Qiantang River in the context of "Xiaoshan"

Hangzhou is the capital city of the Chinese province of Zhejiang. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counties, and one county-level city in northwestern Zhejiang. It is situated at the head of Hangzhou Bay and the estuary of the Qiantang River.

Established as a county seat in 221 BC, Hangzhou later served as the capital of the Wuyue Kingdom (923–997) and the Southern Song dynasty (1138–1276). The city has three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which are the West Lake Cultural Landscape, the Grand Canal, and the Archaeological Ruins of Liangzhu City.

The Grand Canal (Chinese: 大运河; pinyin: Dà yùnhé) is a system of interconnected canals linking various major rivers and lakes in North and East China, serving as an important waterborne transport infrastructure between the north and the south during Medieval and premodern China. It is the longest artificial waterway in the world and a World Heritage Site.

The Grand Canal has undergone several route changes throughout history. Its current main stem, known as the Jing–Hang Grand Canal, is thought to extend for 1,776 km (1,104 mi) linking Beijing in the north to Hangzhou in the south, and is divided into 6 main subsections, with the southernmost sections remaining relatively unchanged over time. The Jiangnan Canal starts from the Qiantang River at Hangzhou's Jianggan District, looping around the east side of Lake Tai through Jiaxing, Suzhou and Wuxi, to the Yangtze at Zhenjiang; the Inner Canal from Yangzhou across the Yangtze from Zhenjiang, going through the Gaoyou Lake to join the Huai River at Huai'an, which for centuries was also its junction with the former course of the Yellow River; the Middle Canal from Huai'an to Luoma Lake at Suqian, then to the Nansi Lakes at Weishan; the Lu Canal from the Nansi Lakes at Jining and into the present course of the Yellow River at Liangshan, splitting off downstream at Liaocheng's Dong'e County before continuing to the Wei at Linqing; the Southern Canal (named for its location within Hebei) from Linqing to the Hai River at Tianjin; and the Northern Canal from Tianjin to Tongzhou on the outskirts of Beijing. As such, it passes through the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, and the municipalities of Tianjin and Beijing. In 2014, the Chinese government and UNESCO recognized the Eastern Zhejiang Canal from Hangzhou to Ningbo along the former Tongji and Yongji Canals also as official components of the Grand Canal.

Hangzhou Bay is a funnel-shaped inlet of the East China Sea on the middle eastern coast of Mainland China, bordered by the province of Zhejiang to the west and south, and the municipality of Shanghai to north. The bay extends westwards to its head at the city of Hangzhou, the provincial capital of Zhejiang, from which its name is derived. The east and southeast margin of Hangzhou Bay are marked by numerous islands off the shores of Ningbo, collectively called the Zhoushan Islands, which are an urbanized archipelago that forms the prefecture-level city of Zhoushan.

At Hangzhou, the Qiantang River flows into the bay, providing fresh water from the west, while seawater comes in from the east. Thus, Hangzhou Bay, especially its western end, is sometimes called the Qiantang River Estuary in the scientific literature.

Shaoxing is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. Located on the south bank of the Qiantang River estuary, it borders Ningbo to the east, Taizhou to the southeast, Jinhua to the southwest, and Hangzhou to the west. As of the 2020 census, its population was 5,270,977 inhabitants among which, 2,958,643 (Keqiao, Yuecheng and Shangyu urban districts) lived in the built-up (or metro) area of Hangzhou–Shaoxing, with a total of 13,035,326 inhabitants.

Notable residents of Shaoxing include Wang Xizhi, the parents of Zhou Enlai, Lu Xun, and Cai Yuanpei. It is also noted for Shaoxing wine, meigan cai, and stinky tofu, and was featured on A Bite of China. Its local variety of Chinese opera sung in the local dialect and known as Yue opera is second in popularity only to Peking opera. In 2010, Shaoxing celebrated the 2,500th anniversary of the founding of the city.

Jianggan District was one of ten urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, East China. The district was located in the northeast of Hangzhou and on the northern (left) bank of the Qiantang River.

Hangzhou Jianqiao Airport is located in Jianqiao, Jianggan. Zhejiang Airlines once had its headquarters there.

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.

The terrain of this area of Zhejiang slopes down from mountains to the south to the coastal plain along Hangzhou Bay to the north. The oldest section of the present waterway was the Shanyin Canal constructed in Shaoxing by the Yue official Fan Li in the 5th century BC during the late Spring and Autumn period. Despite the need to create numerous locks and dams to allow boats to change levels at the various rivers crossed by the canal, the entire route was completed with the excavation of the Xixing Canal under the Jin official He Xun in the 3rd century AD.

The Qiantang River Bridge (Chinese: 钱塘江大桥) is a combined road and railway bridge across the Qiantang River at Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province, China.