China

China lies mainly in the northern temperate zone, and is the world's most populous and third largest nation. Stretching from its southern borders in the Himalayas to the deserts of Mongolia in the north, and from the East China Sea through the Yangzi River Valley plains, to the Tibetan Plateau in the western mainland, China covers an area of 9,596,960 square kilometers. The nation comprises five autonomous regions and twenty-two provinces, as well as Hong Kong, which is now titled a 'Special Administrative Region'. The seat of government, Beijing, is a large city of 11 million people.

Due to its size, China's climate is obviously very diverse, ranging from an unbearable 48ºC in the northwest during summer to an equally unbearable -40ºC in the far north in winter.

The official language in China is Mandarin, as spoken in Beijing, but there are also many different dialects in different areas. Chinese food is like no other cuisine, and again, this differs greatly between regions. Art in China is also stunningly unique, perhaps best typified by calligraphy, performed with ink and brush, and held in extremely high esteem by the Chinese.

Quick Facts:

Area: 9,596,960 square kilometers
Population: 1.2 billion
Capital City: Beijing
People: Han Chinese 93%, other immigrants (including Mongol, Zhuang, Manchu and Uighur) 7%
Main Language: Mandarin ( Beijing dialect)
Religion: Officially atheist; Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism. Also Islamic and Christian communities
Major Industries: Iron, steel, coal, machinery, textiles
Currency: Renminbi (RMB)

Learn more about China here.

Hangzhou - capital city of Zhejiang Province

"Up above there is heaven, and below there are Suzhou and Hangzhou". This is one of the most popular Chinese sayings people, often quoted to describe the picturesque scenery of these two scenic cities of East China.

Hangzhou, the capital city of East China's Zhejiang Province, and one of the seven capitals (the others being Van, Luoyang, Kaifeng, Anyang, Beijing, and Nanjing) in ancient China, is endowed with irritable charm and vigour as an ideal destination for tourists from home and overseas. Located at the southern end of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal 180 kilometres south of Shanghai. The city is the political, economic, cultural, and scientific research centre of this coastal province in East China. With a long history and a wealth of cultural relics, the city is a communications hub in East China. Besides railways, expressways and international airports, the Grand Canal and Qiantang River can connect the city with other parts of the world.

With a history of more than 2,200 years, Hangzhou is one of the cradles of China's civilization. Hangzhou used to be the capital of Wu and Yue kingdoms in the 10th century during the Five Dynasties period. It developed rapidly in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) to become the nation's cultural, economic and political centre in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). In the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), Marco Polo (1254-1324, Venetian traveler to the court of Kublai Khan) described it as the most graceful city in the world.

The City of Hangzhou is divided into six districts, five cities and two counties. It encompasses 16,847 square kilometers with a population of 6.16 million. Its major industries include textiles, machinery, metallurgy, chemicals, electronics, and food.

Hangzhou is one of the top 10 tourist attractions in China. It is famous for its surrounding hills and numerous beautiful scenic spots, especially the West Lake. Other tourist attractions include Pagoda of Six Harmonies, Soul's Retreat Temple, The Peak That Flew Here, Hangzhou Oriental Culture Park, the Newly-Built Leifeng Pagoda, Fuchun River, Xin'an River, the "Thousand-Island Lake," the rarely seen tide of the Qiantang River, and Tianmu Mountain.

Learn more about Hangzou here, here or here.

Zhejiang University

Zhejiang University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China. Established in 1897 as Qiushi Academy, the school is also referred to as ZJU or Zheda. Located approximately 112 miles (180 kilometers) southwest of Shanghai in the city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University is one of the China's leading research universities. Both its undergraduate and graduate programs and faculty are consistently ranked as among the best in China.

Once known as "Cambridge of the East," Zhejiang University was split up into a number of single-discipline colleges during the 1952 readjustment of China's Tertiary Education System. In 1998, with the approval of the State Council, the new Zhejiang University was established as a combination of four major universities that had grown up in Hangzhou over the previous half-century, namely Zhejiang University, Hangzhou University, Zhejiang Agricultural University and Zhejiang Medical University.

Under the direct administration of China's Ministry of Education, the new Zhejiang University is a key comprehensive university whose fields of study cover eleven branches of learning, namely philosophy, literature, history, education, science, economics, law, management, engineering, agriculture, and medicine. The university, now has 110 specialties for undergraduate studies, and it is entitled to confer masters degrees in 264 programs and doctoral degrees in 181 programs. Under its administration there are 12 National Key Laboratories, 2 National Engineering Research Centers and 3 National Engineering Technology Centers. Besides, it has set up 24 national key specialties and 39 post-doctoral stations.

Zhejiang University consists of six campuses, namely Yuquan, Xixi, Huajiachi, Hubin, Zhijiang, and Zijingang, occupying a total area of 5,330,000 square meters and a floor space of 2,008,000 square meters. At present, the total number of full time students has reached over 42,845 including 25,071 undergraduates, 11,207 postgraduates working for master's degrees and 5,525 Ph.D. candidates. Among its over 8,272 staff members and workers, there are 12 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 8 members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, over 1,122 full professors and 2,329 associate professors.

Learn more about Zhejiang University here.

Zhejiang University Library

Zhejiang University Library is composed of one general library and five branch libraries located at Yuquan (Science & Technology), Xixi (Arts and Humanities), Huajiachi (Agriculture), Hubin (Medical Science), and Zijingang campuses. The Zijingang branch library was established in October, 2003, which contains the latest technology for users’ services. Together with other libraries, it aims at providing the University’s faculty, students and researchers with comprehensive access over time to all of its collection.

The libraries reflect vast areas of scholarship and information ranging from traditional print to rapid growing digital resources. The total number of library holding is more than 5.5 million volumes including around 3.5 million volumes and subscriptions to over 1.17 million periodicals, as well as more than 20,000 items of video and microfilm. The whole collection covers a complete area of disciplines especially on Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineer, Medical, Agriculture, Biological Science, Local Literature, Dun Huang Study, and Psychology.

Digital resources have been increasing at a high speed in recent years within the library collection. There are more than two hundred databases which cover all kinds of areas including more than 120,000 electronic books, journals, magazines, as well as dissertations.

Department of Information Resources Management, Zhejiang University

The Department of Information Resources Management at Zhejiang University was founded on November 15, 2003, merging with the Departments of Scientific and Technical Information and Library and Archival Science. It offers bachelor degrees of Information Resources Management, E-government (electronic government based on electronic documents and records), and master degrees of Information Science and Archival Science (Rare Book and Records Management).

Information Resources Management Institute is an interdisciplinary collaborative research institute for scholars and researchers in China and abroad. It is established based on the studies of Information Science, Archival Rare Book and Records Management, and Library Science, which contains 3 professors, 3 associate professors, and 3 assistant professors. The research of the Institute focuses on information management theory, electronic information management technology, information resources and information retrieval, information analysis, digital information processing, and other related areas.

The Institute has established international collaborative programs with the Graduate School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Rhode Island, the School of Information in University of Michigan, and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. The international collaborative programs include scholarly research, faculty exchange, and graduate education. All these programs provide the Institute with a platform global education and research.

The IRM contact person for GSLIS is:

Dr. Ye, Ying
Dean, Department of Information Resources Management
Director, Information Resources Management Institute
Zhejiang University , CHINA 310028
Email: yye@zju.edu.cn
Tel: 86-571-88273108 (O)