I imagine it would come as a surprise to most people, certainly in the Western world, to learn that during the thirteenth century Hangzhou was almost certainly the largest city in the world, with a population of around 2 millions. Marco Polo, visiting towards the end of that century, called it 'the most beautiful and magnificent city in the world', and a few years later the Moroccan scholar and traveller Ibn Battuta was equally impressed.
I first visited Hangzhou in 2007 and I have just been back for my third visit. Each time I have become more fascinated with its history and geography. And I have realised how deficient my Western education has been about one of the great cities of the world - as about so much of the realities of China, past, present and future. Hangzhou's got a lot of each of those (although expressing them in Mandarin might be complicated in a language without verb tenses).
What do I remember of my 2007 visit? The guidebook I had bought beforehand put most of its emphasis for Hangzhou on the West Lake, describing it as one of the major sights of China. I was visiting Zhejiang University (where earlier this year I gave a lecture - at 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning!) and the hotel had a magnificent view over the lake. At night the pagodas around the lake were lit up - a magical sight. But when I went for a walk along one of the causeways that intersect the lake I was an object of interest - a rare Westerner (although it may also have been because in the high humidity my shirt showed that I was not used to the climatic conditions, unlike all the local people). I recall walking by the lake to an excellent Italian restaurant one evening (my European colleagues wanted a change from Chinese food) but I also have an image of a taxi I was in being caught up in a swirl of bicycles in rush hour traffic and hardly moving for an hour.
On my more recent visits I have come to understand that Hangzhou is much more than the lake. As long ago as the seventh century AD it became the southern end of the Grand Canal leading all the way to Beijing, and a few days ago I watched laden barges ploughing their way along what must be one of the oldest artificial waterways in the world. Other side canals were later added and Marco Polo commented on the way the city resembled Venice. I have walked by these waterways at night, through beautiful linear parks, with bridges that invite those with time on their hands to linger and chat, leaning on the wooden balustrades that line the bridge parapets.
The Emperors of the Song dynasty made the city their capital between 1132 and 1276 when the dynasty fell, and during this period Hangzhou became one of the most cultured and civilised places in the world, during a period when Chinese creativity and inventiveness was at its peak. But unlike many Western cities, there are virtually no surviving relics of this period - wood was the predominant building material and fires were frequent: only some of the major pagodas on the city's edge date from that period.
So the old buildings actually only go back two or three hundred years. But they give character to several of the city's districts. Not far from the lake I have visited a traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy in the Wushan shopping area and nearby my companion and I have quenched our thirst with a drink made from stripped and pressed sugar cane and lime juice. On the way back we passed the Phoenix Mosque, one of the four great mosques of China and dating back over 1000 years (although several times rebuilt). Near the Grand Canal I have wandered along traffic-free lanes backing on to a small canal where the terraces of tiny cafés overlook the water, and where the main product in the shop on the bank opposite our café was its own home-made soy sauce. I have inspected the personal seals made to commission by a group of craftsmen who occupy an old property on one of the islands in the lake.
But Hangzhou also has its bustling modern face. Since I first visited in 2007, part of the lake promenade has been pedestrianised, with the road diving into tunnels that carry it under the water. There are immensely long new road tunnels running east-west to the north of the lake. Hangzhou has been awarded the 2022 Asian Games, and 11 new metro lines are simultaneously being constructed to add to the existing 2: and no doubt they will be finished on time. The new metro lines may assist with the one downside (to me) of the city - the fact that the station for China's high speed trains (HangzhouDong station) is so far out east from the city centre: trying to get there from Zhejiang University a few months ago road traffic congestion forced my companion and me to abandon the vehicle we were in and run for our train, despite the fact that an hour had been allowed for the journey to the station. Once the metro is completed there are also plans to ban the scooters that have replaced the bikes I remember from 2007. The 2016 G20 summit was held in Hangzhou, the first in China, in the International Expo Centre on the opposite side of the Qiantang River - a building that has echoes of the 'Birds Nest' stadium built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I do not know whether Hangzhou has been particularly favoured in recent years because Xi Jinping was formerly a party leader in Zhejiang province (a political appointment since he was actually born in Fu Ping in Shaanxi). But one thing he did was to insist on the development of a dense network of clean public toilets throughout Zhejiang's major city - I've never been anywhere that matches Hangzhou in the availability of such facilities.
One day we drove past the headquarters of Alibaba, one of the top ten companies in the world, founded in 1999 by Jack Ma in his apartment in Hangzhou. The city was in right at the start of the e-commerce boom and has remained so ever since.
But let me return to the lake. Any map of Hangzhou is distinctive in showing a missing segment in the urbanised area. The lake is just to the west of the city centre, and the opposite shore could easily have been built up to surround the water with housing and offices. But good sense has prevailed over the centuries - perhaps aided by the presence of a major Buddhist complex, the Lingyin Temple just beyond the western shore. So the view of West Lake from the city is not blotted by inappropriate constructions on the opposite bank. Given the vicissitudes of China's history over the last few centuries that is indeed a blessing. On a Saturday evening, after dark, my colleague and I set out from our lakeshore hotel to walk along one of the lake causeways. All the trees on the islands were illuminated (although only until 9.30), the moon was almost full and was reflected in the water, and the lights and sounds of the city were some way off. My 2007 guidebook was right - the West Lake is a jewel in the territory of Hangzhou, and one of China's greatest sights. But there is much more to Hangzhou than that.
I first visited Hangzhou in 2007 and I have just been back for my third visit. Each time I have become more fascinated with its history and geography. And I have realised how deficient my Western education has been about one of the great cities of the world - as about so much of the realities of China, past, present and future. Hangzhou's got a lot of each of those (although expressing them in Mandarin might be complicated in a language without verb tenses).
What do I remember of my 2007 visit? The guidebook I had bought beforehand put most of its emphasis for Hangzhou on the West Lake, describing it as one of the major sights of China. I was visiting Zhejiang University (where earlier this year I gave a lecture - at 10 a.m. on a Sunday morning!) and the hotel had a magnificent view over the lake. At night the pagodas around the lake were lit up - a magical sight. But when I went for a walk along one of the causeways that intersect the lake I was an object of interest - a rare Westerner (although it may also have been because in the high humidity my shirt showed that I was not used to the climatic conditions, unlike all the local people). I recall walking by the lake to an excellent Italian restaurant one evening (my European colleagues wanted a change from Chinese food) but I also have an image of a taxi I was in being caught up in a swirl of bicycles in rush hour traffic and hardly moving for an hour.
On my more recent visits I have come to understand that Hangzhou is much more than the lake. As long ago as the seventh century AD it became the southern end of the Grand Canal leading all the way to Beijing, and a few days ago I watched laden barges ploughing their way along what must be one of the oldest artificial waterways in the world. Other side canals were later added and Marco Polo commented on the way the city resembled Venice. I have walked by these waterways at night, through beautiful linear parks, with bridges that invite those with time on their hands to linger and chat, leaning on the wooden balustrades that line the bridge parapets.
People lingering to sit and talk on a canal bridge
The Emperors of the Song dynasty made the city their capital between 1132 and 1276 when the dynasty fell, and during this period Hangzhou became one of the most cultured and civilised places in the world, during a period when Chinese creativity and inventiveness was at its peak. But unlike many Western cities, there are virtually no surviving relics of this period - wood was the predominant building material and fires were frequent: only some of the major pagodas on the city's edge date from that period.
So the old buildings actually only go back two or three hundred years. But they give character to several of the city's districts. Not far from the lake I have visited a traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy in the Wushan shopping area and nearby my companion and I have quenched our thirst with a drink made from stripped and pressed sugar cane and lime juice. On the way back we passed the Phoenix Mosque, one of the four great mosques of China and dating back over 1000 years (although several times rebuilt). Near the Grand Canal I have wandered along traffic-free lanes backing on to a small canal where the terraces of tiny cafés overlook the water, and where the main product in the shop on the bank opposite our café was its own home-made soy sauce. I have inspected the personal seals made to commission by a group of craftsmen who occupy an old property on one of the islands in the lake.
Pharmacy for traditional medicine
Pedestrian lane near the Grand Canal
The International Expo Centre on the Qiantang River, site of the 2016 G20 summit
One day we drove past the headquarters of Alibaba, one of the top ten companies in the world, founded in 1999 by Jack Ma in his apartment in Hangzhou. The city was in right at the start of the e-commerce boom and has remained so ever since.
But let me return to the lake. Any map of Hangzhou is distinctive in showing a missing segment in the urbanised area. The lake is just to the west of the city centre, and the opposite shore could easily have been built up to surround the water with housing and offices. But good sense has prevailed over the centuries - perhaps aided by the presence of a major Buddhist complex, the Lingyin Temple just beyond the western shore. So the view of West Lake from the city is not blotted by inappropriate constructions on the opposite bank. Given the vicissitudes of China's history over the last few centuries that is indeed a blessing. On a Saturday evening, after dark, my colleague and I set out from our lakeshore hotel to walk along one of the lake causeways. All the trees on the islands were illuminated (although only until 9.30), the moon was almost full and was reflected in the water, and the lights and sounds of the city were some way off. My 2007 guidebook was right - the West Lake is a jewel in the territory of Hangzhou, and one of China's greatest sights. But there is much more to Hangzhou than that.
West Lake (XiHu) illuminated and moonlit
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