HANGCHOW, one of the most notable of the historic cities of China (3o° 15' N., 12o° 16' E.). Its significance is largely the product of its position. It lies at the mouth of the basin of the Tsien-tang which drains W. Chekiang, and at the head of the bay of Hangchow into which the Tsien-tang falls. As the natural link between the thickly-peopled plains on either side of Hang chow bay and as the outlet of West Chekiang, Hangchow has come to be the capital of Chekiang province. It has had a wider significance through its position on the south margin of the Yangtze delta and through its participation in the cultural de velopment of the deltaic cities. It gathers up the southern ends of the waterways of the delta and is the southern terminus of the Grand canal which was, from the time of the Mongols to the mid-19th century, the main avenue of communication between the Yangtze delta and Peking. Yet the greatest days of Hangchow were before the completion of the Grand canal as a through route between north and south. It was during the later Sung dynasty (A.D. 1127-128o), when the Chinese had retreated before the Tartars south of the Yangtze, and had established their capital at Hangchow which became the scene of the intense literary activity of that period, that the city reached the height of its importance. Hangchow was then popularly known as King-sze (the capital), from a corruption of which Marco Polo's Kinsai was derived.
Hangchow has been a commercial centre of great importance from the Tang period onwards. Although one of the points where the system of inland waterways which thread the Yangtze delta reaches the sea, Hangchow itself has never been a port for sea-going vessels. From the Tang to the Yuan periods it utilized Kanfu (or Kanpu) farther down Hangchow bay, and with the continued silting of the bay, its sea-going trade has had to pass through Shanghai. The total trade of the port—Hk. Tls. 042 in 1926—is of about the same bulk as that of Soochow or Chinkiang, which are also within the delta and on the Grand canal. Hangchow is of industrial as well as of commercial im portance. The most important industry is silk manufacture, for north-west Chekiang is a famous sericultural region. Like Nanking, Hangchow is a silk-weaving rather than a silk-reeling centre. A considerable number of rice-hulling and cleaning mills reflect the rice culture of the surrounding plains.
The city itself is built at the foot of a beautiful range of hills (the Tien-mu shan or Eye of Heaven mountains) and by the shores of the famous Si-hu, the Western lake. The beauty of its buildings and gardens equals the charm of its situation among hills and valleys studded with some of the most famous monas teries in China. Hence the Chinese proverb : "There is Heaven above and Soochow and Hangchow below." To Marco Polo it was incomparably the finest city in the world. This beauty was sadly tarnished by terrible devastations during the Tai p'ing revolt in 1861, but the city, in a somewhat modernized form, has largely recovered its prestige, and with a population of 65o,000 still ranks as one of the greatest cities of China.
Hangchow was, especially during 1927 and 1928, of great im portance to the contending powers in China. When the Nationalist party, made Nanking the capital of the republic, Hangchow im mediately sprang into greater prominence as the port of that city. New regulations were formulated for the defence of the port against river-pirates and a shore Customs board was set up to deal with the smuggling which was a profitable undertaking. Early in 1929 there was a clash between the Nationalists and the Cus toms authorities over a supply of opium which arrived at Hang chow destined for Nanking. Hangchow itself has not frequently suffered the outrages common to most important cities in the active area of hostilities and still preserves many of its beauties in spite of its increased commercial and industrial importance.