Introduction

I. Zhejiang Province: An Overview

Zhejiang Province lies on the southeast coast of China, south of the Yangtze River Delta, between 27°02'-31°11' N latitude and 118°01'-123°10' E longitude. With East China Sea on its eastern edge, the province is bordered by Fujian to the south, Jiangxi and Anhui to the west, and Shanghai and Jiangsu to the north. The province governs eleven cities, including Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Shaoxing, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Jinhua, Quzhou, Zhoushan and Lishui (Hangzhou and Ningbo are sub-provincial cities), which are further divided into 89 county-level divisions, including 37 districts, 19 county-level cities, 33 counties (including one autonomous county of ethnic minorities), consisting of 655 towns, 274 townships and 449 sub-districts. The provincial capital of Zhejiang is Hangzhou.

One of the smallest provinces of China, Zhejiang covers a land area of 105,500 km2, which is 1.06% of the country’s total land area. Both the east-west and north-south straight-line distances of Zhejiang are around 450 km. The province has a complicated geological feature. Mountains and hills account for 70.4% of its area; plains and basins, 23.2%; and rivers and lakes, 6.4%. Therefore, Zhejiang is commonly known as a province of “70% of hills, 20% of land and 10% of water”. The land descending from southwest to northeast is divided into six terrain areas: the Northern Zhejiang Plain, the Western Zhejiang Hills, the Eastern Zhejiang Hills, the Jinqu Basin, the Southern Zhejiang Mountains, the southeastern coastal plain, and the offshore islands. Zhejiang has a sea area of 260,000 km2 and is the province that has the most islands in China. Twenty-six of its offshore islands are over 10 km2. Zhejiang is the province that has the longest coastline of China, with a coastline of 6,500 km, which is 20.3% of the country’s total coastline.

As one of the cradles of the Chinese civilization, Zhejiang has a long history. The archaeological discovery of a site of early Paleolithic times at Qiliting of Changxing shows that human activities in Zhejiang date back to a million years ago. Over a hundred Neolithic sites have been discovered in the province, including the Liangzhu culture from about 4,000 to 5,000 years ago and the Shangshan culture from about 10,000 years ago. The largest city of China 5,000 years ago was found at the site of the Liangzhu culture. Zhejiang features splendid cultural heritage and is famous as a land of cultural relics, with 10 historical and cultural cities, 20 historical and cultural towns, 28 historical and cultural villages, four historical and cultural districts, and 401 historic villages listed in Traditional Chinese Villages. On each of the four Representative Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage in China, Zhejiang has ranked first among all provinces by the number of items selected. By now the total number of listed items from the province has reached 217. Among them, eight items have also been inscribed onto It also has more items inscribed onto the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding than any other province, with eight on the former list and “wooden moveable-type printing” and “traditional design and practices for building Chinese wooden arch bridges” on the latter. Zhejiang’s Mount Jianglang has been inscribed onto the World Natural Heritage List. West Lake in Hangzhou is one of the lakes inscribed onto the List of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Zhejiang section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and the East Zhejiang Canal are parts of the Grand Canal, an active UNESCO World Heritage Site.

II. The Economic Development of Zhejiang

Zhejiang has a total of 2,081,700 hectares of arable land for a population of 56.57 million. The available arable land per capita is 0.036 hectare, which is only 36% of China’s average level. The issue of the constraints of high population density and sparse land resources has a long history and is one of the causes of Zhejiang’s commercial tradition and business culture. Commerce began in Zhejiang as early as the 6th century BCE. Fan Li(1), a representative of Zhejiang’s merchants at the time, is now worshiped by many natives of Zhejiang as a god of wealth. Between the 6th and 10th centuries CE, non-governmental foreign trade and private trade rose in Zhejiang. Between the 10th and 14th centuries, prosperous urban commercial areas emerged, along with a merchants’ community represented by Shen Wansan(2). Between the 14th and 19th centuries, industry and trade flourished in Zhejiang. Business groups rose in areas such as Longyou and Nanxun. Modern businesses, such as the Ningbo and Shaoxing bankers, began to establish their fames. Along with Zhejiang’s commercial tradition, a culture that values commerce was developed, with a trend of thought advocating industry-and-commerce-based economy, as seen in the pragmaticism of Chen Liang(3), the merchant who passed the Imperial Examination ranking first, the utilitarianism of Ye Shi(4), the Yongzhou-Jiading School’s critique of empty philosophizing, and the economic ethics of China’s enlightenment thinker Huang Zongxi(5). In the past forty years since the initiation of reform and opening-up, Zhejiang has fostered 5.226 million market players of various kinds. Averagely there is a businessperson in every 11 natives of Zhejiang and a business owner in every 33 natives of Zhejiang. Some of these businesses, such as Alibaba Group, Wuchan Zhongda Group, and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, are among the Fortune Global 500. Moreover, 6.5 million Zhejiang businesspersons have established over 300,000 enterprises and 2,000 special markets in other provinces, with a total investment of RMB 4.5 trillion. There are 1.5 million natives of Zhejiang working, living, studying or investing all over the world. Over 10,000 enterprises and institutions approved or registered by China’s trade authorities have been established outside China, with a registered Chinese investment of RMB 462 billion (USD 70.7 billion) in 145 countries and regions. The province has approved 581 investments in Zhejiang by 179 Fortune 500 companies, with a total sum of USD 32.25 billion.

With these prosperous market players, Zhejiang was soon developed from an impoverished province with limited resourced into a major economic power with a leading overall strength of its private businesses. Zhejiang’s GDP passed the RMB 1 trillion mark for the first time in 2004; in 2008, which then exceeded RMB 2 trillion in 2008, RMB 3 trillion in 2011, and RMB 4 trillion in 2014. Between 1978 and 2017, Zhejiang’s GDP grew from RMB 12.4 billion to RMB 5.18 trillion. For a long time, Zhejiang was an agriculture-based province. When the policy of reform and opening-up was introduced, agriculture accounted for a high proportion in Zhejiang’s economy. In 1978, the primary sector accounted for 38.1% of the province’s economy and the rural population accounted for 85.5% of the province’s population. In the forty years of reforming and opening-up, Zhejiang has developed into a major economy mainly based on manufacturing and service industries. With the ratio of the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors restructured to 4.2:44.8:51.0, Zhejiang is now in the late stage of industrialization.

III. The Social Development of Zhejiang

As of the end of 2017, Zhejiang has a resident population of 56.57 million. The proportion of the urban population in the total provincial population (namely the urbanization rate) is 68.0%, showing that Zhejiang is still at a stage of rapid urbanization. Zhejiang’s population aged 15 to 64 years is 41.86 million, among whom 37.6 million are employed persons and 338,500 are registered unemployed persons in urban areas. The registered urban unemployment rate stood at 2.87%. Zhejiang’s population aged over 65 years is 7.354 million, accounting for 13.0% of the total population. A comparison with 2016, when the population aged over 65 years accounted for 11.7% of the total population, shows a serious aging tendency of Zhejiang’s population. Zhejiang has a birth rate of 11.92‰ and a mortality rate of 5.56‰. The population growth rate is 6.36‰, showing a tendency of increasing population. The province’s registered population is 49.11 million and the registered mobile population is 25.25 million, including 21.63 million from other provinces. The province’s resident population includes 56 ethnic groups. The population of the She people, the indigenous ethnic minority of Zhejiang, is 166,000. Zhejiang’s Jingning She Autonomous County is the only autonomous administrative area for the She people in China.

The social development of Zhejiang shows a good momentum of full advancement. It ranks among the top provinces by all indicators of basic education. The fifteen-year education from the three preschool years to high school and the free compulsory education have been essentially popularized throughout the urban and rural areas. The enrollment rate and the ratio of enrollment to the number of graduates in the province’s compulsory education are respectively 99.99% and 100%. The province has 108 institutions of higher education, including 59 colleges and universities offering degree programs. The higher education gross enrollment ratio has reached 58.2%. Special schools have been built in all counties, county-level cities and districts with a population of over 300,000. Zhejiang ranks fifth, third, fourth and fourth respectively among Chinese provinces in terms of regional innovation, enterprise technological innovation, intellectual property, and comprehensive strength of registered patents. The province has 1,361 artistic troupes, 102 cultural centers, 102 libraries above the county level, and 285 museums. All the cultural venues are open to the public free of charge. Close to 8,000 cultural halls and 26,109 cultural plazas have been built in the rural areas. There are 31,500 healthcare institutions across the province, with 290,400 beds (including 24.17% at non-governmental institutions), and 432,400 health professionals. The population’s major health indicators have reached the same level as that in upper-middle-income countries and its human development index has reached the same level as that in upper-income countries.

Zhejiang is well-known for its policy of “leaving wealth among the people”. In 2017, the per capita disposable income of the province’s residents was RMB 42,046. The per capita disposable income of urban residents was RMB 51,261, which is 1.41 times the national average RMB 36,396. It has ranked first among the country’s provinces for fourteen consecutive years in this regard. The per capita disposable income of rural residents was RMB 24,956, which is 1.86 times the national average RMB 13,432. It has ranked first among the country’s provinces for thirty-three consecutive years in this regard. In the last few years, the growth rate of the per capita income of the province’s urban and rural residents is higher than the growth rate of the per capita GDP. A mechanism is being formed to keep the income of the province’s urban and rural residents growing along with the economy. The per capita disposable income of rural residents grows faster than that of urban residents. The ratio of the income of urban residents to that of the rural residents has been continuously reduced and reached 2.04:1. These show that the development of Zhejiang is the most balanced among the provinces. The basic pension plan has covered 39.13 million people, which is 88.6% of the provincial population; the basic health insurance has covered 52.52 million people, which is 98.0% of the provincial population. A multi-tiered healthcare system has been established based on the basic health insurance, supported by the major disease insurance, safeguarded by the healthcare assistance and supplemented by social welfare charities and commercial insurances. A new social assistance system that covers both the urban and rural areas has been established, with policies such as educational financial aid, tuition exemption for students of vocational secondary schools from financially challenged families, basic cost of living allowance (which has been increased to RMB 5,232 per year for each person or more) that covers both the urban and rural areas, and so on.

IV. The Social Governance of Zhejiang

Zhejiang is devoted to building a law-based social governance system featuring Party committee leadership, government guidance, nongovernmental support, and public participation. Aiming at a social governance model based on collaboration, participation and common interests, Zhejiang makes continuous effort to strengthen public participation and rule of law in social governance, and to make social governance smarter and more specialized.

The 3.856 million CPC members of the province belong to 205,000 community-level Party organizations, including 41,000 in rural areas, 14,000 in community neighborhoods, 31,000 in government agencies, 34,000 in public institutions, 18,000 in state-owned enterprises. In addition, 50,000 Party organizations are established in 92.4% of private enterprises; 9,000 Party organizations are established in 72.9% of social organizations. There are 33,010 service centers (stations, posts) run by Party organizations in the province, covering over 96% of the administrative villages and all the urban communities.

The provincial government’s administrative resources are distributed hierarchically in 11 prefecture-level cities, 89 country-level administrative areas, and 1,378 townships and sub-districts. The 27,458 village committees and 3,581 neighborhood committees govern themselves under the guidance of the Party committee and the government, and in accordance with the law. Since the beginning of reform and opening-up, governments at all levels in the province have been continuously improving their administrative services. Zhejiang has been a pioneer in the reform of government functions, such as the reform of administrative approval system, the reform of the “Four Lists and One Website”, the establishment of the Four Platforms at the community level, etc. Twenty-one of Zhejiang’s projects have been shortlisted for the Chinese Local Government Innovation Awards in the award’s eight years of history, which is more than any other province. In recent years, Zhejiang has been working hard to build a province with “the least needs for approvals, the highest work efficiency, the best government service and the greatest satisfaction for the people and the enterprises”. Aiming at building a service-oriented government, and by means of big data analysis in government services, at the end of 2016, Zhejiang launched the reform for the people and enterprises to handle affairs at government offices in “one visit at the most”. In the past year and more, 87.9% of the affairs were handled in one visit to government offices, and 94.7% of the visitors to government offices were satisfied.

Zhejiang is committed to the combination of an active government and an effective market, to encourage and guide the participation of all sectors in social governance. Now the province has over 35,000 registered volunteer teams with over 2.3 million members. It has 48,000 nongovernmental organizations registered with civil affairs authorities at different levels, which means there are 8.6 nongovernmental organizations among every 10,000 people. Specifically, 6,709 of these organizations are listed as qualified contractors for government purchase of public services; 140,000 registered community-level organizations work in various areas including community service, healthcare, education, social assistance, poverty alleviation, retirement services, services for persons with disabilities, rights protection, recreation, and so on. The province’s 144,758 social workers in urban and rural neighborhoods make up a team of social governance at the community level. To better involve nongovernmental sectors, Zhejiang has adopted the model of “grid management and team service”. It has created 109,000 “grids”, with 235,000 full-time and part-time grid managers participating in community-level social governance. In 2017, the approval rating of residents in Zhejiang reached 96.58%, marking an increase for the 14th consecutive year.

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(1)Fan Li (356-448 BCE), whose courtesy name was Shaobo, was a statesman, military strategist, economist and Daoist thinker in the late Spring and Autumn period. He had his political activities mainly in Zhejiang as an advisor helping King Goujian restore the Kingdom of Yue. He retired from the political career after the victory and became a businessman. For three times he made a great fortune and for three times he spent all his fortune on charity. He is honored as the Merchant-Sage.

(2)Shen Wansan (dates unknown) was a merchant in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty. His name was Shen Fu and his courtesy name was Zhongrong. He was commonly known as Wansan, meaning “the highest rank of ten thousand households”, a nickname for the wealthy. A native of today’s Huzhou of Zhejiang, he was the wealthiest person in the lower reach of the Yangtze River, and among the richest in the country. He is remembered as a “14th-century Chinese master of financial management”.

(3)Chen Liang (1143-1194) was originally named Runeng. His curtesy name was Tongfu and his style name was Longchuan. A native of today’s Jinhua of Zhejiang, he was a thinker and writer of the Southern Song Dynasty.

(4)Ye Shi (1150-1223)’s curtesy name was Zhengze and his style name was Shuixin Jushi. A native of today’s Wenzhou of Zhejiang, he was a thinker, writer and political critic of the Southern Song Dynasty.

(5)Huang Zongxi (1610-1695)’s curtesy names were Taichong and Debing, and his style name was Nanlei. He also styled himself as the “Old Man of Lizhou”. A native of today’s Ningbo of Zhejiang, he was a scholar of Confucian classics, a historian, a thinker, a geographer, an astronomer, a calendarist, and an educator of the late Ming Dynasty. He is often praised as the “Father of China’s Enlightenment”.