Adjacent to Shanghai, Zhejiang is located in the southern flank of the Yangtze River Delta along the southeast coast of China, with Hangzhou as its capital city. Encompassing 6,400-plus kilometres of coastlines and over 3,000 islands, it has formed a large port group mainly consisting of Ningbo, Wenzhou, Zhoushan, Zhapu and Haimen ports. Ningbo's Beilun Port has the 3rd and 4 th generation international container terminals, 14 berths ranging in capacity from 25,000 to 200,000 tons and smooth navigable fairways for 200,000 ton ships. Its annual handling capacity ranks 2nd in China. It has established 98 sister ties with various provinces, states, cities and counties in 32 countries, including Japan, the USA, Germany, Australia, the UK, France, Italy and the Republic of Korea. It has also established business relations with more than 190 countries and regions all over the world ... In heaven there is paradise; on earth there are Suzhou and Hangzhou" is a proverb known to every Chinese. Hangzhou's fabled West Lake is probably China's best-known beauty spot. With its willow trees, lotus blossoms in July and arched stone bridges, it confirms to everyone's idea of what Chinese scenery should look like. Many Chinese come here for sightseeing. The huge lake has four landscaped islands and the whole area is dotted with pavilions and temples. In addition to enjoying the scenery, tourists may visit silk factories (as in Suzhou) and also one of the tea plantations producing the famous Dragon Well tea. Dubbed as .. Golden Sprout," it is known as the king of green tea and famous for its green colour, fragrance, good taste, and beautiful shape.

Mount Putuo

Mount Putuo is located in the Zhoushan Islands of Zhejiang Province. Legend has it that Guanyin once showed her bodily presence here and left a number of famous historical sites. People have given beautiful names to the island: Buddhist Paradise on the Sea, Land of Peach Blossoms, and Mount of Immortals on the Sea.

Local people in the past suffered much and yearned for release from worldly cares, therefore, they created an idol, the Guanyin (also Guanshiyin or Goddess of Mercy); (Sanskrit ) Avalokitesvara (literally "looking on or hearing the voices of the suffering"). Guanyin is said to be "greatly merciful" and will hel p the needy and relieve the distressed. "In India, Guanyin was regarded as of the male sex while in China he turned into a Goddess of Mercy. This is in line with the wish of the people.

Over 1,100 years ago, the island was very ordinary. It was called Mount Meicun because Mei Fu of the Han Dynasty had once lived here. A Japanese monk who came to China to seek for hope obtained a bronze statue of Guanyin from Mount Wutai. He planned to sail across the sea to return to the homeland, but when he reached the island he was stopped by a storm. He believed that Guanyin was reluctant to leave, so he landed and built an "Unwilling to Leave Nunnery" in the place. The monk's name was Hui'e and he is remembered in history. From that time on, hope has remained on this island and the piety of the people has made Guanyin all the more miraculous. According to Buddhist Scripture, Guanyin lived in Mount Putuo Luojia in the south. Thus the name of Mount Meicun was changed into Mount Putuo. This was also the wish of the people.

Xitang

Xi tang is a waterside town noted for its winding streams; boats, arched bridges and whitewashed old dwellings. The town is divided into new and old parts. The old part, with most of the houses built in the Ming and Qing dynasties, is applying to be listed among the World Heritage Sites of UNESCO together with five other Jiangnan (South of the Yangtse River) waterside towns. They are Zhouzhuang, Tongli, and Luzhi in Jiangsu Province, and Nanxun and Wuzhen in Zhejiang Province. Unlike Nanxun and Zhouzhuang, tourists have not yet spoiled Xitang. Narrow, winding lanes, called" Long" in the local dialect, are a part of Xitang's charm. Mostly one or two metres wide with high walls and elegant gables on both sides, they are paved with flagstones. When the tourist enters one of these deep and tranquil lanes, no matter where it might lead, to a guesthouse, a garden, an old house or a snack bar .. s/he feels that s/hehas stepped back to an older more charming time. There are 122 lanes in Xitang, five of which are more than 100 metres long. The Shipi Long is the most famous lane in the town. With an average width of less than one metre, the 68-metre-Iong lane is known for its narrowness: People weighing more than 80 kilometres must walk sideways to get through. Like many Jiangnan townships, Xi tang is on the water. The waterways, crisscrossing the town, provide another means of getting about. Dark-awning boats are innumerable. Some shuttle back and forth for passengers, some drift with fishermen and others are berthed along the riverbank rocking slightly in the spring breeze. Most of the homes beside the waterways have small flagstone berths, where women used to wash clothes and vegetables. However, water lines now reach every family living in the town. People living in the old part of the town are mostly elderly. The long porches on the embankments, which are seldom found in other Jiangnan towns, create pleasant shade for local residents. Strolling beneath the 1,300 metres of porches and black tiles, tourists get a glimpse of old dwellings on the other side of the river. With lofty gables, flying eaves, they exude a genuine classical elegance. The museums, all in old houses, featured exhibitions of the traditional winemaking facilities of the area, tree-root carvings, traditional Chinese bricks and tiles and traditional Chinese woodcarving from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Except the temples, which harbour some newly restored but crude Buddhist clay statues, all these sights warranted close attention.

With about 100 of them, Xitang is also known as a town of bridges. Broad and arched, narrow and flat, many of them are made of stone and were constructed hundreds of years ago. They provide an insight into the town's former glory. Built in the period 1716 to 1719, with a height of 5.5 metres, the curving W olong Bridge is the highest and thus the most conspicuous in Xitang. Standing on top of it, the tourist could see black-tiled roofs in the old part of Xitang rolling away into the distance, all in sharp contrast to the cement high-rises towering up in the new town. The old town is small.

Nanbei Lake

Located some 80 kilometres east of Hangzhou, the Nanbei Lake in Haiyan County offers the visitor a tranquil spot away from the frenzy of West Lake. The lake is divided into southern and northern sections by a causeway. Though smaller than West Lake, Nanbei Lake was originally a lagoon adjoining the Qiantang River. With an area of 122 hectares, the lake has been a local attraction since the Song Dynasty, when it was known as "the Mini West Lake. ." There is a collection of gardens, bridges and pavilions scattered around the lake. Most of these attractions are built or recovered recently. Away from big cities and encircled by rolling green mountains, the lake is a truly idyllic setting.

The Nanbei Lake Scenic Area is far more than just a lake. With an area of some 30 square kilometres, the scenic area includes the green hills surrounding the lake and the nearby beach on Hangzhou Bay. On a slope a local businessman built facing the lake, a traditional house, named "Zaiqing Villa," in 1916. Kim Koo (1875-1949), a political leader in the Korean independence movement, once took refuges here. During his exile in China in the period 1919 to 1945, the Korean nationalist, made friends with the businessman's niece in Shanghai. After he organized a heroic campaign against the Japanese in Shanghai, Kim made his retreat to the villa and stayed there for half a year. The original structure was destroyed during the "cultural revolution" (1966-1976). The villa was restored in 1995 to commemorate this friend of China, who had such a command of Chinese that his Chinese wife believed him to be Cantonese instead of Korean. The villa is a tranquil and elegant structure. All three of the rooms are decorated with traditional Chinese furniture and have windows facing the lake.

Red Boat on the South Lake in Jiaxing

Anchored alongside an island in the middle of the South Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, it is a replica of the boat on which the Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded. On July 23, 1921, 13 delegates of the Chinese Communists nationwide gathered in a French concession building at 76 Xingye Road in Shanghai to hold the CPC's 1st National Congress. Some French policemen interrupted the meeting. Under the suggestion of a delegate's wife who was from Jiaxing, the delegates, including Mao Zedong, decided to move the meeting onto the South Lake, a famous scenic area near Shanghai, in a boat reserved for visitors. Therefore, the delegates gathered on the boat and the Chinese Communist Party was founded at the end of the meeting. Early in 1945, the Party decided to name July 1st as its birthday right before it held its Seventh National Congress in the spring. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the local government in Jiaxing decided to replicate the boat to commemorate the historical event. On July 1, 1959, the 38 th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, the replica, known as "Red Boat," was launched into the South Lake and has since become the booming tourist attraction. The boat, about 16 metres long and three metres wide, is anchored alongside the bank just in front of the Misty Rain Pavilion . It has four cabins under wooden roofing, connected by a passageway. The front cabin is furnished with a square table at the centre, several chairs and a long bed for smoking. There is a set of tea ware and a set of mahjong tiles lay out on the table. It was said that the delegates put mahjong tile on the table while meeting in the cabin. They would play mahjong in case the policemen came to check. Every piece of the furniture was duplicated according to the local style of those days and features elaborate carving. Under the meticulous care, they still look new. Behind the front cabin are middle, side and back cabins. There is a bed in the middle cabin and a cooking stove and a cupboard in the back cabin. A slender wooden tender is roped to the stern of the boat. In those days, this kind of vessel was used to shuttle the delegates onto the boat. The boat is certainly not the only item of interest on the South Lake.

Encompassing 416,000 square metres, the lake has been a scenic attraction since the Sui Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, many gardens and mansions were built around the lake and it was named amongst the "three famous lakes in Zhejiang Province," along with Hangzhou's West Lake and Shaoxing's East Lake. The Misty Rain Pavilion originally appeared on the lakeshore around 940. I t was ruined by wars in the concluding years of the Yuan Dynasty. In 1548, local official heaped silt from the city moat into the middle of the South Lake while dredging the moat and formed an island with an area of some 12,000 square metres. The official built the double storey pavilion on the island and planted two ginkgo trees in front of the structure the following year. The structure experienced more destruction and restoration. A local official restored the present one in 1918. The two trees have grown to a great size and are now providing shade to the pavilion even today. Since the Misty Rain Pavilion was rebuilt on the island, more pavilions and bridges have been built there. Numerous famous people, scholars, poets and emperors have visited the island and left their poems, paintings and calligraphy. Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty paid six trips to the island and left 15 poems about the pavilion. He loved the structure so much that had it reproduced in the Mountain Summer Resort in Chengde of Hebei Province. The island has been developed into one of the best gardens in the province, with a diverse collection of pavilions, arched bridges, ponds, and rockeries. Various trees trim the lake shore of the island. Potted plants can be found all over the place. Standing on the second floor of the pavilion, visitors can see the lake stretching towards the city outlined by high rises, ferries, and barges shuttling on the water, and the Red Boat rippling in the breeze. People become aware of how good the decision to move the Congress onto the boat was. With the picturesque scenery, the lake also was a perfect place for sightseeing.

The South Lake Revolutionary Museum is the most conspicuous one and warrants a quick look . Various historical documents like photos, letters and writings, concerning the CPC's founding, are in display.

Liang Zhu Culture

Archaeologists have unearthed another ancient tomb of the famous Liang Zhu Culture in a city at the northern part of Zhejiang Province. The discovery after nine hours of excavations on July 15, 2001 sheds new light on the pre-historic Liang Zhu civilization which evolved on the vast land around Lake Tai about 4,500 to 5,500 years ago. And experts regard the excavation works on the culture as one of the most important sources for the study of the earliest origins of Chinese civilization. In the newly found tomb in Xin Dili, Tongxiang, more than 30 pieces of exquisite relics were revealed, including pottery, stoneware and many other scattered tube-shaped and pearl-shaped jade ware. Most of the jade ware was body decorations, while several stone knives were used as arms or tools of production. As the special white colour of those little i terns of jade ware tells us, the tomb is at least 4,000 years old, known as the later period of the Liang Zhu Culture. This newly exhumed tomb has added many more real objects to our study of the later period of Liang Zhu Culture, and has helped us gain an even greater insight into the highly civilized society, which used to exist here several thousands years ago. The tomb was around 3.77 metres long and 1.8 metres wide. The tomb is part of a large group of graves, which are all located in Xin Dili, Tongxiang, one of the most important locations of the Liang Zhu Culture on the southern side of Lake Tai. Experts say the group of graves, which was discovered in Xin Dili on March 21 2001 and has been unearthed one by one ever since then, is probably the biggest of the Liang Zhu era ever to have been found in China. During the excavation, 85 ancient Liang Zhu graves, covering an area of about 2,000 square metres, have been unearthed in the area. Experts say that the 900 kinds of relics buried in the grave group represent the highest level of social status and craftsmanship for the Liang Zhu Culture.

According to carbon 14 test, Liang Zhu Culture dates back to 3,300 to 2 ,250 BC. Liang Zhu Culture is a kind of culture of New Stone Age. I twas first discovered in 1936 at Liang Zhu Town,Yuhang, Zhejiang Province.

Yandang (Wild Goose and Reed Marsh) Mountains

The Yandang Mountains in Leqing, Wenzhou , Zhejiang Province, have attracted the tourist for centuries with their dramatic peaks, glamorous caves, strange rocks and fantastic waterfalls. Noted for their natural beauty, the Yandang Mountains have some peaks towering from the ground into the clouds, and reputed as Number One Mountain in southeast China. Other points of interest offer different images when looked at from different angles. The bizarre-shaped rocks are even more fascinating at twilight or under moonlight. The wonderful waterfalls tumble down their sides from sheer cliffs scores of metres high. The caves are either bright and spacious as palace halls or twisted and intricating as if they were a labyrinth. One of several hundred scenic spots in the area, the Lake at Yanhugang (Wild Goose and Lake Hillock), the main peak with an elevation of 1,046 metres, gives the place its name by attracting wild geese there in autumn with its reeds and grass. Encompassing 400 square kilometres, the Yandang Mountians are divided into five scenic zones with Lingfeng (Spirit's Peak), Lingyan (Spirit's Crag), Dalongqiu (Great Dragon Pool), Yanhu (Wild Goose Lake), Xianshengmen (Holy Manifestation Gate), of which, Lingfeng, Lingyan and Dalongqiu are the ultimate beauties in the southeast Yandang Scenery.

Many poets and scholars and painters have recorded the beauty of the Yandang Mountains, which serve as a tourist centre and summer resort since the Tang Dynasty.

The Thousand-Islet Lake

Well known for its pristine water and picturesque scenery, the Thousand- Islet Lake, composed of 1,078 islands, has long been a popular tourist attraction. Forest covers nearly 93 per cent of the lake area, which is home to more than 1,800 varieties of plants and 2,100 wild animals. With an average depth of 34 metres, its water transparency reaches 7 to 12 metres. In the past years, the local government has spared no efforts in protecting the lake and its surrounding area. More emphasis will be put on developing eco-agriculture and tourism in the coming years.

In early 2002, two ancient towns, both more than 1 ,800 years old, were discovered under the Thousand-Islet Lake. After a preliminary investigation, experts believed they might be the biggest ancient buildings ever found in perfect condition in China. Located near the Xin'an River, Chun'an and Sui'an started as counties in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). The two towns were inundated 40 years ago to make way for a reservoir. Historical records show that the two towns adopted architectural styles using bricks, wood, stones and tiles. A dozen trial dives led to the discovery of the town of Sui'an. An underwater camera has recorded the whole process of finding the ancient complex. According to the tape, the 3-metre high ancient town wall is 30 metres under water. Nails and doorknockers are visible on the wall gate. A house stands perfectly though algae had covered its walls and wooden window frames. Inside, the wooden staircase and furniture is still present and the fine wood engravings indicate the former prosperity of the town .