'Above there is heaven, below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou.' The saying, crafted by a poet several centuries ago, seems to hold true, at least in Hangzhou; according to a poll conducted recently by Oriental Outlook magazine, the capital of Zhejiang province is the happiest mainland city in which to live.
What is the secret of these two cities? Situated about 100km from each other in the richly fertile Yangtze River delta, on the Grand Canal connecting them to Beijing, they were once wealthy trading centres, reaching their zenith of influence and opulence during the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279).
Hangzhou was the dynastic capital and possibly the largest - thought to have had between 1 million and 1.5 million inhabitants - and finest city in the world. Even the great cities of Cairo and Constantinople fell short, and Rome, Paris and London were inconsequential. China was the planet's pre-eminent country and Hangzhou was its showpiece.
Marco Polo confirms this. The Venetian merchant-traveller visited Hangzhou at the height of its glory, in the late 13th century, calling it 'the City of Heaven, the most beautiful and magnificent in the world'. He marvelled at its '10,000 bridges', '10 principal squares or marketplaces', countless 'high dwelling-houses' and its people, 'always clothed in silk, in consequence of the vast quantity of that material produced [there]'.
Today, Suzhou, while retaining its exquisite enclosed gardens, is a workaday city dwarfed by its giant neighbour, Shanghai. Hangzhou, however, lying to the south, holds its head up high as a prosperous modern city of some 4 million souls. Its uniquely poetic landscape and profound historical resonance make it the top destination of the mainland tourist.
Once in the city, though, tourists can't wait to get out; next to the central business district stretches a great expanse of placid water ringed by an extraordinary array of classic Chinese gardens and framed by mountains. Visitors walk among shiny new department stores then suddenly find themselves in serene willow-pattern land. Just as in Marco Polo's day, 'the lake extends the whole length of the city, on one side'. Hangzhou has no western suburbs; instead, it has the West Lake, or Xi Hu.
Arched bridges and angular trees, limpid waters and curved-roof tea houses create a classic Chinese vision of beauty, inspired by the Taoist concept of harmony and created by the emperors and mandarins for their own pleasure. This elite gave poetic names to salient features: Melting Snow at Broken Bridge, Autumn Moon on Calm Lake, Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, Kingdom of the Joyful Fish, Viewing Fish at Flower Harbour, Sunset Glow over Lei Hill, Orioles Singing in Ripples of Willows. Appearing on prettily designed visitors' maps, the nomenclature beats anything the tourist board's advertising agency could come up with, but are the places as enchanting as their names?