Xiaoshan District

Hangzhou, China

Xiaoshan is a borough or district of the city of Hangzhou, which serves as the seat of the province of Zhejiang in southeastern China. Xiaoshan was formerly a city in its own right, separated by the Qiantang River from Hangzhou proper, but the municipality was annexed by its more populous neighbor in 2001. Xiaoshan has a permanent population of around 1,511,000 with residential rights and an additional non-permanent population of about 876,500. Most of the local residents are Han people who speak a local variety of Wu Chinese in addition to Mandarin Chinese. The area's history of human settlement dates back to more than 8000 years ago, for which an archeological site in Xiaoshan named Kuahuqiao has produced strong evidence. Xiaoshan's manufacturing-dominated economy has made it one of the affluent metropolitan districts in China. In 2012 it had a GDP of 161.2 billion CNY, or around $17,000 per capita. Hangzhou's international airport, Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, is located on the coastal wetlands in western Xiaoshan. The borough is also at the center of one of China's local real estate booms, as the demand for newer, more upscale housing from China's growing middle and upper classes has led to an explosion in construction of new high-rise residential towers and Western-style condominiums. Xiaoshan is also the site of Hangzhou Xiaoshan Sports Centre. The Xiaoshanese are renowned for their casual attitudes towards their attire, even on extremely formal occasions. Therefore, they have often been teased both domestically and internationally, the widely heard idiom "You Xiaoshanese never dress up!" being a prominent example. The local culture is deeply rooted in the area's communist past, and the Communist Party of China has a strong local presence and an estimated membership of 250,000.