Nestling in the northern part of Zhejiang province, Huzhou city is a time-honored Chinese city. The 2,300-year-old water-land city named after Taihu Lake boasts a history of unimaginable antiquity, with human activity stretching back one million years.

Covering an area of 5,820 square kilometers, Huzhou municipality has jurisdiction over two districts – Wuxing and Nanxun and three counties – Deqing, Changxing and Anji, and has a permanent population of 3.367 million.

This map shows the location and layout of Huzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Huzhou is an important part of urban integration in the Shanghai metropolitan area and Hangzhou city circle. Huzhou, together with Nanjing, Hangzhou, Nantong and Ningbo, is one of the five main planned directions for development according to Shanghai Program 2035. The Shanghai-Huzhou roadway is one of the seven comprehensive transportation lines to be upgraded by Shanghai. It will then provide new opportunities for Huzhou to implement "catch-up and surpass" growth.

It has been honored in the past few years with a swag of titles including National Environmental Protection Exemplary City, National Health City and National Landscape Garden City. It has enjoyed a well-earned reputation as the national pilot demonstration zone for ecological civilization, first of its kind as a prefecture-level city.