Hangzhou Bay
Encyclopedia
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...
, bordered by the province of Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
and the municipality of Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. The Qiantang River
Qiantang River
The Qiantang River is a southeast Chinese river that originates in the borders of Anhui and Jiangxi provinces and passes through Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang province, before flowing into the East China Sea through Hangzhou Bay....
flows into the bay.
It lies south of Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, and ends at the city of Hangzhou
Hangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
. Hangzhou Bay contains many small islands collectively called the Zhoushan Islands.
The bay is known for hosting the world's largest tidal bore
Tidal bore
A tidal bore is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave of water that travel up a river or narrow bay against the direction of the river or bay's current...
, being up to 9 metres (30 ft) high, and travelling up to 40 km (24.9 mi) per hour. The tidal bore is especially high during the Mid-Autumn Festival
Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival , also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival or Zhongqiu Festival, is a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese people. A description of the festival first appeared in Rites of Zhou, a written collection of rituals of the Western Zhou...
when several thousand tourists come to watch the magnificent Qiantang Tidal Bore.
The bay is spanned by the Hangzhou Bay Bridge
Hangzhou Bay Bridge
Hangzhou Bay Bridge is a long highway bridge with a cable-stayed portion across Hangzhou Bay in the eastern coastal region of China. It connects the municipalities of Jiaxing and Ningbo in Zhejiang province. At in length, Hangzhou Bay Bridge is one of the longest trans-oceanic bridges in the world...
, which was linked up on June 14, 2007 and opened on 1 May, 2008. The then second-longest bridge in the world, it cuts the trip between eastern Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
and Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
from 400 to 80 kilometres (250 to 50 miles).