Zhejiang

Zhejiang, also Chekiang, province in eastern China, bordering on the East China Sea. One of the smallest of the Chinese provinces, it includes the southern half of the populous Yangtze River delta in the north; a complex of rugged mountain ranges, with heights of more than 1,900 m (6,200 ft) in places, in the south; and the offshore islands of the Zhoushan Archipelago, situated at the entrance to Hangzhou Bay. Major rivers are the Fuchun, which becomes the Qiantang below the city of Hangzhou, and the Ou, which enters the sea in the south at Wenzhou. Important cities include Hangzhou (the capital) and the ports of Ningbo and Wenzhou.

After being part of the Wu and Yüeh kingdoms, Zhejiang was conquered by the state of Ch'u in the 4th century bc, and it was incorporated into the Chinese Empire in the 3rd century bc. It was briefly the center of another Wu kingdom from ad 222 to 280, and the region began to prosper from trade along the Grand Canal as early as the 7th century. Hangzhou was a center of great wealth in the 12th and 13th centuries as the capital of the Southern Song dynasty, and the city has continued to dominate the economic and cultural life of the province in modern times. Area, about 102,000 sq km (about 39,400 sq mi); population 46,795,500 (2003 estimate).