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Shengzhou city [Photo provided to enshaoxing.com]

Shengzhou city, located in the east of Zhejiang province, is home to the country's first counties (cities) to open up to the world. It is adjacent to Hangzhou in the north and to Ningbo in the east. Occupying some 1,789 square kilometers, the city has 21 towns (sub-districts), 452 villages and 29 communities under its administration.

Shengzhou has various snacks and is honored as the "Famous City of Snack Culture in China". [Photo provided to enshaoxing.com]

Shengzhou enjoys a long history of more than 2,100 years that can be traced back to the Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (202 BC- AD 220) dynasties. It was established as a city in 1995. The city is home to a number of cultural celebrities, such as modern composer Ren Guang and educator Ma Yinchu. It is also the birthplace of Yueju Opera. At the ecological reserve of Yueju Opera, which has been listed as a provincial intangible cultural heritage ecological reserve, visitors can get a glimpse at folk handicrafts such as clay figurines, bamboo weaving and wood carving, and have a taste of local specialties like steamed buns and fried rice cakes.

The city, surrounded by mountains and converging rivers, boasts beautiful natural landscape and a favorable climate. The forest coverage rate reaches 67.2 percent. Thanks to the pleasant natural environment, Shengzhou was an attractive tourism destination for more than 300 literati, including Li Bai and Du Fu, famous poets of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) who left poems about the city.

Charming night view in Shengzhou [Photo provided to enshaoxing.com]

Shengzhou enjoys a favorable location within the one-hour economic circle of Zhejiang province. The Shangyu-Sanmen and Ningbo-Jinhua expressways converge in the city. By the end of 2020, the city is expected to have two railway lines, three expressways, two national highways, two high-speed rail passenger stations, and one railway freight station. The major traffic projects like Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Taizhou Inter-city Railway and 500-ton Cao'e River Channel are under construction, turning the city into a traffic hub in eastern Zhejiang.

Shengzhou is well-known for three industry clusters – ties and other clothing elements, electrical appliances and kitchen ware, and mechanical and electrical equipment. As the world's biggest base for tie production, wholesale and export, it is home to more than 2,000 enterprises which can annually produce over 300 million ties, 90 percent of China's and 60 percent of the world's. There are also more than 500 enterprises engaged in electrical appliances and kitchen ware, including Siemens, Haier and Midea. The approximately 450 kitchen ware enterprises can annually produce 5.5 million gas stoves, 30 percent of the national capacity. It is China's biggest production base of electroacoustic accessories. It has about 2,000 enterprises that can annually produce over 30 million micromotors covering more than 1,000 kinds like energy-efficient motors and special electrical machines.