The Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone, approved as a state-level development zone in April 1993, has grown into a developed area of 18 kilometers.

Geographical Location

The Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone (HETDZ) is located in the eastern urban area of Hangzhou City, on the north bank in the lower reaches of the Qiantang River. The zone sits by the Qiantang River on its eastern and southern sides and on the southern flank of China's Yangtze River Delta near Shanghai. It has a 13.5-kilometer beach line and is 19 kilometers from the city center (the West Lake).

Communication and Transportation

The central axis of Zhejiang Province's expressway is built inside the zone, connected in the north to the Hang-Ning and Hu-Hang Expressways, and to the Hang-Jin-Qu and Hang-Yong Expressways in the south. Drivers can reach Shanghai, Ningbo and other major ports in 90-minutes by travelling along the axis. The distance to the Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport is 15 kilometers, and it takes within 10 kilometers to get to either the largest marshalling station in east China or the Hangzhou inner water navigation center.

Human Resources

Hangzhou boasts 33 institutions of higher learning, including the famous Zhejiang University, and has more than 30 key national laboratories and technological centers. Zhejiang Province has been building the Xiasha Higher Learning Garden in the HETDZ, the largest in the province of its kind. The higher learning project plans to take up an area of 10.91 square kilometers and accommodate 15 science and engineering schools, as well as comprehensive colleges and universities for 130 thousand students. So far the garden has established six institutions of higher learning with 34 thousand students.

Industrial Structure

The zone has five pillar industries: machinery and electronics, biology and pharmaceutical, high-tech chemistry, textiles and chemical fiber, and food processing.

Investment Priorities

The Zone is now focusing on building specialized parks at "Information Harbor" and "New Medicine Harbor". The industrial features will be "hi-tech orientation and multiple parks in one zone".

Key points:

Infrastructure: communications; energy; water supply

Main motor-vehicle parts and accessories

High-Tech: electronic information; integrated optical, mechanical and electronic devices; new medicines; new materials; biological engineering; environmental protection

Tertiary Industries: hotels; entertainments; modern logistics; hypermarket chains.