Anji lies in the northwestern Hangzhou-Jiaxing-Huzhou Plain, neighboring with Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Suzhou. It is a growing up Open County in the Changjiang River Delta Economic Area. The county has an area of 1,886 square kilometers and a population of 450 thousand, which administers 19 towns. Anji was built in the 2nd year of Emperor Hanlin in Eastern Han Dynasty (185 A.D.) and has a long history of over 1,800 years, when the emperor named it "Anji " with the meaning of "peace and luck". Anji has convenient traffic, 64 kilometers away from Huzhou, 220 kilometers away from Shanghai and 73 kilometers away from Hangzhou. A 52-km water transport course is in it and ships can leave there for Huzhou, Shanghai and Suzhou etc.

In the recent years, Anji has made fast progress in economic and social aspects. In 1999 its GDP reached RMB 5.331 billion, revenue RMB 172 million, per capita disposable income of urban residents RMB 7,528 and per capita income of peasants RMB 3,557. It has been listed among the "Well-to-do Counties" of Zhejiang province and the 100 national counties of good forestation. It has also been assessed as a national advanced unit of forestation, national advanced unit of science and technology, national advanced county of scientific and technological development, national advanced group of water and soil conservation, national demonstration county for developing economy through science and technology, national advanced elementary-electrification group of rural hydropower, national advanced unit of small hydropower, national experimental county for the development in the ecological demonstration area, and national demonstration county of ecological agriculture.

Anji is richly endowed by nature and has long been known as "birthplace of bamboo". It is awarded by the state as "birthplace of bamboo of China". The area of bamboo forest is 65,000 hectares, of which mao bamboo forest is 51,000 hectares and small bamboo forest 14,000 hectares. It has 135 million mao bamboos and ranks first among the ten largest birthplaces of bamboo in china. In the recent years, with the strategy for the improvement in trade, agriculture, industry and external-oriented economy, Anji has focused much on utilizing bamboo resources, and made a long step in developing bamboo economy. Bamboo-made products including Summer sleeping met, slab rubber, dalle, handicraft, health food, stationery and sports product and bamboo midbody have formed seven series and over 700 types of products, which are sold to more than 20 countries and regions such as southeast Asia, Europe and America etc. By the end of 1999 the county had already had more than 1,200 enterprises of bamboo products, of which there were 30 foreign, private, and joint ventures. The output value of bamboo products had surmounted RMB 1.7 billion and taken the lead in the country.

Anji possesses lots of local specialties, with "three old treasures" such as "dried bamboo shoots, Chinese chestnuts, and hickory nuts" and "three new treasures" such as "white tea, ginkgo, and bamboo flavones". As one of the provincial tea home, Anji has the tea plantation of 45,000 hectares, which produces more than 3,300-ton tea annually. It owns the unique "Anji white tea" as the best quality tea, "Anji white slice" as the national famous tea, superfine Zhenmei tea of "Tiantan" brand which has won the international gold prize, and "alpine cloud-and-mist tea" as the rare tea. Bamboo leaf flavone, the newly-developed national product, has the same function as ginkgo flavones in reducing blood fat and blood pressure, and fighting against fatigue and aging, thus owning a good prospect.

The industry of Anji has been advanced fleetly, with its structure deeply changed and economic strength greatly improved, especially privately run enterprises which has played an important role in the economy of Anji. Many trades have reached certain scale and formed their own features, such as household air-conditioner, agricultural vehicle, building material, chemical industry of medicine, silk and textile, pragmatic light industry, food and drink, etc. Anji is also the largest producer of five-wheeled swivel chair of the country, producing over 3 million chairs annually. Its total sales account for one third of the national total with the annual output revenue of RMB 600 million. Anji also develops quickly in agriculture and has in succession set up five production bases such as early garden bamboo, white tea, silkworm breeding and mulberry growing, tobacco, and alpine vegetables. Vegetables there are of non-pollution, non-pesticide, nice color and high-nutrition, making them popular on the market of many cities such as Hangzhou. Shanghai and Suzhou.

Anji is rich in mineral resources where 42 metals and nonmetals have been ascertained. Of this, bentonite, limestone, granite, quartz sand and yellow sand are of large reserves and high quality. Anji sand is named as "gold sand". "Anji red" granite ranked first in the 1st Granite Expo of Southeast China. The reserve of bentonite in Anji reaches over 10 million tons making it the largest manufacturing-processing base in both China and Asia.

Anji has abundant water resources, owning two large-size reservoirs, two medium-sized ones and over 5,000 small ones of various kinds. Water resources there are 77 thousand kilowatts, of which 35 thousand have been exploited. More than 100 small hydropower stations have been built, generating electricity of 100 million kilowatts annually. Tianhuangping hydropower station, the state key project with a 10-billion-RMB investment, will have the capacity of 1.8 million kilowatts which is 6 times the first phase capacity of Qinshan Nuclear Power Station. After 8-year construction, the station is soon to be finished, expected to generate electricity at the end of the year 2000.

Anji possesses rich tourism resources. With rolling hills and clear waters, it has 65 percentage of forest cover and is naturally a green world. The unique sea of bamboo gestates bamboo culture and bamboo custom, giving the county a special charm for travel. Tianhuangping hydropower station, situated at the peak of over 900 meters above sea level, is presently the largest in Asia and the second largest in the world which pumps water to generate electricity. Tianhuangping scenic spot is now applying for the recognition as the state scenic spot. This magnificent project is a perfect combination of workmanship and nature. In November 1996, accompanied by the former director of foreign affairs office of the state council Liu Huaqiu, premier Li Peng and vice premier Wu Bangguo visited Anji, composing a poem in praise of the place: "people seem to be walking in the heaven, for it is enveloped in mist; hills are hidden in the sea of bamboo, and the lake lies at the top of the green hill." Anji bamboo garden is universally acknowledged as the largest and most complete "bamboo kingdom of the world". The provincial nature preserve Mt. Longwang, the source of Huangyuan River, is famous for its great variety of species. In the mountain, there are rocks breaking the waves, rare pine trees, clouds and mist and wild animals, thus making it a good place for ecological tour. Anji was named "China folk painting and calligraphy county" by the ministry of culture. It was the hometown of the modern artist Wu Changshuo who is good at poem and calligraphy and painting and reputed to be " the great master of painting of his time" in China and "China's greatest master of painting" in Japan. His domestic disciples including Pan Tianshou, Sha Menghai, Qi Baishi, and Liu Haisu have all become masters in painting and calligraphy. Now Anji still remains this tradition and produces talents generation after generation, and has more than 10 members of the provincial or national Association of Calligraphers or Artists. Lingfeng Temple, which has a long history of over 1,000 years, intact ancient city wall, lofty Lingzhi Pagoda and Yunhong Pagoda, and Tianfu Resort Area, make up a gold travel route for both sightseeing and holiday-spending. To take advantage of its special tourism resources, Anji has made the goal of building "a back garden of the city" and "a large tourist county" and designed the tourism structure of "one ring, two spots and one center". One ring refers to the ring of historical and cultural custom travel; two spots are Tianhuangping scenic spot and Mt. Longwang scenic spot; one center means to build the county town Dipu into a comprehensive travel service center. Anji has successively organized '97 China Bamboo Culture Festival, '98 Tianhuangping Travel Festival, and '99 China Bamboo Home Ecological Travel Festival and also recommended three popular travel routes such as Tianhuangping sightseeing travel, Mt. Longwang ecological travel and Changshuo cultural travel.

Owing to the economic development, Anji has improved a lot in its infrastructure and investment environment and possessed a fairly good reception capacity. Currently it has more than 1,100 restaurants and hotels including 3 tourist hotels possessing over 600 rooms, and has already formed a travel network for eating, lodging, traveling, shopping and recreation. Since 1995, the county has invested approximately RMB 800 million to develop the traffic. Anji-Hangzhou section of the Provincial Highway 4 is under transformation and the first-phase highway of 26 kilometers within Anji has opened to traffic since 1997. It is expected that by 2000 the whole project will be completed. The reconstruction of Anji-Huzhou section of the Provincial Highway 3 has begun. It will form a crisscross thoroughfare framework, making nearby cities within three-hour drive such as Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Nanjing. Then Anji will truly become "the back garden of modern cities". All of this helps to ensure a bright future for its tourism. We Anji people will devote ourselves to the development of agriculture and industry and tourism, and the protection of the environment so as to make Anji more beautiful and prosperous in the 21st century.