Search results
Chinese leader Xi Jinping with US President Joe Biden at the 17th G20 in Bali, November 2022. [ 1 ] The relationship between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (USA) has been complex and at times tense since the establishment of the PRC and the retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan in 1949.
Sep 2, 2016 · The city government granted a weeklong vacation during the G20 summit, provided vouchers to local residents, and encouraged people to travel out of town. More than two million people will leave ...
Sep 5, 2016 · President Obama participated in his 10th and final G-20 L eaders’ S ummit in Hangzhou, China on September 4-5. In 2009, President Obama proposed elevating the G-20 to be the world’s premier forum for international economic cooperation, allowing leaders representing approximately 85 percent of global economic output to advance the shared objective of strong, sustainable, balanced, and ...
- Overview
- History
- The contemporary city
Hangzhou, city and capital of Zhejiang sheng (province), China. The city is located in the northern part of the province on the north bank of the Qiantang River estuary at the head of Hangzhou Bay. It has water communications with the interior of Zhejiang to the south, is the southern terminus of the Grand Canal, and is linked to the network of can...
The county of Qiantang was first established at this site under the Qin dynasty (221–207 bce) but did not start developing until the 4th and 5th centuries ce, when the Yangtze River delta area began to be settled. A prefecture named Hangzhou was created there in 589, during the Sui dynasty (581–618), which is the source of the city’s name. It became a major local centre with the completion of the Jiangnan Canal (then the southern section of the Grand Canal) in 609. During the Ten Kingdoms (Shiguo) period (907–960), Hangzhou was the capital of the state of Wu-Yue. In the later Song period (960–1279), northern China fell to the Jin (Juchen) dynasty (1115–1234); from 1127 the Song rulers were confined to southern China, and they made Hangzhou (then known as Lin’an) their capital. A centre of commerce, it was visited in the late 13th century by the Venetian traveler Marco Polo, who called it Kinsai, or Quinsay; it then had an estimated population of 1–1.5 million.
Although it never again reached the peak of importance that it had achieved as capital of the Nan (Southern) Song, Hangzhou remained important. Under the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911/12) dynasties, it was a superior prefecture, in addition to being the provincial capital of Zhejiang. It became immensely wealthy, being at the centre of a fertile rice-growing area as well as being the site of the most important silk industries in China. It also was famous as a centre of culture, producing numerous writers, painters, and poets. Its importance as a port dwindled, however, as Hangzhou Bay gradually silted up and as its outport, Ganpu, became useless. From the 14th century its trade gradually shifted to Ningbo to the southeast on the southern shore of the bay and, in the 19th century, to the new city of Shanghai, some 100 miles (160 km) to the northeast at the mouth of the Yangtze. In 1861, during the Taiping Rebellion (1850–64), the city fell to the rebels and suffered severe damage.
Since 1949 Hangzhou, though it has been carefully preserved as a scenic district and tourist attraction, has also developed into an industrial centre. The textile industry, originally confined to silk production, now produces both silk and cottons. In addition to thermal electric-generating plants, the city is connected via the regional power grid to the large Xin’an River hydroelectric project to the southwest and to Shanghai and Nanjing. A chemical industry has also been established. In the late 1950s a major tractor plant was built in Hangzhou, and a machine-tool industry subsequently developed. Electronics manufacturing has also become a major component of the city’s economy.
Hangzhou is an economic centre of and export base for east-central China. A railway network connects Hangzhou to Shanghai and Ningbo as well as to Xuanzhou in Anhui province (northwest) and Nanchang in Jiangxi province (southwest). A Shanghai-Ningbo expressway via Hangzhou was completed in the 1990s, and a Nanjing-Hangzhou expressway opened in the early 21st century. There are scheduled flights to Singapore and to Hong Kong and other major cities in China from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport (opened 2000), 17 miles (28 km) east of the city. With increased growth since the late 20th century, the city has spread to the southern bank of the Qiantang River in recent years, and its metropolitan area includes the city of Xiaoshan to the southeast.
Are you a student? Get Britannica Premium for only 24.95 - a 67% discount!
Learn More
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Feb 17, 2022 · On February 21, 1972, Richard Nixon became the first sitting United States president to set foot in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Over the course of a week, he met with Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong, negotiated with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, and toured historical and cultural institutions including the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Shanghai, and Hangzhou.
In the following days, Zhou accompanied Nixon from Hangzhou to Shanghai, where the two countries issued the Joint Communique of the People's Republic of China and the United States of America. According to the Shanghai Communique, released on February 28, 1972, Washington has acknowledged that "there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China."
People also ask
Why is Hangzhou a popular tourist destination?
Where is Hangzhou located?
Why is Hangzhou called Hangzhou?
What did President Obama say in Hangzhou?
What dynasty ruled Hangzhou?
Is Hangzhou a university?
Feb 18, 2021 · Starting with Nixon, the motives were decidedly unsentimental: to balance against the Soviet Union, to convince China to stop exporting revolution, and to help lift millions of people out of poverty. It was only after the Cold War that a desire to change China became a prominent objective of U.S. policy.
