Zhoushan is situated on the East China Sea at the south-east part of the Yangtze River Delta of the Hangzhou Bay. Bordering main cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Ningbo and facing the Pacific Ocean, it’s an important gateway of inland places to the outside world and the juncture of water arteries linking south and north China with the Yangtze River, presenting a fan-shaped radicalization towards the new and developing cities in the Asia-Pacific area. 

Zhoushan Islands belong to hilly landforms. The total coastal line amounts to 2,448 km, among which 1,855 km are rocky coast, making up 75.8% of the total length, 530 km are man-made coast, making up 21.6% of the total length, 50 km are grit coast, making up 2.1%, and 13 km are silt coast, making up 0.5% of the total length. The natural climate of Zhoushan falls under subtropical monsoon marine climate featuring a mild temperature all the year-round. The annual average temperature is around 16Ì and the annual average rainfall is about 927 mm to 1,620 mm.

Zhoushan has ancient names of Haizhongzhou, Yongdong, Wengshan, or Changguo, etc. It was set up into a county in the open Tang dynasty for 26 years (738) and was built into a city in March 1987. Zhoushan has a long history and people inhabited there in the Neolithic Age before 6,000 years ago. Zhoushan has an outstanding character, which is the hometown of Mr. Qiao Shi, the former chairman of the National People’s Congress, Mr. Dong Jianhua, the first chief executive of the Hong Kong special administrative region, and Mr. An Zijie, the former vice-chairman of National Political Negotiation Congress. Zhoushan is the important place for coast defense from ancient times and is also the Chinese-Western culture communication point and the beginning of maritime transportation of China-Japan and China-Korea.

Endowed by nature, Zhoushan boasts favorable conditions of deepwater harbors, and channel resources, the total coastal line is 2,444 km long. There are 38 sections of deep-water banks, and a bank with water deeper than 15 meters is 200.7 km, including 103.7 km deeper than 10 m. It is an ideal solution for selecting a large tonnage deep-water harbor in southeast China. The harbor has lots of routes, steady water current, and deep water, which is free from freezing all year-round. The main route can allow ships of 200,000Ë300,000 tonnage to pass through.

The anchoring water area inside the harbor is more than 1,000 km2, acting as an excellent shade. Zhoushan Port has been ranked the 9th among all the coastal ports in China, and become the big harbor of more than 150 million tons.

(Edited by Ye Ke)