Located in Hangzhou, provincial seat of Zhejiang Province, the West Lake is one of the most famed tourist attractions in China. For centuries, the West Lake has been well known both for its picturesque landscape and for cultural heritage surviving yet illustrating the past dynasties.

The landscape area of the West Lake includes the surrounding hills and nearby historical sites as well as the lake itself. The lake area covers around 60 square kilometers consisting of 5.68 square kilometers of water area.

The West Lake is the centerpiece of the natural fascination with bluish hills on three sides, serene and charming. Along the Lake, there stand lines of willows with ancient bridges leaping over them. Mist now veils the whole landscape, now just perches lightly on the green and luxuriant hills in thevicinity with tiny streams winding in deep valleys.

More than ninety theme parks and scenic spots are dottedaround the lake area such as the Ten Views of West Lake and ten-odd newly named tourist attractions. Rain or shine, the West Lake holds great attraction to tourists in all seasons.

Besides its impressive scenery, the West Lake boasts of abundant cultural heritage and legends passed from generation to generation, commingling natural features, past personages, history, and art in the local area.

In the whole landscape area, there are more than one hundred scenic spots open to the tourists at present. Each year thereare 0.5 million of foreign guests and 12 million domestic visitors coming to Hangzhou.