Forbes Magazine has named Hangzhou the best commercial city in China for five consecutive years, beating out bigger rivals like Beijing and Shanghai.

Two hours southwest of Shanghai by rail or road, the capital of Zhejiang is built around the West Lake, one of China’s most famous scenic attractions. Hangzhou is a model of Chinese urban planning. From a small city in a beautiful setting, it has grown into a modern provincial center.

The city is one of 10 national software bases. Tata Consultancy Services, India’s largest IT company, first opened a Hangzhou office in 2002 as one of its own outsourcing bases in China, with some of its 800 consultants split between there and Shanghai. It also operates an outsourcing center for General Electric. Hangzhou is also home to the Alibaba Group, China’s largest Internet company.

“Hangzhou has become the center for e-commerce in China. We are lucky that Alibaba started in Hangzhou, and not in Beijing or Shanghai. If it had grown up in those cities, it might have evolved to serve big corporations. Instead, it serves entrepreneurs and small businesses. Zhejiang is a hothouse of the private sector and entrepreneurship,” said Jack Ma, Alibaba Group’s chairman and CEO, the city’s best-known technology ambassador.