The Hangzhou Metropolitan Circle, a metropolitan area centering on Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, aims to become an international metropolis by 2025.

The Hangzhou Metropolitan Circle consists of the cities of Hangzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing and Quzhou in Zhejiang province as well as Huangshan in Anhui province.

The six cities have agreed to work together to improve the metro circle in seven areas: transportation, innovation, industrial integration, culture, natural environment, integration of cities and quality of life.

Transportation

The Shangqiu-Hefei-Hangzhou High-speed Railway opened to traffic in June, and construction on the Hangzhou-Shaoxing Intercity Railway has also been completed. The plan to build Hangzhou International Airport, designed to accommodate up to 90 million passengers, has been approved. Major progress has also been made on building Jiaxing Airport and Quzhou Airport.

Innovation

The six cities in the metro area spent a total of 26.8 billion yuan ($4.08 billion) on technological and scientific innovation in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 30.1 percent. The total number of approved invention patents in the six cities in 2019 was 19,283, a year-on-year increase of 3.2 percent.

Industrial integration

The Hangzhou area of the Zhejiang Pilot Free Trade Zone has been unveiled, and the Hangzhou Cross-Border E-Commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone was designated as a model for other cities to learn from. Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing and Quzhou were subsequently listed as national cross-border e-commerce pilot zones and other pilot trade zones.

Culture

Hangzhou has teamed up with Quzhou and Huangshan to explore and develop tourist routes to world heritage sites across the three cities. In 2019, the six cities received 728.25 million tourists, generating 951.9 billion yuan in revenue, a year-on-year increase of 11.3 percent and 15.2 percent, respectively.

Natural environment

The six cities have joined forces to develop an environmental monitoring system to ensure comprehensive management of the environment in areas between the cities.

Integration of cities

Since 2020, 20 schools in the six cities have collaborated to establish a medical cooperation mechanism, allowing for the long-distance payment of medical expenses.

Quality of life

In 2019, the per capita consumption expenditure of residents in the six cities' urban and rural areas increased 7.7 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively, on a yearly basis. The six cities often jointly hold activities to enrich the lives of residents.