Renowned for its thriving private sector, Hangzhou has also ranked first in terms of the number of top 500 private enterprises in China for 16 consecutive years. Its private economy accounted for 60 percent of the regional GDP last year.

Construction of innovation platforms, such as Zhejiang Laboratory, Westlake University and Alibaba Damo Academy, has accelerated, making the city an ideal place for entrepreneurship and innovation. Hangzhou has enjoyed the largest influx of talent in China over the past few years. 

A total of 1,075 high-tech enterprises in national key development areas set up operations in Hangzhou last year, accounting for 33.6 percent of the province's total. 

Great changes have also taken place in the urban and rural areas of Hangzhou, with the city's urban area expanding from 252 square kilometers in 1949 to 8,289 square kilometers in 2018. Its urbanization rate reached 77.4 percent in 2018, up from 23.8 percent in 1949.

With its green, low-carbon development model, Hangzhou has witnessed significant improvement in urban environmental quality, with the annual average PM 2.5 concentration falling to 40 micrograms per cubic meter in 2018. The city was recognized as a national ecological garden city in 2017.