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125-417: Eastward spread of Western learning Lu Xun ( Chinese : 鲁迅 ; 25 September 1881 – 19 October 1936), born Zhou Zhangshou , was a Chinese writer, literary critic, lecturer, and state servant. He was a leading figure of modern Chinese literature . Writing in vernacular and Literary Chinese , he was a short story writer, editor, translator, literary critic, essayist, poet, and designer. In

250-707: A UNESCO World Heritage Site west of the city, is among its best-known attractions. In 2023, it became the third Chinese city to host the Asian Games , after Beijing 1990 and Guangzhou 2010 . It was also the second Chinese city to host the Asian Para Games after the Guangzhou 2010 . Hangzhou also hosted the 11th G20 summit in 2016. The celebrated neolithic culture of Hemudu is known to have inhabited Yuyao , 100 km (62 mi) south-east of Hangzhou, as far back as seven thousand years ago. It

375-793: A 2.8 km (1.7 mi) long causeway across West Lake made of mud dredged from the lake bottom. The lake is surrounded by hills on the northern and western sides. The Baochu Pagoda sits on the Baoshi Hill to the north of the lake. Hangzhou was chosen as the new capital of the Southern Song dynasty in 1132, when most of northern China had been conquered by the Jurchens in the Jin–Song wars . The surviving imperial family had retreated south from its original capital in Kaifeng after it

500-611: A GDP of $ 452 billion (the 26th biggest in the World) and Nigeria with a GDP of $ 448 billion (the largest in Africa). A study conducted by PwC and China Development Research Foundation saw Hangzhou ranked first among "Chinese Cities of Opportunity". Hangzhou is also considered a World City with a "Beta+" classification according to GaWC . Hangzhou ranked 89 in the Global Financial Centres Index in 2018. It

625-549: A corresponding population increase and the city developed well outside its 9th-century ramparts. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica , Hangzhou had a population of over 2 million at that time, while historian Jacques Gernet has estimated that the population of Hangzhou numbered well over one million by 1276. (Official Chinese census figures from the year 1270 listed some 186,330 families in residence and probably failed to count non-residents and soldiers.) It

750-474: A fool if you don't." Regarding his son, he wrote: "On no account let him become a good-for-nothing writer or artist." Eastward spread of Western learning The term " Western learning " ( simplified Chinese : 西学 ; traditional Chinese : 西學 ) was coined by the Jesuit missionaries to China , who used the phrase in their book titles, such as Julius Aleni ’s Summary of Western Learning , to refer to

875-403: A great number of younger writers such as Mao Dun . At first Lu was skeptical that his writing could serve any social purpose. He told Qian: "Imagine an iron house without windows, absolutely indestructible, with many people fast asleep inside who will soon die of suffocation. But you know since they will die in their sleep, they will not feel the pain of death. Now if you cry aloud to wake a few of

1000-496: A novel about the communist revolution set in rural China, but he declined, citing his lack of background and understanding of the subject. Lu was a heavy smoker, which may have contributed to the deterioration of his health throughout his last year. By 1936 he had developed chronic tuberculosis, and in March of that year he was stricken with bronchial asthma and a fever. The treatment for this involved draining 300 grams of fluid in

1125-406: A population of 3,780,000 and the suburban districts occupy 7,586.04 km (2,928.99 sq mi) and have a population of 4,461,000. The West Lake Scenic Area holds the country-level administrative power, though not formally a county or district. In the early 90s, the urban districts of Hangzhou only comprised Shangcheng, Xiacheng, Gongshu, Jianggan. On December 11, 1996, Binjiang District

1250-462: A rumor that he had married a Japanese girl and had a child with her, and feigned illness as a pretext to ask Lu to return home, where she would then force him to take part in an arranged marriage she had agreed to several years before. The girl, Zhu An, had little in common with Lu, was illiterate, and had been subject to foot binding . Lu Xun married her, but they never had a romantic relationship. Despite that fact, Lu took care of her material needs for

1375-490: A separate house. Neither Lu nor Zuoren ever publicly explained the reason for their disagreement, but Zuoren's wife later accused Lu of making sexual advances towards her. Some writers have speculated that their relationship may have worsened as a result of issues related to money, that Lu walked in on Zuoren's wife bathing, or that Lu had an inappropriate "relationship" with Zuoren's wife in Japan that Zuoren later discovered. After

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1500-675: A tuition-free military school in Nanjing . As a consequence of Lu's decision to attend a military school specializing in Western education , his mother wept, he was instructed to change his name to avoid disgracing his family, and some of his relatives began to look down on him. Lu attended the Jiangnan Naval Academy for half a year, and left after it became clear that he would be assigned to work in an engine room , below deck, which he considered degrading. He later wrote that he

1625-568: A work which, because traditional scholars had not valued fiction, had little precedent in China. After Yuan Shikai declared himself the Emperor of China in 1915, Lu was briefly forced to participate in rituals honoring Confucius, which he ridiculed in his diaries. In 1917, an old friend of Lu's, Qian Xuantong, invited Lu to write for New Youth , a radical populist literary magazine that had recently been founded by Chen Duxiu , which also inspired

1750-836: Is affected by the plum rains of the Asian monsoon in June. In late summer (August to September), Hangzhou suffers typhoon storms, but typhoons seldom strike it directly. Generally they make landfall along the southern coast of Zhejiang, and affect the area with strong winds and stormy rains. Extremes since 1951 have ranged from −9.6 °C (15 °F) on 6 February 1969 up to 41.9 °C (107 °F) on 3 August 2024; unofficial readings have reached −10.5 °C (13 °F), set on 29 December 1912 and 24 January 1916, up to 42.1 °C (108 °F), set on 10 August 1930. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 30% in March to 51% in August,

1875-1009: Is also the Jingci Temple , the Baochu Pagoda , and the Leifeng Pagoda .The Qiantang River is the largest river in Zhejiang Province, China. Every year during August 15 to August 18 of the lunar month in China, the Qiantang Tide occurs. It is called "the Biggest Tide in the World". The world's largest tidal bore races up the Qiantang River through Hangzhou reaching up to 12 m (39 ft) in height. Other religious sites in Hangzhou include

2000-401: Is believed that Hangzhou was the largest city in the world from 1180 to 1315 and from 1348 to 1358. Because of the large population and densely crowded (often multi-story) wooden buildings, Hangzhou was particularly vulnerable to fires. Major conflagrations destroyed large sections of the city in 1208, 1229, 1237, and 1275. The 1237 fire alone destroyed 30,000 dwellings. However, the worst was

2125-617: Is classified as a sub-provincial city and forms the core of the Hangzhou metropolitan area, the fourth-largest in China. It is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang Province in East China . Hangzhou comprises 10 districts , 1 county-level city , and 2 counties . The ten urban districts occupy 8,292.31 km (3,201.68 sq mi) and have a population of 8,241,000, in which there are six central urban districts and four suburban districts. The central urban districts occupy 706.27 km (272.69 sq mi) and have

2250-512: Is composed of three parts, with the main regions being the Zhijiang Sci-Tech Industrial Park and Xiasha Sci-Tech Industrial Park. HHTZ has become one of the most influential high-tech innovation and high-tech industry bases in Zhejiang Province. As of 2013 , HHTZ hosts more than 1,100 software developers and BPO enterprises. Major companies such as Motorola , Nokia and Siemens have established R&D centers in

2375-674: Is home to many types of birds. It holds a temple and several historic rural houses. The Qiandao Lake is a man-made lake with the largest number of islands in Chun'an County , under administration of the Hangzhou prefecture-level city . These islands are different in size and shape, and have distinctive scene. The Hangzhou Botanical Garden and the Hangzhou Zoo are located in the Xihu District . The native residents of Hangzhou, including those of Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu , speak

2500-741: Is located in the Xiacheng District and houses several famous buildings in the city, including the Zhejiang Natural History Museum , Zhejiang Museum of Science and Technology, and the Zhejiang Global Center, one of the tallest buildings in the city center at about 160 m (520 ft). The Xixi National Wetland Park was established with the aim of preserving the wetland ecological system, it covers an area of about 10 km (4 sq mi). Fish ponds and reed beds have been restored and it

2625-531: Is located near the West Lake . Lingyin Temple (Soul's Retreat), located about 2 km (1.2 mi) west of West Lake, is believed to be the oldest Buddhist temple in the city, which has gone through numerous destruction and reconstruction cycles. Yue Fei Temple , on the northwest shore of West Lake, was originally constructed in 1221 in memory of General Yue Fei , who died due to political persecution. There

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2750-478: Is widely known in China as a metaphor for the traditional Chinese cultural values and norms that Lu opposed. After the publication of "Diary of a Madman", the story was praised for its anti-traditionalism, its synthesis of Chinese and foreign conventions and ideas, and its skillful narration, and Lu became recognized as one of the leading writers of the New Culture Movement . Lu continued writing for

2875-543: The Hangzhou dialect , a Wu dialect unique to the area. Hangzhou's dialect differs from those of regions in southern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu . As the official language defined by China's central government, Mandarin is the dominant spoken language, though it is mutually unintelligible with the Hangzhou dialect. The Hangzhou dialect has an estimated total of 1.2 to 1.5 million speakers. There are several museums located in Hangzhou including China National Silk Museum ,

3000-709: The Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party (CCP). After the Shanghai massacre in April 1927, he attempted to secure the release of several students through the university, but failed. His failure to save his students led him to resign from his position at the university, and he left for the Shanghai International Settlement in September 1927. By the time he left Guangzhou, he was one of

3125-567: The Liuhe Pagoda , located on Yuelun Hill on the north bank of Qiantang River and the Hupao Temple ( 虎跑寺 ). In 2019, Hangzhou established a pilot program artificial intelligence-based Internet Court to adjudicate disputes related to ecommerce and internet-related intellectual property claims. Parties appear before the court via videoconference and AI evaluates the evidence presented and applies relevant legal standards. Hangzhou

3250-656: The Ming dynasty . There was persecution of Christians in the early 21st century in the city. There are many temples near the West Lake. Lingyin Temple was founded in the first year of Xianhe in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 326). It has a history of about 1,700 years and is the earliest famous temple in Hangzhou. Yuefei Temple , a temple constructed during the Song Dynasty in 1221 to commemorate Yue Fei ,

3375-622: The Mongol siege of Kaifeng , while sparing the city of Hangzhou including the Chinese Zhao royal family of the Southern Song . The Mongols rehired Southern Song government officials and had Han Chinese artisans in Shangdu marry the palace women. The capital of the new Yuan dynasty was established in the city of Dadu ( Beijing ), but Hangzhou remained an important commercial and administrative center for their southern territory. Yuan China

3500-576: The Tongmenghui . He experienced anti-Chinese racism , but was simultaneously disgusted with the behaviour of some Chinese who were living in Japan. His earliest surviving essays, written in Literary Chinese , were published while he was attending this school, and he published his first Chinese translations of famous and influential foreign novels, including Jules Verne 's From the Earth to

3625-740: The Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty and was followed by the founding of the Republic of China , Lu gained a position at the national Ministry of Education. He was hired in Nanjing, but then moved with the ministry to Beijing, where he lived from 1912 to 1926. At first, his work consisted almost completely of copying books, but he was later appointed Section Head of the Social Education Division, and eventually to

3750-607: The Yuan Mongol administrator of the city, who according to Ibn Battuta, was fond of the skills of local Chinese conjurers . The city remained an important port until the middle of the Ming dynasty era, when its harbor slowly silted up. Under the Qing , it was the site of an imperial army garrison. In 1856 and 1860, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom occupied Hangzhou. The city was heavily damaged during its conquest, occupation, and eventual reconquest by

3875-611: The eleventh G20 summit in 2016. In February 2020, the city was under curfew measures due to the outbreak of coronavirus beginning in Wuhan that spread across China . Hangzhou is located in northwestern Zhejiang province, at the southern end of the Grand Canal of China , which runs to Beijing , in the south-central portion of the Yangtze River Delta . Its administrative area (sub-provincial city) extends west to

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4000-502: The "1" referring to the digital economy and the "6" referring to cultural/creative economy, finance, tourism, fashion manufacturing, and high-end equipment manufacturing. As of at least 2023, Hangzhou's economic growth has been led by the digital sector and the creative/cultural sectors. In March 2013 the Hangzhou Tourism Commission started an online campaign via Facebook, the 'Modern Marco Polo' campaign. Over

4125-442: The 1208 fire which burned for 4 days in a 3-mile diameter and burnt 58,097 houses as well as killing 59 people. To combat this threat, the city constructed storage buildings that were rented out to merchants where watchmen patrolled by night and was enclosed by water on all sides. Besides this, the government established an elaborate system for fighting fires, erected watchtowers, devised a system of lantern and flag signals to identify

4250-579: The 1840s forced China to open up to the world, which led to the second wave of the eastward spread of Western learning. The failures of two Opium Wars stimulated the Chinese government to absorb Western learning. During the process, the Chinese gradually reduced their resistance the Western learning and gradually adopted the Western learning, with the principle of " Chinese Learning as Substance, Western Learning for Application ." Under this principle, more focus

4375-719: The 1930s, he became the titular head of the League of Left-Wing Writers in Shanghai during republican-era China (1912–1949). Lu Xun was born into a family of landlords and government officials in Shaoxing , Zhejiang; the family's financial resources declined over the course of his youth. Lu aspired to take the imperial examinations , but due to his family's relative poverty he was forced to attend government-funded schools teaching " foreign education ". Upon graduation, Lu studied medicine at Tohoku University in Japan, but later dropped out. He became interested in studying literature but

4500-534: The 1930s, including Lin Yutang 's humor magazine The Analects Fortnightly , and corresponded with writers in Japan as well as China. Although he had renounced writing fiction years before, in 1934 he published his last collection of short stories, Old Tales Retold . In 1935, he sent a telegram to CCP forces in Shaanxi congratulating them on the recent completion of their Long March . The CCP requested that he write

4625-418: The 19th city in the world with the most skyscrapers as well as the 9th in China. One of Hangzhou's most popular sights is West Lake , a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The West Lake Cultural Landscape covers an area of 3,323 ha (8,210 acres) and includes some of Hangzhou's most notable historic and scenic places. Adjacent to the lake is an area which includes historical pagodas, cultural sites, as well as

4750-758: The Beijing Women's College, Xu Guangping. In March 1926 there was a mass student protest against the warlord Feng Yuxiang 's collaboration with the Japanese. The protests degenerated into a massacre , in which two of Lu's students from Beijing Women's College were killed. Lu's public support for the protesters forced him to flee from the local authorities. Later in 1926, when the warlord troops of Zhang Zuolin and Wu Peifu took over Beijing, Lu left northern China and fled to Xiamen . After arriving in Xiamen, later in 1926, Lu began teaching at Xiamen University , but

4875-485: The Education Ministry three days a week for three hours a day. In 1923 he lost his front teeth in a rickshaw accident, and in 1924 he developed the first symptoms of tuberculosis . In 1925 he founded a journal, Wilderness , and established the "Weiming Society" in order to support young writers and encourage the translation of foreign literature into Chinese. In the 20 years after the 1911 revolution there

5000-464: The Hangzhou metropolitan area was estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product ( nominal ) of 4 trillion yuan (US$ 590 billion), making it larger than the economy of Sweden. As of the 2020 Chinese census , it had a total population of 11,936,010 inhabitants. However, its metropolitan area, populated by 13.035 million people over an area of 8,107.9 km (3,130.5 sq mi), consists of all urban districts in Hangzhou and 3 urban districts of

5125-556: The Kobun Institute, a preparatory language school for Chinese students attending Japanese universities. After encouragement from a classmate, he cut off his queue that Han Chinese were obliged to wear at the time, and practiced jujutsu in his free time. He had an ambiguous attitude towards Chinese revolutionary politics during the period, and it is not clear whether he joined any of the revolutionary parties that were popular among Chinese expatriates in Japan at that time, such as

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5250-529: The Kuomintang passed new, stricter censorship laws, allowing for writers producing literature deemed "endangering the public" or "disturbing public order" to be imprisoned for life or executed. Later that month he went into hiding. In early February, less than a month later, the Kuomintang executed twenty-four local writers (including five who belonged to the League) whom they had arrested under this law. After

5375-668: The Moon and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas . In 1904, Lu began studying at the Sendai Medical Academy in northern Honshu , but remained there for less than two years. He generally found his studies at the school tedious and difficult, partially due to his imperfect Japanese. While studying in Sendai he befriended one of his professors, Fujino Genkurō, who helped him prepare class notes. Because of their friendship Lu

5500-510: The Qing army. Hangzhou was ruled by the Republic of China government under the Kuomintang from 1927 to 1937. From 1937 to 1945, the city was occupied by Japan . The Kuomintang returned in 1945, and governed until 1949. On May 3, 1949, the People's Liberation Army entered Hangzhou and the city came under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) control. After Deng Xiaoping 's reformist policies began in

5625-705: The World". The world's largest tidal bore races up the Qiantang River through Hangzhou reaching up to 12 m (39 ft) in height. Hangzhou's climate is humid subtropical ( Köppen Cfa ) with four distinct seasons, characterised by long, very hot, humid summers and chilly, cloudy and drier winters, albeit with occasional snow. The mean annual temperature is 17.0 °C (62.6 °F), with monthly daily averages ranging from 5 °C (41.0 °F) in January to 29.3 °C (84.7 °F) in July. The city receives an average annual rainfall of 1,438 mm (56.6 in) and

5750-411: The age of 35. He might have suffered from dropsy . Lu Xun half-heartedly participated in the first, district-level civil service examination in 1898, but then abandoned pursuing a traditional Confucian education or career. He intended to study at a prestigious school, the "Seeking Affirmation Academy", in Hangzhou, but was forced by his family's poverty to instead study at the "Jiangnan Naval Academy",

5875-604: The area of Wulin Mountains and Wulin Lakes, Hangzhou's aliases Qiantang ( 錢唐 ) and Wulin ( 武林 ) began to appear during the Qin and Han dynasties. Hangzhou was made the seat of the prefecture of Hang in AD 589 , entitling it to a city wall which was constructed two years later. By a longstanding convention also seen in other cities like Guangzhou and Fuzhou , the city took on

6000-593: The arrival of Jesuit missionaries in China in 1600. While bringing back Chinese philosophies, especially Confucianism , to the Enlightenment Europe, these missionaries were the pioneers of spreading Western civilization to China. According to the Chinese encyclopedia Complete Library of the Four Treasuries , Qiankun Tiyi [Explication of the Structure of Heaven and Earth] by Matteo Ricci

6125-472: The arts, particularly of Buddhist temple architecture and artwork. The dyke built to protect the city by King   Qian Liu gave the Qiantang its modern name. Hangzhou also became a cosmopolitan center, drawing scholars from throughout China and conducting diplomacy with neighboring Chinese states, and also with Japan , Goryeo , and the Khitan Liao dynasty . In 1089, another renowned poet governor Su Shi (Su Dongpo) used 200,000 workers to construct

6250-399: The city of Shaoxing . Hangzhou is the eighth largest GDP among cities in mainland China with a GDP of around 1.8 trillion RMB ($ 280 billion). Home to the headquarters of large global tech companies such as Alibaba Group , Ant Group , and NetEase , Hangzhou is known for attracting professionals and entrepreneurs who work in information technology . As of August 2023 , Hangzhou has

6375-435: The city receives 1,709.4 hours of sunshine annually. and (yearend est.) As of 2023, Hangzhou had a permanent population of 12.522 million (including Xiaoshan and Yuhang), of which 10.543 million (84.2%) lived in urban areas. The encompassing metropolitan area was estimated by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) to have, as of 2010 , a population of 13.4 million, although other sources put

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6500-427: The city. In 1930 Lu became one of the co-founders of the League of Left-Wing Writers , but shortly after he moved to Shanghai other leftist writers accused him of being "an evil feudal remnant", the "best spokesman of the bourgeoisie", and "a counterrevolutionary split personality". The League continued in various forms until 1936, when the constant disputes among its members led the CCP to dissolve it. In January 1931,

6625-424: The dyke, making it a landmark. It is listed as one of the Seven Ancient Capitals of China . It was first the capital of the Wuyue Kingdom from 907 to 978 during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period . Named Xifu ( 西府 ) at the time, it was one of the three great bastions of culture in southern China during the tenth century , along with Nanjing and Chengdu . Leaders of Wuyue were noted patrons of

6750-428: The end of 1978, Hangzhou took advantage of being situated in the Yangtze Delta to bolster its development. It is now one of China's most prosperous major cities. During the Cultural Revolution , Hangzhou was stage to a series of labor unrest and factional fighting known as the Hangzhou incident . Hangzhou was the third city in China to host the Asian Games after Beijing 1990 and Guangzhou 2010 . It also hosted

6875-425: The execution of the "24 Longhua Martyrs" (in addition to other students, friends, and associates), Lu's political views became distinctly anti-Kuomintang. In 1933 Lu met Edgar Snow . Snow asked Lu whether there were any Ah Q's left in China. Lu responded, "It's worse now. Now it's Ah Q's who are running the country." Despite the unfavorable political climate, Lu Xun contributed regularly to a variety of periodicals in

7000-407: The falling out with Zuoren, Lu became depressed. In 1920, Lu began to lecture part-time at several colleges, including Peking University , Beijing Normal University , and Beijing Women's College, where he taught traditional fiction and literary theory. His lecture notes were later collected and published as A Brief History of Chinese Fiction . He was able to work part-time because he only worked at

7125-504: The family finances. Zuoren wanted to remain in Japan to study French, but Lu wrote that "French... does not fill stomachs". He encouraged another one of his brothers, Jianren, to become a botanist. He began to drink heavily, a habit he continued for the rest of his life. In 1911 he wrote his first short story, Nostalgia , but he was so disappointed with it that he threw it away. Zuoren saved it, and had it successfully published two years later under his own name. In February 1912, shortly after

7250-482: The figure at over 21 million. The Hangzhou metropolitan area includes the major cities of Shaoxing , Jiaxing and Huzhou . Hangzhou has a life expectancy of 83.18 years for the city's registered population as of 2021 , one of the highest in China. In 1848, during the Qing dynasty , Hangzhou was described as the "stronghold" of Islam in China , the city containing several mosques with Arabic inscriptions. A Hui from Ningbo also told an Englishman that Hangzhou

7375-403: The first collection of his short stories, Lu explained how viewing this scene influenced him to quit studying Western medicine , and to become a literary physician to what he perceived to be China's spiritual problems instead: At the time, I hadn't seen any of my fellow Chinese in a long time, but one day some of them showed up in a slide. One, with his hands tied behind him, was in the middle of

7500-454: The first time was able to make a living solely as a professional writer, with a monthly income of roughly 500 yuan. He was also appointed by the government as a "specially appointed writer" by the national Ministry of Higher Education, which secured him an additional 300 yuan per month. He began to study and identify with Marxist politics, made contact with local CCP members, and became involved in literary disputes with other leftist writers in

7625-433: The highest position possible for aspiring civil servants at that time. Zhou's mother was a member of the same landed gentry class as Lu Xun's father, from a slightly smaller town in the countryside (Anqiaotou, Zhejiang; a part of Tongxiang ). Because formal education was not considered socially appropriate for girls, she had not received any education, but she still taught herself how to read and write. The surname Lu ( 魯 )

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7750-399: The history of his native town, Shaoxing. He explained to an old friend that his activities were not "scholarship", but "a substitute for 'wine and women'". In his personal letters he expressed disappointment about his own failure, China's political situation, and his family's continuing impoverishment. In 1911 he returned to Japan to retrieve his brother, Zuoren, so that Zuoren could help with

7875-422: The knowledge they brought from the West. According to Liang Qichao , Western learning consists of an extremely wide range of topics including mathematics, mechanics, electrical science, chemistry, acoustics, optics, astronomy, geology, medical science, history, geography, legal studies, mining, military strategy and knowledge. Since the late Qing period, Chinese researchers began to review and detailedly describe

8000-427: The large population. Arab merchants lived in Hangzhou during the Song dynasty , due to the fact that the oceangoing trade passages took precedence over land trade during this time. The Phoenix Mosque was constructed by a Persian settler in Hangzhou at this time. From 1132 until the Mongol invasion of 1276, Hangzhou remained the capital of the Southern Song dynasty and was known as Lin'an ( 臨安 ). It served as

8125-408: The largest silk museum in the world, China National Tea Museum ( 中国茶叶博物馆 ), and Zhejiang Provincial Museum , which has a collection of integrated human studies, exhibition and research with over 100,000 collected cultural relics. Many theaters in Hangzhou host opera shows such as Yue opera . There are several big shows themed with the history and culture of Hangzhou like Impression West Lake and

8250-460: The lighter sleepers, making those unfortunate few suffer the agony of irrevocable death, do you think you are doing them a good turn?" Qian replied, "But if a few awake, you can't say that there is no hope of destroying the iron house." Shortly afterwards, in 1918 Lu wrote the first short story published in his name, "Diary of a Madman", for the April 2, 1918 magazine issue. Lu recounted the conversation in his short story collection, Call to Arms . It

8375-411: The lungs through a puncture. From June to August, he was again sick, and his weight dropped to only 83 pounds (38 kg). He recovered somewhat, and wrote two essays in the fall reflecting on mortality. These included "Death", and "This Too Is Life". A month before his death, he wrote: "Hold the funeral quickly... do not stage any memorial services. Forget about me, and care about your own life – you're

8500-465: The magazine, and produced his most famous stories for New Youth between 1917 and 1921. These stories were collected and re-published in Nahan (" Outcry ") in 1923. In 1919, Lu moved his family from Shaoxing to a large compound in Beijing, where he lived with his mother, his two brothers, and their Japanese wives. This living arrangement lasted until 1923, when Lu had a falling out with his brother, Zuoren, after which Lu moved with his wife and mother to

8625-437: The most celebrated poets in Chinese history such as Su Shi , Lu You , and Xin Qiji came here to live and die. Hangzhou is also the birthplace and final resting place of the scientist Shen Kuo (1031–1095 AD), his tomb being located in the Yuhang district. During the Southern Song dynasty, commercial expansion, an influx of refugees from the conquered north, and the growth of the official and military establishments, led to

8750-555: The most famous intellectuals in China. In 1927 Lu was considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature , for the short story The True Story of Ah Q , despite a poor English translation and annotations that were nearly double the size of the text. Lu rejected the possibility of accepting the nomination. Later, he renounced writing fiction or poetry in response to China's deteriorating political situation and his own poor emotional state, and restricted himself to writing argumentative essays. In 1929, he visited his mother, and reported that she

8875-417: The mountainous parts of Anhui province, and east to the coastal plain near Hangzhou Bay . The city center is built around the eastern and northern sides of the West Lake, just north of the Qiantang River . The Qiantang River is the largest river in Zhejiang Province, China. Every year during August 15 to August 18 of the lunar month in China, the Qiantang Tide occurs. It is called "the Biggest Tide in

9000-528: The movement's leaders, Lu was a leftist. After the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, his work received considerable acclaim from the Chinese government, with Mao Zedong being an admirer of Lu's writing throughout his life. Though he was sympathetic to socialist ideas, Lu never joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Lu Xun was born in Shaoxing , Zhejiang. As

9125-457: The name of the area it administered and became known as Hangzhou. Hangzhou was at the southern end of China's Grand Canal which extends to Beijing. The canal evolved over centuries but reached its full length by 609. In the Tang dynasty , Bai Juyi , a renowned poet, was appointed governor of Hangzhou. He noticed that the farmland nearby depended on the water of West Lake , but due to negligence

9250-535: The natural environment of the lake and hills, including Phoenix Mountain . There are two causeways across the lake. The west of the lake contains Dreaming of the Tiger Spring , popular for longjing tea fields. The parts of the Grand Canal in Hangzhou, also a World Heritage Site was built in 610 AD. The core historical sites are accessible by Hangzhou Metro Line 5 's The Grand Canal station or East Gongchen Bridge station . The West Lake Cultural Square

9375-422: The next year nearly 26,000 participants applied from around the globe, in the hopes of becoming Hangzhou's first foreign tourism ambassador. In a press conference in Hangzhou on 20 May 2014, Liam Bates was announced as the successful winner and won a $ 55,000 contract, being the first foreigner ever to be appointed by China's government in such an official role. Hangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone

9500-459: The old dyke had collapsed, and the lake so dried out that the local farmers were suffering from severe drought . He ordered the construction of a stronger and taller dyke, with a dam to control the flow of water, mitigating the drought problem. The livelihood of local people of Hangzhou improved over the following years. Bai Juyi used his leisure time to enjoy the West Lake, visiting it almost daily. He then had willows and other trees planted along

9625-663: The original home of the Kaifeng Jewish community . There was formerly a Jewish synagogue in Ningbo, as well as one in Hangzhou, but no traces of them are now discoverable, and the only Jews known to exist in China were in Kaifeng. Two of the Three Pillars of Chinese Catholicism were from Hangzhou. The Immaculate Conception Cathedral of Hangzhou is one of the oldest Catholic churches in China, dating back 400 years to

9750-561: The palace walls. The city walls were built with tamped earth and stone and was 30 feet high and 10 feet thick at its base. There were 13 gates and several towers on the walls. The walls covered the city by four miles north to south and only one mile east to west. According to the Italian explorer Odoric of Pordenone , Hangzhou was the greatest city in the world. It was heavily populated and filled with large family estates. It had 12,000 bridges. Bread, pork, rice, and wine were abundant despite

9875-494: The picture; the others were gathered around him. Physically, they were as strong and healthy as anyone could ask, but their expressions revealed all too clearly that spiritually they were calloused and numb. According to the caption, the Chinese whose hands were bound had been spying on the Japanese military for the Russians. He was about to be decapitated as a 'public example.' The other Chinese gathered around him had come to enjoy

10000-718: The position of Assistant Secretary. Two of his major accomplishments in office were the renovation and expansion of the National Library of China in Beijing, the establishment of the Natural History Museum, and the establishment of the Library of Popular Literature. Together with Qian Daosun and Xu Shoushang , he designed the Twelve Symbols national emblem in 1912. Between 1912 and 1917 he

10125-433: The process during which the Western knowledge was brought into China. In the 1900s, the term "eastward spread of Western learning" was coined in Shanghai -based newspaper Shun Pao , as a description of the emerging national awareness among the Chinese people as a result of prevailing Western influences in China. In 1915, the Chinese translation of Yung Wing 's autobiography My Life in China and America , which used

10250-605: The project, and it failed. In 1909 Lu and his brother published their translations of Western fiction, including Edgar Allan Poe, as Tales from Abroad , but the book sold only 41 copies of the 1,500 copies that were printed. The publication failed for many reasons: it was only sold in Tokyo, which did not have a large Chinese population, and in a single silk shop in Shanghai. Additionally, Lu wrote in Literary Chinese, which

10375-431: The provincial capitals after Guangzhou. The city has more than tripled its GDP since then, increasing from RMB 156.8 billion in 2001 to RMB 1.3509 trillion in 2018 and GDP per capita increasing from US$ 3,020 to $ 21,184. As of 2019, the Hangzhou metropolitan area was estimated to produce a gross metropolitan product ( nominal ) of 3.2 trillion yuan ($ 486.53 billion), making it larger than the economies of Argentina, with

10500-477: The rest of his life. Several days after the ceremony Lu sailed back to Japan with his younger brother, Zuoren, and left behind his new wife. After returning to Japan he took informal classes in literature and history, published several essays in student-run journals, and in 1907 he briefly took Russian lessons. He attempted to found a literary journal with his brother, New Life , but before its first publication its other writers and its financial backers all abandoned

10625-570: The school education with the introduction of mathematics in addition to the traditional Four Books and Five Classics . However, this trend was halted when Kangxi Emperor of Qing decided to ban the religion due to the religion's lack of respect to Chinese rites in 1717. Subsequently, the Roman Catholic Church canceled the Jesuit mission to China in 1773. Eastward spread of Western learning The British invasion of China in

10750-425: The school with relatively little effort, and occasionally experienced racism directed at him from resident Manchu bannermen . The racism he experienced may have influenced his later sense of Han Chinese nationalism. After graduating Lu Xun planned to become a foreign doctor. In 1902, Lu Xun left for Japan on a Qing government scholarship to pursue an education in foreign medicine. After arriving in Japan he attended

10875-467: The seat of the imperial government, a center of trade and entertainment, and the nexus of the main branches of the civil service . During that time the city was a gravitational center of Chinese civilization as what used to be considered "central China" in the north was taken by the Jin , an ethnic minority dynasty ruled by Jurchens . Numerous philosophers, politicians, and men of literature, including some of

11000-595: The source of the flames and direct the response, and charged more than 3,000 soldiers with the task of putting out fire. Hangzhou was besieged and captured by the advancing Mongol armies of Kublai Khan in 1276, three years before the final collapse of the Southern Song. Historian Patricia Buckley Ebrey noted that the Mongol Yuan dynasty killed the Jurchen Wanyan royal family by the hundreds in

11125-474: The spectacle. In March 1906, Lu Xun abruptly and secretly terminated his pursuit of the degree and left college. At the time he told no one. After arriving in Tokyo he made sure that the Chinese embassy would not cancel his scholarship and registered at the local German Institute, but was not required to take classes there. He began to read Nietzsche , and wrote a number of essays in the period that were influenced by his philosophy. In June 1906, Lu's mother heard

11250-825: The tenth-most Fortune Global 500 headquarters of any city in the world and the fourth-most in China ;– after Beijing , Shanghai and Shenzhen  – within its city limits. According to the 2020 Hurun Global Rich List, Hangzhou ranks 11th in the world and 6th in China (after Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong , Shenzhen and Guangzhou ) in the number of resident billionaires. Hangzhou ranks 13th globally by scientific outputs. It hosts several notable universities , including Zhejiang , Zhejiang University of Technology , Hangzhou Normal , Hangzhou Dianzi , Zhejiang A&F , Zhejiang Sci-Tech , Zhejiang Chinese Medical , Westlake , China Jiliang and Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics . Its West Lake ,

11375-792: The tenth-most Fortune Global 500 headquarters of any city in the world and the fourth-most in China – after Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen – within its city limits. Hangzhou is the headquarters of several technology companies including Alibaba Group , NetEase , Ant Group , Geely , and HikVision . As a result of its internet industry, many programmers from other cities such as Shanghai or Beijing have come to Hangzhou. The city has developed many new industries, including medicine, information technology, heavy equipment, automotive components, household electrical appliances, electronics, telecommunication, fine chemicals, chemical fibre and food processing. The city describes its important industries as "1 + 6" industrial clusters, with

11500-419: The term in its Chinese title, further popularized the use of the term. Since the 1980s, the term has frequently appeared in various scholarly articles to describe the spread of Western technologies and ideologies in China. Before the industrial revolution , China had been the most powerful and prosperous country in the world. However, the direct contact of Chinese and Western civilizations did not occur until

11625-497: The time. Since the late Qing dynasty, government-funded overseas Chinese students contributed to this movement, contributing to the criticism of traditional Chinese culture and the modernization of China, especially during the New Culture Movement . One of the result of the movement is the Sinicization of Western ideologies including Marxism . As a reflection on the century of humiliation that China had undergone, which

11750-572: The zone. In 2011, the GDP of the zone rose by 13.1 percent, amounting to RMB 41.63 billion. This accounted for 5.9 percent of Hangzhou's total GDP. The HHTZ positions itself as the "Silicon Valley" of China. The Alibaba Group is headquartered in the zone. Although Hangzhou has been through many recent urban developments, it still retains its historical and cultural heritage and natural environment. Today, tourism remains an important factor for Hangzhou's economy. Hangzhou has numerous skyscrapers , making it

11875-405: Was "the biggest city I have ever seen on the face of the earth." He visited Hangzhou in 1345 and noted its charm and described how the city sat on a beautiful lake and was surrounded by gentle green hills. He was particularly impressed by the large number of well-crafted and well-painted Chinese wooden ships with colored sails and silk awnings in the canals. He attended a banquet held by Qurtai,

12000-461: Was Lu's first exposure to foreign literature, philosophy, history, and science, and he studied English and German intensively. Some of the influential authors that he read during that period include T. H. Huxley , John Stuart Mill , Yan Fu , and Liang Qichao . His later social philosophy may have been influenced by several novels about social conflict that he read during the period, including Ivanhoe and Uncle Tom's Cabin . He did very well at

12125-527: Was a pen name chosen upon the initial publishing of his story "Diary of a Madman" in 1918. By the time Lu Xun was born, the Zhou family had been prosperous for centuries, and had become wealthy through landowning, pawnbroking, and by having several family members promoted to government positions. His paternal grandfather, Zhou Fuqing, was appointed to the Imperial Hanlin Academy in Beijing,

12250-449: Was a child. By the time Lu was born, his family's prosperity had already been declining. His father, Zhou Boyi, had been successful at passing the county-level imperial examinations , the route to wealth and social success in imperial China, but was unsuccessful in writing the more competitive provincial-level examinations (the juren exam). In 1893 Zhou Boyi was discovered attempting to bribe an examination official. Lu Xun's grandfather

12375-526: Was a flowering of literary activity with dozens of journals. The goal was to reform the Chinese language to make universal education possible. Lu Xun was an active participant. His greatest works, such as "Diary of a Madman" and Ah Q , exemplify this style of "peasant dirt literature" ( Chinese : 乡土文学 ; pinyin : xiāngtǔ wénxué ). The language is fresh and direct. The subjects are country peasants. In 1925, Lu began what may have been his first meaningful romantic relationship, with one of his students at

12500-417: Was a member of an ineffectual censorship committee, informally studied Buddhist sutras , lectured on fine arts, wrote and self-published a book on the history of Shaoxing, and edited and self-published a collection of folk stories from the Tang and Song dynasties. He collected and self-published an authoritative book on the work of an ancient poet, Ji Kang , and wrote A Brief History of Chinese Fiction ,

12625-490: Was accused by his classmates of receiving special assistance from Fujino. Lu later recalled his mentor affectionately in the essay "Mr Fujino", published in Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk . The essay has since become one of his most widely renowned works, and is read in the Chinese middle school curriculum. Fujino later reciprocated Lu's respect in an obituary written for Lu after his death in 1937. While Lu Xun

12750-644: Was also ranked first in the China Emerging City Rankings of the Economist Intelligence Unit , which assesses Chinese cities growth potential, in both 2021 and 2022. Hangzhou ranks 11th in the world and 6th in China (after Beijing , Shanghai , Hong Kong , Shenzhen and Guangzhou ) in terms of the number of billionaires according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2020. As of August 2023, Hangzhou has

12875-545: Was attending medical school, the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) broke out. Part of the war was fought on disputed Chinese land. Lantern slides used in the classroom also featured news items. One news slide showed a public execution of a Chinese prisoner being executed by the Japanese military for being an alleged Russian spy. The on-lookers shown in the slide were mainly Chinese, and Lu was shocked by what he viewed as their complete apathy. In his preface to Nahan ,

13000-599: Was captured by the Jurchens in the Jingkang Incident of 1127. Emperor Gaozong moved to Nanjing, then to modern Shangqiu , then to Yangzhou in 1128, and finally to Hangzhou in 1129. Once the prospect of retaking northern China had diminished, buildings in Hangzhou were extended and renovated to become a permanent imperial capital. The imperial palace in Hangzhou, modest in size, was expanded in 1133 with new roofed alleyways, and in 1148 with an extension of

13125-467: Was characterized by foreign concessions in China , and the success of Meiji Restoration of Japan, the Chinese people began calling for a full-scale westernization of China and debated with those who defended the traditional Chinese culture. Hangzhou Hangzhou is the capital of Zhejiang, China . It is located in the northeastern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay , which separates Shanghai and Ningbo . As of 2022,

13250-413: Was common before the 20th century, Lu used several names. His birth name was "Zhou Zhangshou" ( Chinese : 周樟壽 ). His courtesy name was "Yushan" ( 豫山 ), which he later changed to "Yucai" ( 豫才 ). In 1898, before he went to the Jiangnan Naval Academy, he took the given name "Shuren" ( 樹人 ), which figuratively means "to be an educated man". The name "Lu Xun", by which he is most well known internationally,

13375-458: Was disappointed by the petty disagreements and unfriendliness of the university's faculty. During the short time he lived in Xiamen, Lu wrote his last collection of fiction, Old Tales Retold , which would not be published until several years later, and most of his autobiography, published as Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk . He also published a collection of prose poetry, entitled Wild Grass . In January 1927, he and Xu moved to Guangzhou , where he

13500-447: Was dissatisfied with the quality of teaching at the academy. After leaving the school, Lu sat for the lowest level of the civil service exams, and finished 137th of 500. He intended to sit for the next-highest level, but became upset when one of his younger brothers died, and abandoned his plans. Lu Xun transferred to another government-funded school, the " School of Mines and Railways", and graduated from that school in 1902. The school

13625-558: Was during this time that rice was first cultivated in southeast China. Excavations have established that the jade -carving Liangzhu culture (named for its type site just northwest of Hangzhou) inhabited the area immediately around the present city around five thousand years ago. The first of Hangzhou's present neighborhoods to appear in written records was Yuhang , which probably preserves an old Baiyue name. In 222 BC, Emperor Qin Shi Huang established Qiantang County, located in

13750-529: Was established and approved as a national development zone by the State Council in 1993. It covers an area of 104.7 km (40.4 sq mi). Encouraged industries include electronic information, biological medicine, machinery and household appliances manufacturing, and food processing. Hangzhou Export Processing Zone was established on April 27, 2000, upon approval of the State Council. It

13875-427: Was established. Hangzhou's economy has rapidly developed since its opening up in 1992. It is an industrial city with many diverse sectors such as light industry, agriculture, and textiles. It is considered an important manufacturing base and logistics hub for coastal China. Additionally, the city is an e-commerce and technology hub. The 2001 GDP of Hangzhou was RMB 156.8 billion, which ranked second among all of

14000-441: Was established. On March 12, 2001, Xiaoshan and Yuhang, formerly two county-level cities under the administration of Hangzhou prefecture-level city , were re-organized as two districts. On December 13, 2014, and in July 2017, Fuyang and Lin'an, formerly two county-level cities under the administration of Hangzhou prefecture-level city , were re-organized as two districts. On April 9, 2021, Linping District and Qiantang District

14125-544: Was eventually forced to return to China because of his family's lack of funds. After returning to China, Lu worked for several years teaching at local secondary schools and colleges before finally finding an office at the Republic of China Ministry of Education. Following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, Lu's writing began to exert a substantial influence on Chinese literature and popular culture. Like many of

14250-448: Was finally released in 1901. After the family's attempt at bribery was discovered, Zhou Boyi engaged in heavy drinking and opium use and his health declined. Local Chinese doctors attempted to cure him through a series of expensive quack prescriptions, including monogamous crickets, sugar cane that had survived frost three times, ink, and the skin from a drum. Despite these expensive treatments, Zhou Boyi died of an asthma attack in 1896, at

14375-499: Was given to the Western weapon and machine. Meanwhile, missionaries in China continued to spread Western ideologies in China. As China was defeated by Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1897, Chinese thought leaders began to seek ways to save China from elimination, which drove them to active seek and absorb Western knowledge and demanded political reforms . Japan became a new source of Western learning during

14500-480: Was hired as the head of the Chinese literature department at Sun Yat-sen University . His first act in his position was to hire Xu as his personal assistant, as well as Xu Shoushang, one of his old classmates from Japan, as a lecturer. While in Guangzhou, he edited numerous poems and books for publication, and served as a guest lecturer at Whampoa Academy . Through his students, he established connections within both

14625-428: Was implicated, and was arrested and sentenced to beheading for his son's crime. The sentence was later commuted, and he was imprisoned in Hangzhou instead. After the affair, Zhou Boyi was stripped of his position in the government and forbidden to ever again write the civil service examinations. The Zhou family only prevented Lu's grandfather from being executed through regular, expensive bribes to authorities, until he

14750-421: Was one of the first zones and the only one in Zhejiang Province to be approved by the government. Its total planned area is 2.92 km (1.13 sq mi). It is located close to Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport and Hangzhou Port. Hangzhou Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone was set up with approval from the State Council as a state-level high-tech Industrial Development Zone in March 1991. The HHTZ

14875-480: Was pleased at the news of Guangping's pregnancy. Xu Guangping gave birth to a son named Haiying on 27 September. She was in labor with the baby for 27 hours. The child's name meant simply "Shanghai infant". His parents chose the name thinking that he could change it himself later, but he never did so. Haiying was Lu Xun's only child. After moving to Shanghai, Lu rejected all regular teaching positions (though he sometimes gave guest lectures at different campuses), and for

15000-524: Was so enormous that no man could form a just estimate thereof". Polo's account greatly exaggerates the city's size, although it has been argued that the "hundred miles" of walls would be plausible if Chinese miles were intended instead of Italian ones and that the "12,000 stone bridges" might have been a copyist error born from the city's 12 gates. In the 14th century, the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta arrived; his later account concurred that al-Khansā

15125-526: Was the "stronghold" of Islam in Zhejiang province, containing multiple mosques, compared to his small congregation of around 30 families in Ningbo for his mosque. Within the city of Hangzhou are two notable mosques: New Hangzhou Great Mosque and the Phoenix Mosque . As late as the latter part of the 16th and early 17th centuries, the city was an important center of Chinese Jewry , and may have been

15250-426: Was the first book that introduced Western learning to China. The mission was widely regarded the first wave of the eastward spread of Western learning. With the popularization of Christianity in China, the increasing Western knowledge in China contributed to the rise of Shixue ( simplified Chinese : 实学 ; traditional Chinese : 實學 ), which focused more on practice and evidence. The scholars of Shixue reshaped

15375-510: Was the same as his mother's. Lu's early education was based on the Confucian classics , in which he studied poetry, history, and philosophy—subjects which, he later reflected, were neither useful nor interesting to him. Instead, he enjoyed folk stories and opera, including the mythological narratives of the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the ghost stories told to him by a servant when he

15500-595: Was very difficult for ordinary people to read. Lu intended to study in Germany in 1909, but did not have sufficient funds, and was forced to return home. Between 1909 and 1911 he held a number of brief teaching positions at local colleges and secondary schools that he felt were unsatisfying, partly to support his brother Zuoren's studies in Japan. Lu spent these years in traditional Chinese literary pursuits: collecting old books, researching pre-modern Chinese fiction, reconstructing ancient tombstone inscriptions, and compiling

15625-445: Was very open to foreign visitors, and several returned west describing Hangzhou—under the names Khinzai , Campsay , etc. —as one of the foremost cities in the world. The Venetian merchant Marco Polo supposedly visited Hangzhou in the late 13th century. In his book , he records that the city was "greater than any in the world" and that "the number and wealth of the merchants, and the amount of goods that passed through their hands,

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