【城市印象】之——吴越之地 · 浙江City Impressions: Zhejiang, Land of Wu and Yue

Southeast splendor, the metropolis of the Three Wu; Qiantang has flourished since ancient times. Misty willows and painted bridges, wind-stirred curtains and kingfisher screens, some hundred thousand households scattered along the way. A cloud of trees rings the sandy embankment; angry breakers churn up frost and snow; the natural moat stretches on without end. The markets are laid out with pearls and jade, the houses brim with silk and gauze, all vying in extravagance. Twin lakes and layered peaks, pure and lovely. Osmanthus in the third month of autumn, lotus for ten miles around. Qiang flutes toy with the clear day, songs of the water chestnut drift through the night, and the old anglers and lotus girls laugh at their ease. A thousand horsemen escort the lofty banners. Drunk, he listens to the flutes and drums, and chants his praise of the mist and glow. One day he'll paint this fine scene, then go home and boast of it by the phoenix pool. —— on Hangzhou

Zhejiang: the brocade heart of Jiangnan, a land of fish and rice. Home to Zhe cuisine, one of China's eight great culinary traditions.

Politics

In terms of political standing, Zhejiang actually ranks below its neighbor Jiangsu.

Hangzhou is one of China's 15 sub-provincial cities, with independent authority over economic affairs and legislation; its finances tie directly into the central government's, with no obligation to report to the provincial treasury, giving it a high degree of fiscal autonomy.

Ningbo is one of the 5 cities with independent planning status, but it ranks below Hangzhou politically — never mind Nanjing.

Nearby Nanjing is a former separately-planned city and a sub-provincial city (after 1994, provincial capitals lost their separately-planned status, and Nanjing became a sub-provincial city). In fact, from the founding of the Republic of China right up until 1949, Nanjing was the nation's political center — its importance goes without saying. It was also the seat of the former Nanjing Military Region.

Economy

Of the six economic heavyweight provinces I mentioned in the last piece — Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong, Zhejiang, Liaoning, Fujian — Zhejiang ranks fourth. But as I also noted: if you look at household wealth or GDP per capita instead, Zhejiang stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Zhejiang's real strength is that the province is strong and its people are rich — and, crucially, even the countryside is well-off, with a small urban-rural gap. Its county-level economy is remarkable: luxury cars are everywhere in the county-level cities, plenty of counties have several five-star hotels, and some even have global luxury chains like Hilton.

Zhejiang's balance also shows up in the fact that every county has its own traditional specialty: woodcarving in Dongyang, small commodities in Yiwu (world-famous), stone carving in Qingtian, leather in Haining (also a global player), mold-making and electronics trading in Cixi, pearls and auto parts in Zhuji, swords in Longquan, and on and on.

In 2015, Zhejiang's GDP was 4.28865 trillion yuan, and GDP per capita for the province was 77,862.20 yuan, above the national average. Among the prefecture-level cities, Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Wenzhou led in total GDP, at 1.005358 trillion, 801.15 billion, and 461.984 billion yuan respectively; by GDP per capita, every prefecture-level city in Zhejiang beat the national average. Hangzhou, Ningbo, and Zhoushan took the top three spots, with Hangzhou at 113,063.20 yuan per capita (roughly $18,152.85), Ningbo at $16,467.61, and Zhoushan at $15,336.77. Wenzhou came in lowest, at $8,179.73.

(Figure in original: a comparison table of GDP and rankings for Jiangsu's prefecture-level cities.)

From what I've picked up chatting with classmates and friends over the years: among Chinese students studying abroad, my peers came from all over — the sub-provincial cities of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the prefecture-level cities, the county-level cities, the county seats, and even the towns and townships of southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang. But apart from those with roots in Jiangsu-Zhejiang or the Pearl River Delta, nearly every other student abroad came from a municipality directly under the central government, a provincial capital, or a coastal separately-planned city.

Even Suqian, the lowest-GDP city in Jiangsu, still out-earns Lanzhou. The highest is Suzhou — the city ranked just above it is the municipality of Chongqing (population 30 million, three times Suzhou's), and just below it is Wuhan, the capital of Hubei.

Culture

When a province is strong and its people are rich, a general sense of happiness and contentment follows naturally. Add to that the fact that Zhejiang has one of the most developed private economies in the country, a merchant ethos handed down over generations, and a culture, cuisine, and dialect that trace an unbroken line back to the old Jiangzhe province or the Jiangnan East Circuit — and you get an extraordinarily strong sense of in-province identity.

Alibaba, Yintai, Wanxiang, Hengdian, the "Four Tong and One Da" couriers — these are all standard-bearers of Zhejiang's private economy.

Some people say Zhejiang isn't insular toward outsiders. I don't really agree. Zhejiang girls basically don't marry out of the Wu-dialect region, and the young men basically don't marry girls from elsewhere. In Wenzhou, a fair number of families flatly refuse to marry off a daughter to anyone but a Wenzhou native.

Urban Development

First, some praise for Hangzhou — the only place in the whole country where cars will actively yield to pedestrians. I had cars stop for me many times in Hangzhou; the last time, a car and I "stared each other down" for over 30 seconds with neither of us moving. Not one car honked; the driver just waved me on, friendly as could be. For someone used to the "Wild West roads" of the north, it left me stunned.

I've always privately ranked Hangzhou as China's fifth city, right behind the four first-tier cities, with Chengdu sixth.

Housing prices: Hangzhou's are on the high side. First, Zhejiang has been prosperous since ancient times, and today's Zhejiang combines a strong province with rich people and powerful consumer spending — it stands alone in this. When people have money and there's a lot of hot cash sloshing around privately, real estate is the obvious choice, and Hangzhou is naturally one of the top places to invest. Across Zhejiang — from Ningbo to Wenzhou, Yiwu, Shaoxing, even Quzhou — there's hardly a business owner or merchant who hasn't bought property in Hangzhou. Owning a couple of big apartments or a villa in Hangzhou is practically standard-issue for a Zhejiang businessman (and I'm not exaggerating).

The second reason is that Hangzhou's usable urban area is small — partly a function of the city's height restrictions, which ban tall buildings in the center. A small usable area means tight land supply, and when supply and demand don't match, prices naturally rise. By "urban area" here I don't mean everything inside the ring expressway, but the true old city of Hangzhou. By one unverified account, Hangzhou's urban area is the second-smallest among all of China's provincial capitals, larger only than Lhasa — small enough that you could cross the city on a bicycle.

Another reason, I think, is that Hangzhou is simply comfortable, with a pleasant environment that makes it very livable. I've been to plenty of provinces and cities, and in my memory the genuinely comfortable ones are rare — Hangzhou is one of them.

Traffic: take Hangzhou as an example. It's one of the country's notorious traffic-jam cities, up there with the worst. Hangzhou has a permanent population of 8.84 million and 2.598 million motor vehicles — the highest car ownership per capita in the country, with private cars as the absolute mainstay. Figuring 3.5 people per household, that averages out to a car in nearly every home. There are 8,213 buses and 8,496 taxis; the unlicensed cabs (not counting the three-wheelers) are negligible.

This really stems from the fact that the whole Yangtze River Delta is China's most developed region, and car penetration across the entire Delta is extremely high. As a provincial capital and a famous tourist city, Hangzhou naturally sees a huge influx of out-of-town cars every day. Meanwhile, the subway — which could relieve traffic pressure the most — currently amounts to about "two and a half" lines in Hangzhou. Middle of the road.

For comparison, Beijing has a permanent population of 21.15 million, 5.3 million motor vehicles, 25,000 buses, 66,000 taxis, and over 100,000 unlicensed cabs. Lots of people, lots of cars — but with nearly 20 subway lines, as a former "Beijing drifter," my first choice for getting around was always the subway. Put side by side, the reason Hangzhou jams up is plain to see.

Finally, welcome to Hangzhou. In the main city, you can head out with nothing but your phone — no cash, no cards. The density and acceptance of Alipay is such that even the trash cans can't keep up. Thanks, "Daddy Jack Ma."

(Figure in original.)

Customs

The terrain is "seven parts mountain, two parts water, one part field" — very little arable land. It's mostly hills; from Jiaxing and Huzhou heading south and west it's all hills and forest, and anyone who's been to Hangzhou will get it: the cities are built into the folds of the hills. Only the Ning-Shao Plain is genuinely suited to farming, and even that is prone to typhoons and floods because of its dense waterways and proximity to the coast. I'm a firm believer in geographic determinism. Since life is already this hard, you might as well pack some dried fish, make the whole world your home, and go do business. No resources, no land, no foreign capital — that Zhejiang has come as far as it has is inseparable from the Zhejiang people's capacity for hard work and their sheer tenacity. Give them a lever and they just might pry the whole earth loose for you. They play it wild, and they don't play by the book.

Getting things done in Hangzhou, in the overwhelming majority of cases, doesn't require pulling strings — you just look up the procedure online and go handle it yourself. Civil servants have great attitudes and work efficiently, and they'll patiently walk you through it; the vast majority of administrative matters can be resolved quickly and by-the-book at the citizen service center.

Hangzhou has extremely convenient free bicycles and dirt-cheap electric micro-car rentals.

Most people in Hangzhou — most people in Zhejiang, really — aren't especially warm or hospitable, but they're very reasonable and have a strong sense of keeping their word.

With a single Hangzhou citizen card, you can borrow 20 books free from any library in the city, big or small; the libraries all share information. Hangzhou's libraries welcome everyone to come borrow and rest. For a while there were complaints that too many homeless people were coming into the provincial library to rest, with people demanding the library stop it — but the library insisted on staying open to all. I love that about the place.

Hangzhou's competitive atmosphere is relatively fairer, with the least severe official-rank culture and a pretty strong sense of keeping one's word.

A big convenience for tourists: most scenic spots are free! And these are 4A-rated or higher. Things are mostly affordable, restaurants at the scenic spots are reasonably priced, the infrastructure is solid, there are well-designed, clean public restrooms everywhere, and life is comfortable (which is exactly why I love Hangzhou).

In a sentence: Zhejiang is a place where the province is strong and the people are rich, full of a keep-your-word ethos, hardworking, and not especially insular. Hangzhou is relatively fair, livable, well-suited both to building a career and to spending your later years.