Hangzhou

Meaning

Proper Noun

• prefecture-level city, provincial capital Zhejiang (province) in eastern China (country); a former imperial capital.
• The adjacent bay of the sea, East China Sea, separating Shanghai from Ningbo.

Origin

• From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 杭州, from its former role as the seat of Hang Prefecture (also 杭州), folk etymologized as a reference to King Yu's ferry over the Qiantang on his way to Shaoxing but more likely a transliteration of an earlier Baiyue placename.