Whether it is the history of silk, its art or its commerce, the ancient city of Hangzhou has played a pivotal role - and continues to do so today.

Archeologists have found that capital city of Zhejiang province was one of the earliest of all silk-making sites. Its rice cultivation, silk and pottery can be traced back to the Liangzhu Culture period of the Neolithic era.

As the cradle of silk culture and production, Hangzhou has the world's largest silk museum - the China National Silk Museum located at the foot of Jade Emperor Hill.

Opened in 1992, the 10,000 sq m museum exhibits 5,000 years of silk history in China. It has eight exhibition halls that cover the range of silk making, from silkworm cultivation, filament reeling and spinning, to weaving, printing, and dyeing.

The museum also exhibits silk from the Neolithic age and the Han (206 BC- AD 220), Tang (AD 618-907), Song (960-1279), Yuan (1271-1368), Ming (1368-1644), and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, as well as that from modern times.

To increase the number of foreign visitors, the museum provides English language descriptions, videos and interactive media throughout its halls. A large map shows the three silk routes across China, including the most famous one, the Silk Road.

The museum has been open to the public for free since 2004.

Another silk museum, the Silk Brocade Museum, or Du Jinsheng Museum, is named for a Hangzhou native who became household brocade producer. The site was originally a silk weaving factory.

Founded in 1922, the factory received wide acclaim at the Philadelphia International Expo in 1926, where it won a gold medal for a multicolored brocade landscape.

The museum now has exhibitions that display the silk weaving factory's array of brocade products.

Although overshadowed by the new China Silk Museum, the Silk Brocade Museum is still worth a look for its convenient location in Fengqi Road close to the busy shopping street Yan'an Road.

Hangzhou silk products are not only displayed as antiques in museums, but can be easily purchased in the silk capital. Silk City, an outdoor pedestrian shopping area located at Xinhua and Jiankang Roads, is the best place to buy quality silk at reasonable prices.

Famed as a powerhouse of silk production and trade in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the crossroads is now home to a 25,000 sq m center comprising the largest wholesale and retail silk market in China.

More than 600 silk outlets at the center deal in a wide variety of silk ranging from fabric to garments, handicrafts, scarves, ties and other products.

Silk City was built in a combination of ancient and modern styles with a mix of busy stalls, ancient storefronts and modern department stores. More than 200 pictures and calligraphic works adorn the eaves along the streets, which offer an appreciation of the history of silk available by simply strolling along the street.

Hangzhou today is not only a capital of silk, but has aggressively expanded its women's clothing industry.

A few blocks from Silk City is Wulin Road, the city's most popular street for women's clothing. Up-market department stores and chic boutiques along street offer the latest fashions and trendy clothes.

Though a modern street today, Wulin Road can be traced back to the Sui Dynasty (581-618), when the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal opened. During the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), boutiques sprang up along the street, which gradually evolved into a trading zone for women's garments.

Lining the 1,650-m-long street, boutiques and roadside restaurants mingle with age-old buildings like Qiantang Gate and Longxing Temple.

There are now 791 stores along the street, compared to 273 in 2002. Sales revenue from Wulin Road reached 1.5 billion yuan in 2006, with 132 million yuan in taxes generated, up from 38 million yuan in 2002. Its shops include those selling local brands including Lang Man Yi Shen, JNBY and Lesies

City records show there are more than 300 large silk enterprises in Hangzhou and over 2,400 manufacturers in the city producing women's clothing, which together reached 17 billion yuan in sales in 2006. The city's target is to surpass 55 billion yuan in sales by its garment factories by the end of the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10).

Hangzhou China Travel Service: 0086-0571-88398499 13588476467 (24h)