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ZHEJIANG, China --When one thinks of China, destinations like Beijing, Shanghai, Macau and Hongkong come to mind.
But in recent years, the Chinese government has taken steps to develop other areas with potential for socio-economic growth like Zhejiang, which boasts of the longest cross-sea bridge in the world, tourist destinations like the scenic three lakes, and economic zones and high technology industries.
Located in the southern part of the Yangtze River Delta on the southeast coast of China and northeast of Shanghai, Zhejiang is also known for having the longest coastline among the provinces at 6,600 kilometers.
Zheijiang has 11 cities -- Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Huzhou, Jiaxing, Shaoxing, Jinhua, Quzhou, Zhoushan, Taizhou, and Lishui -- and has a population of 50.6 million as of 2007, according to the Information Office of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Government.
The 36-kilometer Hangzhou Bay Sea-Crossing Bridge, which officially opened to traffic last May 1, connects Ningbo, a port city in Zhejang, to Shanghai.
The two-way, six-lane bridge was started in November 13, 2003, cost the government 11.8 billion RMB, and built to last for 100 years, according to local authorities.
It is also expected to open economic opportunities for Ningbo and surrounding areas, as well as boost tourism, they said.
Several economic zones are also being developed in Zhejiang, among them the Hangzhou Bay New Zone, the Ningbo National Hi-Tech Development Zone and the Ningbo Meishan Free Trade Port Area.
Facing the Hangzhou Bay to its north, the Hangzhou Bay Zone is located in the northern part of Ningbo.
Aside from being a manufacturing and research base, the Hangzhou Bay Zone will be a "modern and ecologically-friendly industrial city," according to the zone's investment manual.
Located inside the Hangzhou zone are the Cixi Export Processing Zone and the Cixi Economic Development Zone.
The Cixi EPZ, established in June 2005, is where "export-oriented processing enterprises, storage facilities, and transportation companies have been set-up," it said.
The Cixi Economic Development Zone seeks to introduce "technology and capital intensive industries," it said.
To date, more than 260 industrial projects have been established in the zone, it said.
The Ningbo National Hi-Tech Development Zone (NBHTZ) was established in 1999 and upgraded in January 2007.
It is considered an important base for research and development of the southern Yangtze River Delta.
The Ningbo Free Trade Area enjoys the "highest openness and most favorable policies," local authorities said.
But amid the push for technological advancement, Zhejiang has preserved and enhanced its tourist destinations.
On top of the list are what has been known as the province's three scenic lakes -- the West Lake in Hangzhou, the East Lake in Shaoxing, and the South Lake in Jiaxing.
Local authorities here said that the Chinese government has spent millions in RMB to preserve these lakes.
The South Lake in particular is known as being the birth place of the Communist Party of China because it was in a boat on this lake in July 1921 that the communists' First National Congress completed their final agenda.
The boat has since been called The Red Boat and has become the symbol of China's revolution.
For a look and feel of the old China, there is Xitang in Jiaxing, a town dating back to a thousand years, where homes were built along the riverbank, and oar-rowed boats were used to travel around.
A medium-sized billboard of Hollywood actor Tom Cruise who filmed Mission Impossible 3 in Xitang is just about the only proof of western invasion in this historic town where preserved buildings from as far back as the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911) can be found.
In a bid to put Zhejiang, on the world map like Beijing and the rest of the popular destinations in China, the government has formulated a plan from 2008-2012 when during this time, the province would have a "more developed economy, civilized governing, more flourishing culture, more harmonious environment, and wealthier."
For China, Zhejiang?s time has come to be linked to the rest of the world.
