1．漫漫岁月余杭史
杭州位于钱塘江下游北岸、杭嘉平原的南端，是中国的七大古都之一。在古代，杭州称钱唐，到宋代时又称临安。杭州是由原来的一片浅海湾发展成为城市的，从秦朝在杭州设置钱唐县至今，杭州建城已经有2000多年的历史了。
杭州在古代只是一个与东海相连的浅海湾，只有几座山顶露出水面，像一个个小岛。杭州另外一个名称余杭的由来也有一个有趣的故事：相传大禹治水成功之后，到绍兴一带的会稽山会见诸侯，途中经过杭州时曾经乘方舟到小岛上。在中国古汉语中，“杭”有方舟的意思，大禹登陆的地方便称为禹杭，经过千百年的流传渐渐转为余杭了。尽管这一传说已经无法考证，但这一名称还是沿用了千百年。
春秋战国时期，杭州地区是越国的北部边陲，楚国灭掉越国后便成了楚国的属地了。杭州第一次有了历史记载是在秦朝时期，秦始皇统一全中国后，在这一带设置了以苏州为行政中心的会稽郡，在会稽郡下属的二十几个县中便有杭州的前身--钱唐县。令人遗憾的是，秦朝钱唐县的具体位置到现在还无法准确得知。
西汉时，钱唐县仍属于会稽郡，但地位却日益重要起来。王莽时期把钱唐县改为“泉亭”。东汉建立以后，又重新改为钱唐。东汉顺帝永建四年（前129）钱唐县归属吴郡，当时，为了防止水患，便在这里修筑了钱塘。关于钱塘这个名字，还有一段很有趣的故事：传说有位叫华信的官员，招募百姓往江边运送土石，承诺给运送土石的百姓发赏钱。这样不到几天，老百姓便运来了大量的土石，此时，华信却不兑现发赏钱的承诺，愤怒的百姓便把运来的土石统统倒掉，海塘就这样形成了。
三国两晋南北朝时期，北方一直处于战乱之中，人民开始大批南迁，钱唐县也随之迅速发展起来，逐渐成为钱塘江下游一个重要的县城。到了南北朝末期的陈代，钱唐县改为钱唐郡。
杭州这个名字正式出现是在隋唐时期，589年隋文帝杨坚灭掉陈国，统一了全中国，废除了钱唐郡，改名为杭州，州治（相当于现在的省会）就在余杭县，591年又从余杭迁到凤凰山麓的柳浦。第二年，便在柳浦西面建造州城，现在的杭州市就是在这个基础上开始发展起来的。以洛阳为中心的大运河开通以后，杭州和东都洛阳之间有了直达的水路运输，这大大促进了杭州的发展。杭州逐渐成为一个重要的商业城市。
唐朝末年，钱鏐任镇海节度使，907年，他被封为吴越王，建都杭州，对杭州进行了大规模的扩建经营，为杭州的发展建立了一个良好的基础。当时在候潮门到通江之间是受海潮冲击最严重的地方，为了保证国都的安全，他下令修筑了长达百里的海塘。他采用夹板筑塘的方法，用巨木做堤柱，打下六层木桩，每层中间用装满石头的竹笼填实。人们把这座海塘称为捍海塘。他有效保护了杭州城，为经济的发展创造了条件。
杭州成为国都后，统治者在各个方面极力经营，钱鏐在公元910年进行了大规模的城市建设，对市内的街道、河渠、市场、房舍等进行了相应的规划与修建。百姓得以休养生息，经济的发展也促进了商贸活动的繁荣，在这一时期，杭州同海外的贸易有了极大的发展。
到了北宋时期，杭州成为一个州的州治，但城市却没有遭到破坏，经济继续发展，仍然是中国东南的一个大都会。北宋被金朝灭掉以后，宋高宗赵构称帝，史称南宋。经过几年的奔波后，1138年南宋正式把杭州定为都城，杭州首次成为王朝首都，并持续了150多年，杭州也因此成为中国的七大古都之一。
到南宋末期，杭州成为全国的政治和经济文化中心。
元代改临安为杭州，这时杭州虽然已经不是国家的政治中心，但仍然是中国东南的一座名城和对外贸易港口，而且还是当时江南最大的手工业中心。意大利的旅行家马可·波罗称杭州是一座“天城”，“是世界上最美丽的、最华贵的城市”。到明清时期，杭州是全国的棉纺织业中心，是全国主要的商业城市之一。那时的杭州造船业十分发达，当时就能建造上千吨的大船。到了清代时，杭州的丝织业已经居江南织造之首，是杭州丝织史上的鼎盛时期。
1. History
Hangzhou lies on the north bank of the lower reach of the Qiantang River and at the south point of the Hangjia Plain. Seeing the current bustling scenes of the city, perhaps none could imagine the city was just a few small islands in a shallow bay in the distant past and has a recorded history of more than 2,000 years.
Throughout the history, Hangzhou had several different names: Qiantang, Lin'an and Yuhang. A story tells the origin of the last one. After Dayu (a leader in the primitive society) successfully harnessed the overflowing rivers, he went to Huiji Hill to meet his dukes. When he passed by the shallow bay, he rowed a boat to one of those small islands. In ancient Chinese, "hang" means "boat" and thus the place where Dayu landed was called Yǔhang. After thousands of years, "Yǔ" was changed into "Yú". Though it is impossible to verify whether the story is true or not, the name remained in use for hundreds of years.
In the Spring and Autumn period as well as the Warring States period, today's Hangzhou was just the northern borderland of the state of Yue. After Yue was defeated by Chu, the borderland became Chu's possessions. The first historical record of Hangzhou could be found in the Qin dynasty. After Emperor Qinshihuang defeated all the other states and unified China, he set a Huiji prefecture with today's Suzhou as the seat of government. Qiantang county, today's Hangzhou, was one of the counties under the jurisdiction of Huiji prefecture. Unfortunately, no historical records have been found to tell the exact location of Qiantang county.
In Western Han, Qiantang County became increasingly important though it was still under Huiji prefecture. When Wang Mang (a royal relative who seized the throne in the late years of Western Han and ruled the dynasty for eight years) was in power, he renamed Qiantang as "Quanting" which was replaced again by Qiantang in the Eastern Han dynasty. In 129 BC, in order to prevent flooding, a dyke named Qian was built. As for the origin of the name, there is an interesting story. It was said an official named Hua Xin hired some people to carry earth and stone to the riverbank, promising money would be given to those people. Thus, they worked very hard and a great deal of earth and stone was piled up just after a few days; but Hua Xin refused to honor his promise. People were so angry that they pour all the earth and stone onto the ground. Thus a dyke was formed and people named it Qian ("Qian" in Chinese means money).
After the Han dynasty and before Sui, the north of China was literally a big battlefield. As people fled from the north to the south, Qiantang county gradually developed into an important county which was finally promoted to prefecture by the Chen (557-589) in Southern Dynasties.
The first historical record of Hangzhou as the name of the city is found in the Sui dynasty. In 589, Emperor Wen of the Sui dynasty defeated Chen and unified China. Then he ordered to abandon Qiantang prefecture and named that area as Hangzhou with Yuhang county as the seat of the government. In 591, the seat of the government was moved from Yuhang county to Liupu at the foot of the Phoenix Mountain. In the following year, a new city was built to the west of Liupu and this is embryo of today's Hangzhou. After the Grand Canal was put into use, a direct waterway connected Hangzhou and Luoyang which was then the secondary capital of the Sui dynasty. Thanks to that, Hangzhou gradually developed into a city of commercial significance.
In the late years of the Tang dynasty, a military commissioner Qian Liu was promoted to be the prince of Wuyue. After he chose Hangzhou as his capital, he ordered a large scale reconstruction of the city in 910, providing a solid underpinning of its future development. Among all the contributions he did, the most noteworthy one is the Haitang Dyke which effectively prevented Hangzhou from being flooded by the tide and thus guaranteed a favorable environment for economic development.
The layout of streets, rivers, markets and residential houses were carefully planned before they were built or rebuilt. During this period, no longer ravaged by wars, people were able to restore production. As a result, economic activities and foreign trade developed by leaps and bounds.
In the Northern Song dynasty, Hangzhou, the provincial capital, still enjoyed a prosperous economy and remained a metropolis in southeast China. After Northern Song was defeated by the Jin dynasty, Zhao Gou announced the establishment of the Southern Song dynasty and finally made Hangzhou the capital of Southern Song in 1138. For the first time in history Hangzhou became a feudal capital and remained so for more than 150 years.
In the late years of Southern Song, Hangzhou became a national political, economic and cultural center.
In the Yuan dynasty, though Lin'an (present Hangzhou) was no longer a national political center, it remained a metropolis in southeast China, an important port for foreign trade and the biggest handicraft industry center in south China. In his travel journal, Marco Polo described Hangzhou as "a city in heaven" and "the world's most beautiful and most gorgeous city". In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Hangzhou became a national center for cotton textile industry and one of the important commerce cities. In the Qing dynasty, Hangzhou became the best silk producer across the country. Shipbuilding industry was well developed as well in that the loading capacity of a ship was as high as a thousand tons.
