Hangzhou

Hangzhou is a city located on the east coast of China in the south of the Yangtze River Delta. It is one hour away from Shanghai by bullet train. One of China's most beautiful cities, Hangzhou made the famous traveler Marco Polo fall in love with it. Now Hangzhou has become one of the centers of Chinese IT, home to the giants Alibaba and Ant Financial, as well as many startups. Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang Province. It is the political, economic, cultural, educational, transportation, and financial center of the province. 

Why Hangzhou?

Often called "Paradise on Earth," Hangzhou is known for its serene, natural beauty. It is one of the best places for tourism in China. Its West Lake is the most visited tourist spot in the country. At the same time Hangzhou is a city of industry and IT. Its many sectors include light industry, agriculture, textiles, and tourism. It is also considered an important manufacturing base and logistics center for coastal China. Hangzhou is famous for its historical relics and natural beauty.

Hangzhou is known for its talents. Since ancient times, it has generated high praise and expectations among Hangzhou's top universities and great minds. Universities in Hangzhou are an ideal destination for international students.

Chinese IT industry center

Hangzhou offers incredible growth opportunities not only for large Chinese companies, but also for start-ups. One of the most famous among them is Alibaba. It was founded by Jack Ma and specializes in online commerce, cloud technology, mobile media, and entertainment. The most popular products of the company are the Taobao and Timol platforms, Ali-cloud hosting. There are also such world-famous companies as Ant Financial and We Doctor.

As an incentive and an attraction for new startups, Hangzhou offers generous subsidies to aspiring entrepreneurs, especially in the fields of online commerce and information analytics. As a result, the city is a very attractive environment for companies of all sizes, despite being considered a not very big city by Chinese standards with a population of 9 million.

Top Universities

Zhejiang University is one of China's leading institutions of higher education and one of the oldest. In 2021 Zhejiang University took #5 in QS Asian Universities Ranking and #45 in the whole world. The university consists of seven faculties and 36 schools. It is home to 3,500 full-time faculty members and about 45,000 students. In addition, Hangzhou is home to many other top universities in China.

Weather in Hangzhou.

You can experience all four seasons in Hangzhou. The weather here is humid and subtropical. Summers tend to be quite long, hot, and humid, while winters are cold, cloudy and can be dry at times with occasional snowfalls. Summer rains and occasional storms in June are due to the Asian monsoon that hits Hangzhou because of its location.

Food

Hangzhou cuisine belongs to one of the 8 major schools of Chinese cuisine. It is characterized by delicate cooking methods, subtle flavors, and vibrant serving of dishes. It mainly consists of many crispy, tender, light, and fresh dishes. The most popular dishes of Hangzhou cuisine are fish caught in West Lake, peeled shrimp with Dragon Well tea, kabomba soup and Dongpo pork.

Cost of Living

Life in Hangzhou for a student costs an average of 20,000 RMB a year, which is about 1,600 per month. This should be enough for a tasty and varied meal, clothing, and entertainment. In many places, such as nightclubs, foreigners can not only have free entertainment, but also get free drinks.

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