China's largest archipelago, Zhoushan is a developing port and island city in China. The Zhoushan city is located in the middle of the "Zhoushan Fishery", one of the world's four largest fisheries. It lies in the central part of China's coastline,and is only tens of nautical miles away from Shanghai, the largest commercial city in China.

Zhoushan city is embraced by 1,339 islands of the Zhoushan Archipelago, including the 502-square-kilometre Zhoushan Island which is the largest,and is a little bit larger than Hong Kong.

Zhoushan Archipelago has a monsoon marine climate with an annual tempereture averaging 16 degrees Centigrade. Worm in winter and cool in summer,Zhoushan is a pleasant place with beautiful scenery. Within Zhoushan city, there are 2 state-level scenic resorts--Putuo Island and the Shangsi Island, and 2 provincia-level scenic areas--Mount Dai and Taohua Island. Sea, sunshine, beach and Buddhist culture compose the unique sea and hill views of Zhoushan. The city has altogether 20 travel agencies and 20 hotels catering to foreign nationals, receiving more than 2.8 million tourists each year.

Located where warm and cold currents meet, the sea surrounding the Zhoushan Archipelago is shallow and has a plentiful supply of food for the fish brought by the Yangtze River and Qiangtang river. Large and small yellow croakers, cuttlefish and hairtails are its best-known marine products.

With its scenic peaks and temples, Putuo Island, or Putuo Hill, is one of the four sacred hills of Chinese Buddhism.

Zhujiajian Island

Zhujiajian Island is well-known coast resort in Zhejiang. The most remarkable at Zhujiajian is the "Ten-li Golden Sand Beaches", including 9 beaches one joining another stretching for about 5 kilometers, an ideal place to enjoy the sea and sun and to play with the sand. Zhujiajian has been the venue of the annual "Zhoushan International Sand Sculpture Festival" since 1999.

Wushi Tang is also a beach located on Zhujiajian Island, but unlike the other beaches, sand is hard to find on the beach there. As its Chinese name Wushi indicates, the beach is paved by numerous black shingle stones.

For visitors, the best time to go to Wushi Tang is deep in the night. On an unclouded summer night, if you lie on the moonlit beach and listen carefully, you can hear a symphony of nature mixed from the sound of waves raking the shingle and the murmuring wind. At dusk, under the flaming sunset, fishing boats are scattered on the sea and for a small amount of money, visitors can hire the boats for leisure trips to enjoy the scenery.

Peach Blossom Island (Taohua Island)

The Peach Blossom Island is a provincial scenic area and almost every Chinese learns its name from a famous novel of martial arts written by Louis Cha (Jin Yong), as a matter of fact, it is the prototype of the "Taohua Island" in that book, where there lived Huang Yaoshi, a respectable master of the martial arts. Many historical buildings on this island remind visitors of the fascinating tales about it.

The Peach Blossom Island boasts peaks, cliffs, caves, and an abundance of flora. The Anqi Peak, about 540 meters' high, is the highest peak in the Zhoushan Archipelago.

(Photo: baidu.com/CRI.com)