Once the largest city on earth, Hangzhou is still the vitally important southern terminus of the Grand Canal and is one of China's six ancient capitals.

Marco Polo called it "the finest and most splendid city in the world."

Destroyed by Mongols in the 13th Century, devastated again by the Taiping Rebellion five hundred years later and damaged yet again by World War Ⅱ, today's Hangzhou has largely been constructed since 1949, though the downtown area retains much traditional charm.

It is a graceful 430 square kilometer city of 1.3 million that offers exciting glimpses of China's panoramic past almost everywhere you look. Particularly prominent are relics and architecture from the Song Dynasty, which designated Hangzhou as its capital city.

Of particular interest to sightseers is West Lake, formerly an imperial estate and now an area of gardens, temples, parks, tombs, historic sites and teahouses along the 48-kilometre shoreline of a large and tranquil lake surrounded by emerald hills.

Hangzhou has a moist subtropical climate with a wide yearly temperature range of 36℃ to -7℃. The most temperate weather occurs in April, May, October and November.