Zhoushan is an urbanized archipelago with the administrative status of a prefecture-level city in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang. It consists of an archipelago of islands at the southern mouth of Hangzhou Bay, off the mainland city of Ningbo. The prefecture's city proper is Dinghai on Zhoushan Island, now administered as the prefecture's Dinghai District.
During the 2020 census, Zhoushan Prefecture's population was 1,157,817, out of whom 882,932 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of two urban districts of Dinghai and Putuo.On 8 July 2011 the central government approved Zhoushan as Zhoushan Archipelago New Area, a state-level new area.
Zhoushan's specialties include Zhoushan seafood, seafood noodles, vegetarian food, Shengsi snail sauce, dried yellow croaker pork, cold jellyfish, Guanyin cake, Dongsha dried incense, Zhoushan Putuo Buddha tea, Daishan Penglai Xianzhi, Daishan Wojingtan hard cake, Zhoushan late rice bayberry, Dengbu golden melon. They are purchased in local markets, supermarkets and specialty stores.
There are many tourist attractions and transportation is convenient.
Zhoushan has strong geographical advantages facing the Pacific Ocean, with its backs to large and medium cities such as Shanghai, Hangzhou and Ningbo, and the vast hinterland of the Yangtze River Delta.It is a sea gateway and passageway for the Yangtze River Basin and the Yangtze River Delta to open to the outside world.
Zhoushan Island is the largest island in the Zhoushan Islands and the fourth largest island in China.
