Hangzhou

 

   Walk with me back to the summer of 1992, if you would.

 
   Hangzhou--that sultry city famous for so many things, including the mystical phrase 'in Heaven there is paradise, on Earth, Hangzhou and Suzhou'--was clearly aiming to become God's gift to coal breathing, bilge swilling back country bastards in demented high speed pickups and paranoid Japanese eco-cidal tourists on rented bikes bent on documenting the Chinese inhumation of their lush rice fields and gently rolling tea hills under the worst of the Taiwan mafia funded, South East Asian bashing, capitalist running dog, late-late-fast-following, low rent, dixie cup, chemically treated slush fund backed psudo industrializing sweat shop economy in real time, up close... Four-Mississippi. Three-Mississippi. Two-Mississippi. One.      Phew.      Close out the first week.

 
   Week two. Independently we each did a little private wa bizi in the dim lit tiled cockroach cupboard that passed for a john and were amazed to strike our own personal wildcat vein of subbituminous coke. Hardly believing our luck we lit hundred yuan notes to the munificent kitchen gods and made plans to retire...

 

Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang province. Situated alongside both a great river and a great lake, this city is considered to be an important location in China's history of its "south". The lake is the famous West Lake, after which restaurants around the world have been named.

The region occupied by Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou is reknowned for its canal system, its beautiful architecture, and its history as a centre of Chinese culture and civilisation.

Hangzhou features two significant universities, including Zhejiang State University.

Hangzhou features the West Lake, as mentioned above. This lake is surrounded by features of interest such as temples. Small causeways span it, and islands are dotted around.

Hangzhou is famous for an alcoholic drink Gui Hua Jiu make from the flowers of the sweet osmanthus - a fragrant shrub which can be found in Hanghzou.