Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province with the sub-provincial administrative level, is the center of provincial politics, economy, culture, science and education. The economic development level of Hangzhou is very high, its economic strength is continuously ranked second among all provincial capitals and its economic general strength is listed in the top ten among all the big-middle cities in China. Hangzhou is not only one of the safest tourist-city, but also one of the best cities of internal security.
It was the capital of the Southern Sung dynasty from 1132 to 1276, when it was sacked by Kublai Khan. In the Southern Sung period , Hangzhou rich with a thriving silk trade, was a center of art, literature, and scholarship and a cosmopolitan city with a large colony of foreign merchants Arabs, Persians, and Nestorian Christians.
Hangzhou locates close to China east coast, in the lower reaches of the Qiantang River and at the southern end of the Grand Canal (Beijing - Hangzhou). The distance between Hangzhou and Shanghai is 200 kilometers which is connected by the railway and highway. It only takes less than 2 hours to reach Shanghai ;the trip is quite comfortable and efficient. The city tree is Camphor Tree and the city flower is Osmanthus.
As a famous scenic city in China, Hangzhou attracts more than 20 million domestic and foreign tourists every year. Hangzhou is known for its natural beauty of West Lake worldwide. Above is paradise, below is Suzhou and Hangzhou expresses peoples indeed praise to Hangzhou. In the Yuan Dynasty, the famous Italian traveler Marco Polo described this city as the finest and most splendid city in the world. (http://www.gotohz.com)