Hangzhou
Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang Province, located at the east coast of China. With a population of 6.5 million, it is a medium sized city.
Hangzhou has been famous for her scenic beauty for centuries. 'Above there is heaven, below there are Suzhou and Hangzhou' says a famous Chinese proverb. Many Chinese take this proverb to heart, travelling to Hangzhou to spend their vacations there. The people of Hangzhou proudly cite Italian merchant Marco Polo's praise of the city as 'majestic'.
Today's Hangzhou has a lot to offer: the Westlake is the scenic heart of the city and it is surrounded by parks, hills, pagodas and temples. In summer, the lake is filled with lotus flowers, and the surrounding hills are often shrouded in mist. To the Northwest of the lake lies the
Lingyin Temple, or Temple of the Soul's Retreat. It is a vast complex of halls and small gardens on the slope of a hill, surrounded by caves filled with stone Buddha's.
The most important product from Hangzhou is green tea. The hills around the Westlake are used to grow the tea leaves, which, according to tea researchers, have a special flavour because of the particular composition of the earth. There are four harvests a year. The freshly picked tea leaves are then dried manually to be sold at people's own homes, tea houses and downtown shops. This special tea from Hangzhou is called
Longjin - Dragon Well - tea. Other famous products from Hangzhou include silk and scissors.
You can view a multimedia presentation by the New York Times about a teahouse in Hangzhou by clicking
here.
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