¡¡The
city of Huzhou is located in the north of Zhejiang province,
neighboring two metropolitan cities, i.e. Shanghai and Hangzhou,
with a distance of 150km and 86km from their downtowns respectively.
The geographic feature  of
Huzhou is mountainous in the western areas and flat in the
eastern parts. On its west lies Anhui province; and, north,
Taihu Lake, a legendary lake with vast water surface. The
name of Huzhou is closely related to and derived from Taihu,
as Hu in Chinese refers to lake and that Huzhou formerly Wucheng
in Qin Dynasty (221-206B.C) is in the vicinity of Taihu Lake.
The climate is quite mild, typical to the subtropical weather
condition with an average temperature from 12.2 to 16.1 degrees
centigrade annually. The annual rainfall is around 1300mm.Huzhou
is abundant in many resources including coal, iron ores and
limestone. Changxing Coal Mine is the largest one in Zhejiang.
¡¡Huzhou has three counties and two districts under its jurisdiction,
namely Deqing, Changxing, Anji and Wuxing District, Nanxun
District, with the total area of 5817 square kilometers and
a population of 2.56 million.
¡¡Huzhou has been noted for its cultural legacy as the city
has a more-than-2300-year history. The fame of the city lies
not only in the scenic landscape around, but also in the derivative
place of silk and Hubi(Chinese writing brush produced in Huzhou).It
is well-known that the Chinese brush exerts a paramount influence
upon people¡¯s culture. With the brush, generations of painters
and calligraphers established their own reputation for the
unique charms, such as Wu Changshuo, Zhao Mengfu, to name
only a few. Interestingly, the first treatise on tea (Books
on Tea) in the human history was also printed in here around
775 DC, by Mr. Luyu (733?-804) when he sojourned in Huzhou
as a recluse. Mr. Lu is now regarded as the father and saint
of tea culture, for making a comprehensive study of cultivation
of the tea plant, of choosing and picking tea leaves as well
as making and drinking tea.
¡¡ As
a leading city open to the outside world, situated in the
Yangtze Delta Area, Huzhou boasts its fast-developing and
sustainable economy, which is witnessed in various aspects.
For instance, the gross domestic product (GDP for short) reached
up to 5.9 billion US dollars in 2003, with 2293 dollars of
GDP per capita. Under such circumstances, residents are fairly
well-off in terms of the living standards.
¡¡The economy of Huzhou shows its merits in various fields.
In terms of industry, Huzhou is still holding competitive
 place
in such traditional products as silk and construction materials.
Further, other industrial items are becoming more and more
popular among consumers, gaining favorable status in the nation,
such as textile products, refined chemicals, environment friendly
building materials and medical products. Tian Huangping Plant,
the largest-scale pumped storage plant in Asia is also built
in Anji County, Huzhou. As for the transportation network,
several highways cross the area of Huzhou and one is under
construction. Besides, river transportation plays a very important
role in daily life. Hence, foreign investments are increasing
rapidly in recent years. |
