Hangzhou, city and capital of Zhejiangsheng (province), China. The city is located in the northern part of the province on the north bank of the Qiantang River estuary at the head of Hangzhou Bay. It has water communications with the interior of Zhejiang to the south, is the southern terminus of the Grand Canal, and is linked to the network of canals and waterways that cover the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) delta area to the north. The city stands at the eastern foot of a scenic range of hills, the Tianmu (“Eye of Heaven”) Mountains, and on the shore of the famous Xi (West) Lake, celebrated in poetry and paintings for its beauty and a favourite imperial retreat. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 2,059,774; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 3,007,000.

The county of Qiantang was first established at this site under the Qin dynasty (221–207 bce) but did not start developing until the 4th and 5th centuries ce, when the Yangtze River delta area began to be settled. A prefecture named Hangzhou was created there in 589, during the Sui dynasty (581–618), which is the source of the city’s name. It became a major local centre with the completion of the Jiangnan Canal (then the southern section of the Grand Canal) in 609. During the Ten Kingdoms (Shiguo) period (907–960), Hangzhou was the capital of the state of Wu-Yue. In the later (960–1279), northern China fell to the Jin (Juchen) dynasty (1115–1234); from 1127 the Song rulers were confined to southern China, and they made Hangzhou (then known as Lin’an) their capital. A centre of commerce, it was visited in the late 13th century by the Venetian traveler Marco Polo, who called it Kinsai, or Quinsay; it then had an estimated population of 1–1.5 million.

Subsequently, although no longer a major port, it remained a commercial centre for domestic trade and was opened to foreign trade in 1896. Its commercial role was later augmented by the construction of a railway to Shanghai (1909), of another to Ningbo (1914), and of a main line to Jiangxi and Hunan provinces in 1936–38. Since the construction of railways in Fujian province in the 1950s, Hangzhou has become the focus of rail traffic from the southeastern provinces to Shanghai. It was also the focus of the earliest network of modern motor roads, constructed in the 1930s. Hangzhou was held by the Japanese from 1937 to 1945.