Hangzhou, the capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, boasts abundant tourism resources and is considered one of the most popular tourist cities in the country.

The thriving tourism industry not only brings in considerable revenue to the city but has also seen a boom in construction along the way.

But with more cities on the Chinese mainland catching the tourism bug, springing up dime a dozen in recent years, the Hangzhou government has been considering various measures to distinguish the city from its neighbors and rivals while taking optimum advantage of existing tourism resources.

One of the plans the government has come up with is the idea of “three rivers, five lakes, one mountain, one canal, one wetland and three sites,” which basically integrates present-day tourism resources by building a tourism, economic and transportation circle that will allow tourists to drive in between under 90 minutes.

The aim is to develop Hangzhou into an international tourist city that lures visitor from home and abroad.

Three rivers refer to Qiantang River, Fuchun River and Xin’an River; five lakes mean West Lake, Qiandao Lake, Xiang Lake, Qingshan Lake and South Lake; one mountain is the Tianmu Mountain; one canal refers to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal; one wetland points to the Xixi National Wetland; and the three sites indicate Liangzhu Cultural Relic Site, Southern Dynasty Royal City Relic Site and Kuahu Bridge Cultural Relic Site.

Actually, Qiantang River, Fuchun River and Xin’an River emerge from the same river that originates on the border of Zhejiang and Anhui provinces. However, the section flowing within Chun’an County is named Xin’an River, the section in Fuchun County is Fuchun River, while the last section flowing through Hangzhou is the Qiantang.

Among the five lakes, West Lake and Xiang Lake, considered by locals as sister lakes, are situated in Hangzhou. Qingshan Lake is an artificial lake in Lin’an County that covers an area of 10 square kilometers. South Lake is in Yuhang District that is famous for its reed scenery.

Qiandao Lake is an artificial lake covering 567.4 square kilometers with 1,078 islands. It is located in Chun’an County in the southwest part of Hangzhou. In 1959, Xin’anjiang dam, which is used to generate electricity, created a reservoir that turned thousands of mountaintops into islands, forming the present-day Qiandao Lake.

Tianmu Mountain is Zhejiang’s only natural reserve that is listed on the UNESCO biosphere reserves. Lush vegetation, multifarious biological species and original ecological environment distinguish the mountain from others of its kind.

The Liangzhu Cultural Relic Site was the last Neolithic jade culture in the Yangtze River Delta. The relic site has so far yielded a large quantity of exclusive jade, silk, ivory and lacquer artifacts. Hence, Liangzhu has been dubbed “the origin of Chinese culture” and “the first light of Oriental culture.”

The Southern Dynasty Royal City Relic Site is the former site of the imperial palace of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) when it retreated from Beijing to the south of Yangtze River and made Hangzhou its capital.

The whole palace is located in the west of Phoenix Hill in south Hangzhou. According to historic records, the palace featured splendid architectures and majestic layout.

However, it was burned down accidentally during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Today, the only relic that remains are the ruins, and the Hangzhou government plans to turn it into a relic park like Beijing’s Old Summer Palace.

The Kuahu Bridge Cultural Relic Site is a breakthrough in Chinese Neolithic Age archeology. It is situated at the intersection of Qiantang River and Puyang River and has been protected intact by the thick sediment laid on by the rivers through centuries. The canoe excavated from the relic site is considered to be the earliest ever in Chinese history. Meanwhile, rice grains discovered at the site pushed forward the wheel of China’s history of growing rice by about 1,000 years.

Some of the above “three rivers, five lakes, one mountain, one canal, one wetland and three sites” are located across subordinate counties and urban districts. To develop tourism resources in the west part of Hangzhou where those subordinate counties are located, the city government has come up with a “tour westward” slogan, indicating that in the next few years, local authorities will focus on infrastructure development and building a transportation system in the area.

So far, the Hangzhou-Qiandao Lake Expressway and the Hangzhou-Huangshan Expressway have been opened to the public. The two expressways connect with three main scenic areas — Hangzhou, Qiandao Lake and Yellow Mountain — and zone them into a 90-minute tourist circle, which in return adds attraction to the scenic spots within this area.

Internationalization of tourism is the government’s secondary strategy for Hangzhou’s future tourism development, which is aimed at augmenting the international attraction of the city. High-quality international tourism environment plus competitive tourism products equal great attraction, so the thinking goes. In fact, work in this regard kicked off in early 2004, when the Hangzhou government started setting up international information and tourist distribution centers, adopted the multilingual signage system and accelerated the construction of five-star hotels.

Since then, the city government has taken almost 30 measures to achieve its internationalization goal.

In addition to infrastructure construction and internationalization strategy, the Hangzhou government implemented three projects to protect the city’s natural and cultural environment, namely the Xixi Wetland National Protection Project, the West Lake Protection Project and the Grand Canal Protection Project.

West Lake is Hangzhou’s gold-letter signboard, its tourism calling card. The government has spent billions of yuan on rejuvenating neighboring antique architectures and perfecting the natural landscape and gardens at the popular freshwater lake.

Following a major revamp, the West Lake now comprises the Hubin area, the Yanggong Causeway area, the Meijiawu Tea Cultural Village, the Lingying Temple, Wushan Square, Longjing Village, the Hupao area and other traditional Jiangnan-style buildings and sceneries. Though it took years and billions of yuan to finish the West Lake Protection Project, government still decided to return the lake to residents and visitors, which turned out to be a wise move since the lake now attracts more tourists than before.

Xixi Wetland came into prominence in 2008 when it officially opened to the public as China’s first national wetland park. Local authorities worked hard to retain the site’s original appearance. The whole protection project cost 1 billion yuan (US$161.17 million). Since then, the wetland has become the second most attractive scenic spot for visitors in Hangzhou.

The Grand Canal is also listed as an international tourism site by the Hangzhou government. A total of 1 billion yuan was spent to rejuvenate the gardens, wharves and bridges along the canal. The restoration work helped put the canal on to the UNESCO World Heritage list last year.

Apart from the three major protection projects, the Hangzhou government is also dedicated to developing other sightseeing and leisure travel destinations as well as convention and exhibition products.

The city organizes the Tea Expo in spring and the West Lake International Expo in autumn every year, which have already become a popular platform to showcase the city’s charm and business opportunity.

Bearing in mind the urgent need to upgrade the city’s tourism industry and transform it to modern times, the Hangzhou government has begun by establishing leisure tourism bases at various sites, including along lakes, rivers, at mountains, in villages and near hot springs. At present 17 bases, including some high-end resorts, are under construction.

In recent years, the Hangzhou Tourism Commission has cooperated with district and county governments to launch a batch of tourism products and routes that cater to the international market.

Nine urban blocks featuring tourist and commercial characteristics have been erected and a series of beautiful villages have been carved into new scenic attractions.

Merely exploiting tourism resources is not enough, however, and the Hangzhou government is also laying an emphasis on publicizing these scenic spots. Every five years local tourism authorities have been tasked with formulating a market promotion plan. The capital for publicity and other promotions had ready reached 80 million yuan in 2009 and has been increasing every year since.

By virtue of all the tasks mentioned, Hangzhou was named China’s Best Tourist City along with Chengdu in southwest Sichuan Province and Dalian in northeast Liaoning Province in 2003 following a field visit by the World Tourism Organization and the China National Tourism Administration.

To realize the idea of “three rivers, five lakes, one mountain, one canal, one wetland and three sites,” the Hangzhou government has put forward a corresponding “four brands” strategy, namely Hangzhou Brand, Zhejiang Brand, Chinese Brand and International Brand.

The Hangzhou Brand means that based on the tourist resources from the “three rivers, five lakes, one mountain, one canal, one wetland and three sites,” the city government will draft a better tourism development plan and endeavor to launch competitive tourist products every year.

The Zhejiang Brand implies that the Hangzhou government will cooperate with neighboring cities, including Jiaxing, Huzhou, Ningbo, Shaoxing and Zhoushan, to forge the Hangzhou Bay Golden Tourist Belt, augmenting the city’s influence and attraction in the domestic market.

The Chinese Brand indicates that the Hangzhou government will collaborate with neighboring Shanghai; Nanjing, capital of eastern Jiangsu Province; and the iconic Yellow Mountain in Anhui Province, creating an international golden tourist route that will attract travelers from other countries.

And finally, the International Brand reflects the Hangzhou government’s plan to consolidate the Japanese and South Korean market, steady the Southeast Asia market while expanding the European market.