Situated in the Southwest of Shaanxi Province, Hanzhong lies at the foot of the Qinling Mountains in the north and the Bashan Mountains in the south. The Hanjiang River, the biggest tributary of the Yangtze River, runs its way from the west to the east of this fertile land. It adjoins Ankang City in the east, Xi’an city and Baoji City in the north, Gansu Province in the west and Sichuan Province in the South. Historically, Hanzhong City got its name after the Hanjiang River and has gained the reputation of “the Small South in the Vast Northwest”. Since the first establishment of Hanzhong City by the King Huiwen in 312 BC, it has had a history of more than 2300 years. During the long history, it has gone through great changes. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, here it established the administration Prefecture of Southern Shaanxi in 1951. It changed to Hanzhong Special Administration Area in 1954. Afterwards, it became Hanzhong Prefecture in 1968 and finally became Hanzhong City in 1996. Hanzhong governs one district, 10 counties and one Provincial Economic Development Zone. It covers an area of 27200 square kilometers with a population of 3.85 million.

    Thanks to the long history and splendid culture, Hanzhong was the cradle for Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty, to establish his kingdom. It was the base for Mr. Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of Shu Kingdom and great wise man, to fight against the Wei Kingdom in the north. It was also the birthplace of Mr. Zhang Qian, the founder of the Silk Road and the place where Cai Lun, the inventor of paper making, made the first piece of paper in the world and was granted the domain. All those features enable Hanzhong to win the fame of the National Renowned Historical and Cultural City as well as China’s Best Tourist City. In Hanzhong, there are 131 historical sites under special protection at different levels such as the Baoxie Plank Road and the Temple of Marquis Wu. The Han Diao Guangguang, the Hanzhong Opera, and the traditional process of making paper in Yangxian County are among 34 national and provincial cultural intangible heritages in Hanzhong.

    Geographically, blessed with good eco-environment, Hanzhong is located between the latitude 32°08′54″- 33°53"16" and the longitude 105°30"50”-108° 16"45". It is in the transition area from north warm temperature zone to subtropical climate. Therefore, there is neither hot summer nor severe cold winter. It enjoys abundant rainfalls and moist climate. Lying in the transition and division area from the north to the south, this magic land is filled with green mountains, clean water and the fragrance of flowers all year around. So, it is considered as one of the places with the best eco-environment in the world. Here, there have been established one world man and nature biosphere, 6 national nature reserves, 3 national water conservation scenic zones, 4 national forest parks, two provincial forest parks and 12 national agricultural tourist demonstration zones.

    Thanks to the great nature, Hanzhong is a land with rich resources. Because of its abundant plants, mineral and water resources, it has gained the reputation of “Gene Bank of Natural Species” and “A Treasure Basin in the Mounts Qingling and Bashan”. It is the home of crested ibises, the eastern pearl. The Gaint Pandas, national treasure, enjoy their life in this paradise; The Golden monkeys, takins and a lot of many other rare species also find their homes here. Here also has a rich product of many precious Chinese medicinal herbs, such as tuber of elevated gastrodia, Eucommia Bark, cornel and American ginseng. The reserves of some minerals such as iron, manganese, vanadium, nickel, titanium, gypsum, and asbestos, rank among the first places in China, and Hanzhong is one of the five biggest gold production bases in China. Hanzhong, a land enjoyed splendid water resources, has 567 small and big rivers like the Hanjiang River and the Jialing River with the water reserves of 2.6 million kilowatts. It is one of the places with very rich water resources in the northwest China. So, it is granted to be one of the central water resources areas for “the Water Diversion Project from South to North”. Benefited form its long history and geographical features, Hanzhong is rich in tourist resources. The well-known tourist attractions such as the Changqing Forest Park, the Temple of Marquis Wu, the Scenic Spot of the Nanhu Lake and so on, make Hanzhong an ideal destination for travelling.

    With its obvious advantages of its geographic location, Hanzhong is the junction point of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu Provinces, the gateway from the north to the south and one of the key transportation routes in China. Along with the improvement of transportation conditions of highways, railways and airplanes, and the implementation of the developing strategy of “A City with A Population of One Hundred Million & an Area of One Hundred Square Kilometers Project”, Hanzhong will become an important transition hub to connect the north and the south, the east and the west, and an important intersection city in the West Triangle Zone.

    Since China’s implementation of reform and Opening up policy, especially recent years, the government of Hanzhong City has been taking the opportunities from the state strategy of developing China’s western region, it has speeded up its path to adjust economic structure, vigorously practiced the strategy of “To develop green industry, to build a green Hanzhong”. Therefore, a series of key enterprises such as the Hanjiang Machine Tool Company, the Shaanxi Aircraft Manufacture, the Hanzhong Zinc Company, the Hanzhong Steel & Iron Company have been positively developed. At the same time, Hanzhong has also attached importance to develop an agriculture mainstay industry with high quality of grains and edible oil, live pigs, tea, orange, etc. The eco-tourism industry in Hanzhong has been greatly enhanced based on the extensive development of major tourist attractions, such as the four scenic sports (Huayang Changqing Scenic Spot, the Liping Forest Scenic Spot , the Scenic Spot of the Dingjun Mountains feathered with culture of the Three kingdoms period, the Scenic Spot of the Zhangliang Temple and the Zibo Mountains) and four lakes (the Nanhu Lake, the Xingyuan Lake, the Nansha Lake and the Hongsi Lake), and four gardens (the Cherry Garden in Xixiang County, the Tea garden, the Orange Garden in Chenggu County and the Pear Garden in Yangxian County. Modern logistics service industry has also been raised here. Therefore, Hanzhong has preliminarily established a system concerning four main industries, including the equipment manufacture, copper metallurgy, the green industry and the eco-tourism. It is listed by the state as one of the Accumulation areas of circular economical industry. The whole economy and society of Hanzhong City develops fast and tremendous changes appear with each new day. With stable and harmonious social environment, the people here enjoy a happy and comfortable life.

    Hanzhong, an opening city, a developing and dynamic city, is striving in its full swing to compose a new chapter of prosperity.