location). Another important city is Zhoushan which is located at the mouth of Hángzhōu Bay. Besides, Níngbō, Jiāxīng, Wēnzhōu etc are also some important cities.

There are so many tourist spots available here. Among these, Mount Putuo is famous for Chinese Buddishm and one of the four sacred mountains. West Lake is another important place as well as tourist spot in Zhèjiāng province which contains fresh enjoyable water. Qiandao Lake is also famous tourist attraction though it is man-made. Its drinkable and fresh water is notable. It includes many nice islands. If anyone visits this place, he can remind his childhood enjoying its beauty.

Zhejiang was outside the sphere of influence of early Chinese civilization during the Shang Dynasty (sixteenth century to eleventh century BC). Instead it was populated by peoples collectively known as the Yue, such as the Dongyue and the Ouyue. Starting from the Spring and Autumn Period, a state of Yue emerged in northern Zhejiang that was heavily influenced by Chinese civilization further north, and under King Goujian of Yue it reached its zenith and was able to wipe out the state of Wu in 473 BC. Prior, Wu had been a major power to the north of Yue. In 333 BC, Yue was in turn conquered by the state of Chu. Then the state of Qin in turn subjugated Chu thus brining Zhejiang into the first unified Chinese empire.

Throughout the Qin Dynasty (221 to 206 BC) and Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD), Zhejiang was under the control of the unified Chinese state. It was, however, a frontier area at best with southern Zhejiang not under anything more than nominal control. The south of Zhejiang was still inhabited by Yue peoples with their own political and social structures. Near the end of the Han Dynasty, Zhejiang was home to minor warlords Yan Baihu and Wang Lang. They fell in turn to Sun Ce and Sun Quan who eventually established the Kingdom of Wu (222-280), one of the kingdoms of the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history.

During the fourth century AD, China was to be invaded from the north by nomadic peoples. They conquered areas of North China and established the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern Dynasties. As a result, massive numbers of refugees arrived from the north pouring into South China. This accelerated the sinicization of South China, including Zhejiang.

The Sui Dynasty reestablished unity and built the Grand Canal of China, which linked Hangzhou, in the south, to the North China Plain. This provided Zhejiang with a vital link to the centers of Chinese civilization. The Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) presided over a golden age of China. Zhejiang was, at this time, part of the Jiangnandong Circuit, and there began to appear references to its prosperity. Later on, as the Tang Dynasty disintegrated, Zhejiang constituted most of the territory of the regional kingdom of Wuyue.

The Northern Song Dynasty re-established unity in around 960. Under the Song Dynasty, the prosperity of South China began to overtake North China. After the north of the country was lost to the Jurchens in 1127, Zhejiang had its heyday. Hangzhou became the capital of the Han Chinese, Southern Song Dynasty. Renowned for its prosperity and beauty, Hangzhou is thought to have been the largest city in the world at this time. Ever since then all the way to the present day, northern Zhejiang has, together with neighbouring south Jiangsu, been synonymous with luxury and opulence in Chinese culture. Mongol conquest and the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty in 1279 ended Hangzhou's political clout, though Hangzhou continued to prosper. Marco Polo lived in the city, which he called "Kinsay", for many years. He described it as the "finest and noblest city in the world."

The Zhejiang province, particularly the Longquan district, became renowned during the Southern Song and Yuan dynasty for its production of a particular celadon (greenware) ceramic. The Southern Song Longquan celadon 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 increasingly 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 dynasty, to Europe. Ming wares are mainly noted for a decrease in quality and it is in this period that the Longquan kilns declined, to be eventually replaced in popularity and ceramic production by the kilns of Jingdezhen, in neighboring Jiangxi province.

The Ming Dynasty, which drove out the Mongols in 1368, were the first to establish Zhejiang as a Province and the borders of the province have changed little since. With the invasion of Western capitalism, Zhejiang became the most important bridge between Shanghai, the international trading center, and wealthy Southern China.

In the second Sino-Japanese War, Japan took effective control over Zhejiang. Following the Doolittle Raid during world war II, 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 began the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign to intimidate the Chinese from helping downed American airmen. The Japanese killed an estimated 250,000 civilians while searching for Doolittle’s men.

After the People's Republic of China took control of Mainland China in 1949, the Republic of China government based in Taiwan continued to control the Dachen Islands off the coast of Zhejiang until 1955, even establishing a rival Zhejiang provincial government there, creating a situation similar to Fujian province today. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), Zhejiang was in chaos and disunity, and its economy was stagnant. These problems were intensified by an agricultural policy favoring grain production at the expense of industrial and cash crops. 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 to improve the poor transportation conditions in South Zhejiang.

Zhejiang has been less favored by the central government due to the lack of natural resources, a location vulnerable to potential flooding from the sea, and an economic base at the national average. Zhejiang, however, has long been an epicenter of capitalist development in China, and has been leading the nation in marketisation and the development of private enterprises.  Northeast Zhejiang, as part of the Yangtze Delta, is flat, more developed, and industry oriented. South Zhejiang is mountainous and ill-suited for farming, and has traditionally been poor and underdeveloped. The economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping, however, have brought change to that region unparalleled across the rest of China. Driven by hard work, an entrepreneuring spirit, low labour costs, and an eye for the world market, south Zhejiang (especially cities such as Wenzhou and Yiwu) has become a major center of export. This, together with the traditional prosperity of north Zhejiang, has allowed Zhejiang to leapfrog over several other provinces and become one of the richer provinces of China.

Han Chinese make up the vast majority of the population. The She and Hui nationalities are the two largest minorities.

Languages

Zhejiang is mountainous and has therefore fostered the development of many individual localized cultures. Linguistically speaking, Zhejiang is extremely diverse. The inhabitants of Zhejiang speak Wu, a subdivision of spoken Chinese, but the Wu dialects are very diverse, especially in the south, where one valley may speak a dialect completely unintelligible to another valley a few kilometers away. Non-Wu dialects are spoken as well, mostly along the borders; Mandarin and Huizhou dialects are spoken on the border with Anhui, while Min dialects are spoken on the border with Fujian. (See Hangzhou dialect, Shaoxing dialect, Ningbo dialect, Wenzhou dialect, Taizhou (Zhejiang) dialect, Jinhua dialect, Quzhou dialect for more information). Throughout history there has been numerous lingua franca 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, Standard Mandarin, which is not mutually intelligible with any local dialects, has been promoted as the standard language of communication in all of China. As a result, most of the population now have a good grasp on speaking and comprehending Mandarin and can code-switch when necessary, while the majority of the population educated since 1978 can speak Mandarin flawlessly. Urban areas tend to be more fluent in Mandarin than rural areas. Nevertheless, a Zhejiang accent is detectable in almost everyone from the area communicating in Mandarin, and the home dialect of any native resident remains an important part of the everyday lives and cultural identity of most Zhejiang residents.

Music

Zhejiang is the home of Yueju (越劇), one of the most prominent forms of Chinese opera. Yueju originated in Shengzhou and is traditionally performed by actresses only, in both male and female roles. Other important opera traditions include Yongju (of Ningbo), Shaoju (of Shaoxing), Ouju (of Wenzhou), Wuju (of Jinhua), Taizhou Luantan (of Taizhou) and Zhuji Luantan (of Zhuji).

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 folding fans. Zhejiang cuisine (itself subdivided into many traditions, including Hangzhou cuisine) is one of the eight great traditions of Chinese cuisine.

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, as was indeed done by many famous poets. In particular, the fame of Hangzhou (as well as Suzhou in neighbouring Jiangsu province) has led to the popular saying: 上有天堂，下有苏杭 (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.

The province is traditionally known as the "Land of Fish and Rice". True to its name, rice is the main crop, followed by wheat; north Zhejiang is also a center of aquaculture in China, and the Zhoushan fishery is the largest fishery in the country. Main cash crops include jute and cotton, and the province also leads the provinces of China in tea production (the renowned Longjing tea is a product of Hangzhou). Zhejiang's towns have been known for handcraft production of products such as silk, for which it is ranked second among the provinces.

Ningbo, Wenzhou, Taizhou and Zhoushan are important commercial ports. The Hangzhou Bay Bridge ,between Haiyan County and Cixi, is the longest sea-crossing bridge in the world.

Zhejiang's manufacturing is centered upon electromechanical industries, textiles, chemical industries, food, and construction materials. In recent years Zhejiang has followed its own development model, dubbed the "Zhejiang model." This is based on prioritizing and encouraging entrepreneurship, an emphasis on small businesses responsive to changes of the market, large public investments into infrastructure, 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 are now worrying that this model is not sustainable, in that it is inefficient and places unreasonable demands on raw materials and public utilities.The economic heart of Zhejiang is moving from Hangzhou and surrounding North Zhejiang, southeastwards. The per capita disposable income of urbanites in Zhejiang reached 22,727 yuan (US$3,272) in 2008, an annual real growth of 5.4%. The per capita pure income of rural residents stood at 9,258 yuan (US$1,333), a real growth of 6.2% year-on-year. Its nominal GDP for 2008 was 2.15 trillion yuan (US$309 billion) with a per capita of 42,214 yuan (US$6,078). In 2008, Zhejiang's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries were worth 109.5 billion yuan (US$15.8 billion), 1.158 tillion yuan (US$166.7 billion), and 881.1 billion yuan (US$126.9 billion) respectively.

Zhejiang was the first province of China, which had no counties in the poverty-county list of the central government. Zhejiang has become one of the most marketised and richest provinces in China. Compared to many other Chinese provinces, the development in different regions in Zhejiang is more balanced. While the countyside still lags far behind. In 2006, the per capita disposable incomes for eleven major cities in Zhejiang were ranked among the top 30 in China.