Geography Overview

Zhejiang Province is located in the south of the Yangtze River Delta on the southeast coast of China, bordering the East China Sea to the east, Fujian to the south, Jiangxi and Anhui to the west, and Shanghai and Jiangsu to the north, and spanning 27°02′-31°11′north latitude and 118°01′-123°10′east longitude. The Qiantang River, the largest river in the province, is also called Zhijiang or Zhejiang because of its twists and turns, hence the name of the province. The provincial capital is in Hangzhou.

As one of the smallest provinces in China, Zhejiang has a land area of 105,500 square kilometers. The straight line distance between east and west is about 450 kilometers, so is that between north and south. Of the province’s land area, mountainous land accounts for 74.63%, water surface accounts for 5.05%, and flat land accounts for 20.32%. Zhejiang is a province with the largest number of islands in the country, boasting 2,878 islands with an area exceeding 500 square meters and 26 islands with an area exceeding 10 square kilometers, which spread over an ocean area of 260,000 square kilometers.

With complex terrain, Zhejiang slopes from southwest to northeast, forming three roughly paralleled mountain ranges. The northwest range stretches from Huaiyu Mountain at the junction of Zhejiang and Jiangxi to Tianmu Mountain and Qianligang Mountain; the middle range extends from Xianxia Ridge at the junction of Zhejiang and Fujian to Siming Mountain, Kuaiji Mountain, Tiantai Mountain, and finally to the Zhoushan Islands in the sea; the southeast range extends from Donggong Mountain at the junction of Zhejiang and Fujian to Dayang Mountain, Kuocang Mountain and Yandang Mountain. The highest peak in Zhejiang is Huangmao Peak at 1929 meters above the sea level in Longquan City. The main water systems include the Qiantang River, the Oujiang River, the Lingjiang River, the Tiaoxi River, the Yongjiang River, the Feiyun River, the Aojiang River, the Cao'e River and the Zhejiang Section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The lakes mainly include the West Lake in Hangzhou, the East Lake in Shaoxing, the South Lake in Jiaxing, the Dongqian Lake in Ningbo, and the Qiandao Lake, the largest artificial lake in the province. Topographically it can be roughly divided into six areas: the Northern Zhejiang Plain, the Western Zhejiang Hilly Area, the Eastern Zhejiang Hilly Area, the Central Jinqu Basin, the Southern Zhejiang Mountainous Area, and the Southeast Coastal Plain, and the Coastal Islands.

Climate in Zhejiang

Zhejiang is located in the middle of the subtropical zone, with a humid monsoon climate, moderate temperature, four distinct seasons, sufficient sunlight, and abundant rainfall. The annual average temperature is between 15℃-18℃, the annual sunshine time is between 1100-2200 hours, and the annual average precipitation is between 1100-2000 mm. January and July are the months with the lowest and highest temperature in the year respectively, and May and June are the concentrated rainfall periods. Due to the influence of the ocean and the Southeast Asian monsoon, the prevailing wind directions in winter and summer in Zhejiang are significantly different, the precipitation obviously changes with seasons, and the allocation of climatic resources is diverse. Meanwhile, due to the influence of the westerly and easterly wind weather systems, there are many meteorological disasters in the province, making Zhejiang one of the disaster-stricken areas subject to relatively severe typhoons, rainstorms, drought, cold waves, strong winds, hails, freezing damages, tornadoes, etc.