Hangzhou Bay [lower-alpha 1] is a funnel-shaped inlet of the East China Sea, bordered by the province of Zhejiang and the municipality of Shanghai, which lies north of the Bay. The Bay extends from the East China Sea to its head at the city of Hangzhou, from which its name is derived.
At Hangzhou, the Qiantang River flows into this Bay, providing freshwater from the West while seawater comes in from the East. Thus, Hangzhou Bay, especially its western end, is sometimes called in the scientific literature as the Qiantang River Estuary. [1]
At the southeast end of Hangzhou Bay, off Ningbo, are many small islands that are collectively called the Zhoushan Islands. This archipelago of islands is urbanized with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in Zhejiang Province.
At less than 15 meters in depth, the entire Bay is relatively shallow. Consequently, the main port in the Bay area is the one in Ningbo and Zhoushan, at the southeast end of the Bay on the coast of East China Sea.
The Bay is known for hosting the world's largest tidal bore, up to 9 meters (30 feet) high, and traveling up to 40 km (25 mi) per hour. Yanguan Town Tide-Viewing Park (盐官镇观潮胜地公园 Yánguān Zhèn Guāncháo Shèngdì Gōngyuán), on the north shore of Hangzhou Bay some 50 km east of the city of Hangzhou, is regarded as one of the best place to watch the Qiantang River Tidal Bore, especially on the 18th day of the eighth lunar month. [1] [2]
The Bay was first spanned by the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, which was linked up on June 14, 2007, and opened on May 1, 2008. It is a long 35.7 km (22.2 mi) bridge carrying G15 expressway, three lanes each way, with two separate cable-stayed portions and a service center at the bridge midpoint. It runs across the mouth of Hangzhou Bay connecting the municipalities of Jiaxing and Ningbo in Zhejiang province. One of the longest bridges in the world, it cuts the trip between eastern Zhejiang and Shanghai from 400 to 80 kilometers (249 to 50 miles).
The second bridge crossing of the Bay is the Jiashao Bridge, located west of the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, and completed in 2013. It stretches 10.14 km (6.30 mi) across the Qiantang River estuary and carries the G15W expressway, four lanes each way, over six consecutive cable-stayed spans supported by six tall pylons. The Jiashao Bridge connects Shaoxing on the south shore of the Bay to a point on the north shore of the Bay due south of Jiaxing and provides a more direct route for vehicle traffic between Shaoxing and Shanghai.
Another bridge is planned which will carry the Nantong–Ningbo high-speed railway.
In 2018, the Zhejiang provincial government, following in Guangdong's footsteps, released ambitious plans for the Hangzhou Great Bay Area, aiming for a mega urban re-development schema that would double the economic output of the region by 2022 and develop a “world class” bay area in Zhejiang by 2035. The Great Bay Area, an economic and industrial belt centered around Hangzhou Bay, is home to about 40 million people and, as of 2017, accounts for 87 percent of the province's economic output. The challenge to Zhejiang's vision may be its interaction with Shanghai. [3]
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiangsu and Shanghai to the north, Anhui to the northwest, Jiangxi to the west and Fujian to the south. To the east is the East China Sea, beyond which lies the Ryukyu Islands. The population of Zhejiang stands at 64.6 million, the 8th largest in China. It has been called "the backbone of China" because it is a major driving force in the Chinese economy and being the birthplace of several notable people, including the Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and entrepreneur Jack Ma. Zhejiang consists of 90 counties.
Yuyao is a county-level city in the northeast of Zhejiang province, China. It is under the jurisdiction of the sub-provincial city of Ningbo.
Ningbo is a sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises six urban districts, two satellite county-level cities, and two rural counties, including several islands in Hangzhou Bay and the East China Sea. Ningbo is the southern economic center of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis. The port of Ningbo–Zhoushan, spread across several locations, is the world's busiest port by cargo tonnage and world's third-busiest container port since 2010.
Zhoushan is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of Hangzhou Bay, off the mainland city of Ningbo. The prefecture's city proper is Dinghai on Zhoushan Island, now administered as the prefecture's Dinghai District. During the 2020 census, Zhoushan Prefecture's population was 1,157,817, out of whom 882,932 lived in the built-up area made of two urban districts of Dinghai and Putuo.
Hangzhou Bay Bridge is a long 35.7 km (22.2 mi) highway bridge with two separate cable-stayed portions, built across the mouth of Hangzhou Bay in the eastern coastal region of China. It connects the municipalities of Jiaxing and Ningbo in Zhejiang province.
The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta is a triangle-shaped megalopolis generally comprising the Wu Chinese-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang and northern Jiangxi. The area lies in the heart of the Jiangnan region, where the Yangtze River drains into the East China Sea. Having fertile soil, the Yangtze Delta abundantly produces grain, cotton, hemp and tea. In 2021, the Yangtze Delta had a GDP of approximately US$4.3 trillion, about the same size as Japan.
is a county-level city in Zhejiang Province, China, and under the jurisdiction of Jiaxing. It is in the south side of Yangtze River Delta, and in the north of Zhejiang. It is 125 km (78 mi) to the southwest of central Shanghai, and 61.5 km (38.2 mi) east of Hangzhou, the provincial capital. To its south lies the Qiantang River. The city has a land area of 700.5 km2 (270.5 sq mi) and as of the 2020 census, had a population of 1,076,199 inhabitants. Haining is known for its leather industry and spectacular tide in the Qiantang River. Since June 2021, it's linked to Hangzhou by the new suburban Hangzhou - Haining subway Line.
Nanhu District is a district in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province of China. Its former name was Xiucheng District (秀城区), and it changed to current name on 17 May 2005. Total area is 425.83 km2 (164.41 sq mi), and total population is 450,000 in 2001. At the end of 2013, the number of households registered in Nanhu District
Xiasha is an industrial and educational center, located about 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) east of central Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province in the People's Republic of China. It is administered as a subdistrict of Hangzhou's Qiantang District.
Taihu Wu (吳語太湖片) or Northern Wu (北部吳語) is a Wu Chinese language spoken in much of the southern part of the province of Jiangsu, including Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, the southern part of Nantong, Jingjiang and Danyang; the municipality of Shanghai; and the northern part of Zhejiang province, including Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Ningbo, Huzhou, and Jiaxing. A notable exception is the dialect of the town of Jinxiang, which is a linguistic exclave of Taihu Wu in Zhenan Min-speaking Cangnan county of Wenzhou prefecture in Zhejiang province. Speakers in regions around Taihu Lake and Hangzhou Bay, are the largest population among all Wu speakers. Taihu Wu dialects such as Shanghainese, Shaoxing and Ningbo are mutually intelligible even for L2 Taihu speakers.
The Shanghai–Luchaogang Expressway, commonly referred to as the Hulu Expressway and designated S2, is a 42.31-kilometre-long expressway (26.29 mi) in the city of Shanghai, China. The entire route runs within Pudong New Area in the city of Shanghai, and was originally designated A2.
Zhapu, alternately romanized as Chapoo or Chapu, is a town under the administration of Pinghu, in the north of Zhejiang Province, China. It is located along the northern shore of Hangzhou Bay in the southeastern part of Pinghu and borders Haiyan County to its south and southeast. The town covers an area of 54.4 square kilometers and has a population of 54,000.
The Xiaoshan–Ningbo railway or Xiaoyong railway, is a double-track railroad in eastern China between Hangzhou and Ningbo in Zhejiang Province. Its name in Chinese, the Xiaoyong Line, is named after the railway's two terminal stations, Hangzhou South in Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou on the southern bank of Qiantang River, and Ningbo, whose Chinese character abbreviation is yong. The line is 147.3 km (92 mi) long and was originally built in three parts in 1912, 1914 and 1936; rebuilt in 1959, then electrified in 2009. Cities along route include Xiaoshan District of Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Shangyu, Yuyao and Ningbo, all in Zhejiang Province. The Hangzhou–Ningbo high-speed railway runs parallel to the line. The section between Ningbo and Zhuangqiao railway station is proposed to be quadruple-tracked.
The Shenyang–Haikou Expressway, designated as G15 and commonly referred to as the Shenhai Expressway is an expressway in China that connects the cities of Shenyang, Liaoning, and Haikou, Hainan. When fully complete, it will be 3,710 km (2,310 mi) in length. One of its oldest portions is the Shenyang–Dalian Expressway, or Shenda Expressway is a 400 km (250 mi) expressway that connects Shenyang and Dalian, the two largest cities of China's Liaoning province.
The Changshu–Taizhou Expressway, designated as G1522 and commonly referred to as the Changtai Expressway, is an expressway that connects the cities of Changshu, a satellite city of Suzhou, in the province of Jiangsu, China, and Taizhou, in the province of Zhejiang. When fully complete, it will be 339 km (211 mi) in length. The expressway is a spur of the G15 Shenyang–Haikou Expressway. The spur line splits off from the main expressway at Changshu and passes through the cities of Suzhou, Jiaxing, and Shaoxing before rejoining the main expressway just north of Taizhou, Zhejiang.
The Hangzhou Bay Ring Expressway, officially the Hangzhou Bay Region Ring Expressway and designated G92, is an expressway in China that connects the city of Shanghai to the cities of Hangzhou and Ningbo in the neighbouring province of Zhejiang. Part of its route traverses the Hangzhou Bay Bridge. It is 427 km (265 mi) in length.
The Jiaxing-Shaoxing Sea Bridge, sometimes shortened to Jiashao Bridge, is the world's longest and widest multi-pylon cable-stayed bridge. From end to end, it stretches 10.14 km (6.3 mi) across the Qiantang River estuary, at Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China. The main bridge is 2,680 m (8,790 ft) long and 55.6 m (182 ft) wide and carries an expressway with eight traffic lanes. Construction started December 2008, and the toll bridge opened for traffic on July 20, 2013.
The Port of Jiaxing is a natural estuary deep-water international seaport on the Hangzhou Bay coast of Jiaxing, Zhejiang, China.
The Qiantang River, formerly known as the Hangchow River or Tsientang River, is a river in East China. An important commercial artery, it runs for 459 kilometers (285 mi) through Zhejiang, passing through the provincial capital Hangzhou before flowing into the East China Sea via Hangzhou Bay south of Shanghai. Its original name, the "Zhe River" or "Zhe Jiang", is the origin of the name of Zhejiang province. The river is also known, along with Hangzhou Bay, for having what is called by locals as the "Silver Dragon", the world's largest tidal bore, a phenomenon where the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave that can rise to a height of 9 meters (30 ft) and travels up the river or narrow bay at top speeds of 40 km/h against the direction of the river or bay's current, and can be seen from miles away.
The Eastern Zhejiang or Zhedong Canal, also known as the Hangzhou–Ningbo or Hangyong Canal, is a major canal connecting Hangzhou, Shaoxing, and Ningbo in northern Zhejiang, China. It runs 239 kilometres (149 mi), connecting the Qiantang, Cao'e, and Yong watersheds with Hangzhou's terminus for the Grand Canal and Ningbo's ports on the East China Sea. Since 2013, it has been officially considered the southernmost section of the Grand Canal itself.
30°17′07″N120°55′26″E / 30.2852°N 120.924°E