Location: As the capital of Zhejiang province, Hangzhou is situated at the south end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal with a distance of 151 kilometers to Shanghai. It is the central city in the southern wing of Yangtze River Delta, one of the six largest city circles in the world.
History: One of the eight ancient capitals in China, Hangzhou, with a history of 8,000 years, is famous for its tourism and culture.
Area & Population: Hangzhou covers an area of 16,596 square kilometers and has a total registered population of 6,723,500 by the end of 2007.
Climate: Hangzhou belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate, with four distinct seasons. The average annual temperature is 16.2℃ while the annual rainfall is about 1,500mm. The coldest temperature in January is -8.6℃ to the extreme and the hottest temperature in July reaches 39.9℃ to the extreme. Its spring (March~ May) and fall (September ~ November) are optimal travel seasons with agreeable and comfortable weather.
Tourist Resource: Endowed with a unique natural environment along with a culture accumulation of thousands of years, Hangzhou is hailed as “Heaven on Earth”. There are two national scenic areas: the West Lake Scenic Area and the “Two Rivers and one lake”; Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal-the longest canal of the world; and 14 units of national key cultural relic sites and 3 national museums.
Xiasha Higher Education Zones: There are altogether 4 higher education zones in Hangzhou with Xiasha as the largest one. It is located in Hangzhou Economy & Technology Development Area (HEDA), which is in the eastern part of Hangzhou with a distance of 15 kilometers to the city center. Xiasha Higher Education Zone presently has 14 universities and colleges (including Zhejiang Sci-Tech University) and the amount of enrolled students has reached 120,000.
The transportation of Xiasha is convenient. Among many other choices of public transportation, BRT 1(Bus Rapid Transit) is the fastest one which allows passengers to reach the city center within 30-40 minutes. Going back and forth between Xiasha and the city center, BRT 1 runs at about 3-minute intervals between 06:00and 21:30/22:00. It is expected that No.1 subway will be completed in 2010 and it’ll only take about 20 minutes from Xiasha to downtown at that time.