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HANGZHOU
THE CITY:
Famed for its natural scenery, Hangzhou and its West Lake have been immortalized
by countless poets and artists. The city was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty
from 1127 until the Mongol invasion of 1276. The city's population is estimated to
have been as high as one million in those days, making it the largest city in the world
at the time. Even Marco Polo claimed to have passed through, calling it beyond
dispute the finest and the noblest in the world. Since June 2011, the West Lake
Cultural Landscape has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
With the gradual silting up of its harbor, much of the city's trade and industry
passed north to nearby Shanghai, but the city still has a bustling population of 8.7
million and ranks as one of China's most popular tourist attractions.
