- Zhejiang Province

Population: 40.7 million

Urban population: 17.8 million

Nationalities: Han, Hui, She, Manchu, and Miao.

Area: 100,000 square kilometers

Coastline: 2,200 km long

Climatic features: Subtropical, monsoonal climate; clear-cut seasons; plum rains from early June to early July; droughts in July and August; typhoons fom late August to late September.

Average temperature: 2 - 8 C. in January, 27 - 30 in July; high temperatures in the central basin.

Annual Average Rainfall: 850 - 1,700 mm; low precipitation in the north.

Physical features: Lowlands in the northeast and mountains in the southwest; 70 percent mountains and hills; faces the East China Sea; the Hangzhou Gulf and the mouth of the Qiantang River is closed in by the Zhoushan Islands in the east.

Rivers: Qiantang River in the north; Oujiang River in the south.

Products: Rice, wheat, corn, potatoes, sugar cane, rapeseed, sesame, peanuts, soybeans, tea; ramie, jute, silk cocoons, cotton, bamboo; tea-oil tree, tung tree, Chinese tallow tree; oranges, red bayberries, walnuts, Chinese torreya, loquats, peaches, persimmons, gingko, mushrooms, dried bamboo shoots; sea products including yellow croaker, hairtail, cuttlefish, shellfish, laver, kelp; alum, flourite, salt.

Specialties: Fuchunjiang shad, Jinhua ham, Longjing tea, Huyang sheep.

Administrative divisions: 18 cities, 57 counties, and 1 autonomous county.

Capital: Hangzhou

Neighboring Areas: Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui, and Jiangsu Provinces; Shanghai Municipality.

Major Cities: Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Shaoxing, Jinhua, Jiaxing, Huzhou

Tourist Attractions: West Lake in Hangzhou; Mount Putuo of the Zhoushan Islands, famous for its Buddhist temples; the tide waves of the Qiantang River.

Source: Atlas of the Peoples Republic of China, Beijing, 1989.

Last modified: Tuesday, December 16, 2003