Portrait of Hangzhou
The city of Hangzhou is situated in the north of the province of Zhejiang, one of the smallest but wealthiest provinces of China. Hangzhou has approximately nine million inhabitants and is the base of big companies such as Alibaba, of scientific institutions, technology parks, educational institutions and universities. In addition, because of its cultural diversity, the city is a touristic highlight attracting several million visitors every year.
The city has an enormous economic power, particularly in the high tech areas of biomedicine, informatics and new digital media. Therefore, there is a tremendous synergy potential for German-Chinese cooperations and for the establishment of research-intensive and innovative companies when developing the Patton Barracks conversion area into Heidelberg Innovation Park (HIP). This is an important opportunity not only from an economic point of view but also with regard to an intensified exchange of know-how and the promotion of intercultural understanding.
Facts and figures
| Twinned with Heidelberg | 1. | since 2018 |
| Location | 2. | Hangzhou is located roughly 190 km south-southwest of Shanghai and belongs to the East China region. The city is the capital of the Chinese province of Zhejiang and the center of the Hangzhou metropolitan region. |
| Population | 3. | approx. 8 million (last updated: 2008) |
| Time difference | 4. | CET plus 6 hours |
| Currency | 5. | Renminbi yuan |
| Official language | 6. | Chinese (Mandarin) |
| University/ students | 7. | In Hangzhou there are 36 colleges and universities in total, with 409,600 students. The city’s Zhejiang University is one of the best universities in the country. It is twinned with numerous universities in Germany – including the University of Heidelberg. The Chinese University of the Arts, with 7,000 students, is the largest of its kind in China and is also one of the best in the country. |
| Key industries | 8. | Information technology, biomedicine, energy, financial services |
| Sister cities | 9. | In addition to Heidelberg there are thirteen more sister cities: Sayama, Fukui und Gifu (Japan); Boston (USA); Baguio City (Philippines); Leeds (UK); Yeosu (South Korea); Nizza (France); Paramaribo (Suriname); Budapest (Hungary); Beit Shemesh (Israel); Cape Town (South Africa); Dresden (Germany) |
