Wutong trees (commonly known as the Chinese parasol trees) are said to be where phoenixes perched. Tongxiang was named after the Wutong trees planted widely in ancient times, meaning "the land of Wutong". With eight towns and three sub-districts under its jurisdiction, the city covers 727 square kilometers with a population of 1.03 million. Tongxiang is the permanent host of the World Internet Conference since 2014. At the Second World Internet Conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping spoke highly of the development of Wuzhen and Tongxiang, saying it has taken on a "refreshing and eye-catching new look" and hoping to see "Wuzhen and Tongxiang even better developed". In the first half of 2022, the city achieved a regional GDP of 56.36 billion yuan, an increase of 3.6%, total fiscal revenue and general public budget revenue reached 10.6 billion yuan and 6.6 billion yuan respectively, and the ranking 21st among the top 100 counties in the country.

Tongxiang (N 30°28′-30°47′, E 120°17′-120°39′) is located in the northern part of Zhejiang on the Hangjiahu Plain. It is adjacent to Xiuzhou District, Jiaxing in the east and Haining in the south, shares borders with Deqing County and Linping District, Hangzhou in the west, is connected to Nanxun District, Huzhou in the northwest, and is bordered by Wujiang District, Suzhou, Jiangsu to the north. Its urban area is located at a distance of 148 km from Shanghai and 65 km from Hangzhou. Tongxiang is traversed by several major water and land transportation arteries, including the Shanghai-Kunming Expressway (G60), the Shanghai-Jiaxing-Huzhou Expressway (S12), the Lianshi-Hangzhou Expressway (S13), the National Highway 320, the Shanghai-Hangzhou High-speed Railway, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

Tongxiang is a city with the

tradition of revolution.

Its revolutionary traditions are passed down from generation to generation. Of the 58 Party members at the first CPC national congress, renowned figures Shen Yanbing, better known by his pseudonym Mao Dun, and his brother Shen Zemin were native to Tongxiang.

Tongxiang is also the hometown of Wang Huiwu, "guardian of the first CPC congress", and Zhang Qinqiu, a female general of the Red Army.

From the birth of the first Party organization in Tongxiang to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, there were 29 Party organizations and hundreds of Communist Party members fighting on the land of Tongxiang, and a number of revolutionary martyrs and heroes emerged, such as Kong Lingjing, Chi Gengxiang, Chen Danchi and Zhan Xingmin.

In recent years, the city has made great efforts to promote Party construction, including implementing the "high-quality party building" three-year action plan. Tongxiang has been listed among the first batch of pioneer grassroots Party organizations in Jiaxing.

Tongxiang is a city of innovation.

Efforts have been made to build facilities supporting industrial innovation, such as the Phoenix Lake Science and Technology Town, the Wuzhen International Innovation Zone, and High-speed Railway Industry New Town. In addition, Tongxiang has built the "Home of Academicians", the only one in Jiaxing and Wuzhen Laboratory, a strategic science and technology innovation platform co-established with the School of Materials Science and Engineering in Tsinghua University and Yangtze Delta Region Research Institute of Tsinghua University. Benefiting from this, Tongxiang introduced a number of new research and development institutes, such as the Yangtze River Delta Institute of Agricultural Health of the CAS, Tongxiang Research Institute of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Tongxiang Research Institute of the Communication University of Zhejiang, etc., and has more than 1500 national high-tech enterprises and provincial science and technology-based enterprises. Jushi and Tongkun won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award and the first prize of the Provincial Science and Technology Award.

In recent years, benefitting from the World Internet Conference, Tongxiang has seen rapid development in the digital economy. The number of digital economy enterprises has exceeded 2,800, and the integration index of industrialization and digitalization has remained at the forefront of the province. A cluster of innovative projects have settled here, including the "Light of Wuzhen" Supercomputing Center, Zhejiang Hozon New Energy Automobile Co., Baidu's Apollo Park in Wuzhen and Huawei Innovation Center.

Tongxiang is a city of vitality.

Tongxiang is the first batch of robust industrial cities and market-robust cities in the province, with over 170,000 market entities and more than 40,000 enterprises, including world-class leading enterprises such as China Jushi, Tongkun Group, Xin Feng Ming Group, and Huayou Cobalt, as well as manufacturing giants such as Jeamo Motor and Zhejiang Double Arrow Rubber. Together they have helped form advantageous pillar industries, mainly in new materials, digital economy, equipment manufacturing, and fashion industry.

In the first half of 2022, the total output value of industry on the scale was 116.6 billion yuan and the added value was 21 billion yuan, and the total market value of 10 listed enterprises ranked first in Jiaxing.

Tongxiang is home to Wuzhen Scenic Area, the world-renowned tourist attraction, and Puyuan Woolen Sweater Market, the largest woolen sweater distribution center in China. Tongxiang has won the titles of China Excellent Tourism City, Provincial Demonstration City of Tourism, First Prize of Provincial Service Industry Strong City Evaluation, and Provincial Great Garden Demonstration County Construction Excellence.

The modernization level of Tongxiang's agricultural industry continues to improve. It has been awarded as an advanced county in the development of digital agriculture and rural areas in the country and a provincial demonstration county of beautiful countryside in the new era.

Tongxiang is a

key transportation hub.

Tongxiang is located in the heart of the Hangjiahu Plain in northern Zhejiang and the center of Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou. Tongxiang has a plain landscape and a dense river network, with Xiuzhou to the east, Haining to the south, Deqing and Linping to the west, Nanxun to the northwest, and Wujiang to the north, which is the superimposed area of Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou one-hour traffic circle.

The Shanghai-Kuming Expressway, Shanghai-Jiaxing-Huzhou Expressway, Lianshi-Hangzhou Expressway, and the 320 national highway run through Tongxiang. The number of highways in the city has ranked top for years in Zhejiang province. There are 22 inland waterways with a total range of 272 kilometers.

In recent years, Tongxiang has been actively seizing the strategic opportunities of the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta, focusing on the railway-driven, rapid, three-dimensional, and intelligent development, and actively promoting the construction of Hangzhou Airport High Speed Railway, Shanghai-Zhajiang-Hangzhou Railway, Water Township Tourism Line and Suzhou-Taizhou Expressway, striving to become an emerging comprehensive transportation hub in the core area of the Yangtze River Delta and the northeast gateway hub of Hangzhou Metropolitan Area.

Tongxiang is a city with

profound culture.

Ancestors lived in Tongxiang as early as 7000 years ago. The city is especially known as the Land of Fish and Rice, the Home of Silk, the City of Flowers, and the City of Culture. Majiabang, Liangzhu, Grand Canal, and ancient town cultures are intertwined in this fertile land, born famous literature and cultural giants such as Zhang Lyuxiang, Lyu Liuliang, Mao Dun, Feng Zikai, and Mu Xin.

Taking advantage of these cultural treasures, Tongxiang has created a series of cultural brands, such as Mao Dun Literature Awards, Feng Zikai Arts, and Bohong Reading Room, and has built landmark facilities such as new library, city archives center, national fitness center, new party school, and future plaza. The Bohong City Reading Room has branches covering the whole city, and village cultural centers have become the "spiritual home" of the villagers, making Tongxiang even more prominent with cultural features.

In recent years, Tongxiang has won titles of National Culture Demonstration City, Home of Chinese Folk Art (Comics), Home of Chinese Calligraphy, Home of Chinese Photography, Home of Chinese Line Dance, Home of Chinese Literature, Home of Chinese Martial Arts, Home of Chinese New Opera.

Tongxiang is a livable city.

Tongxiang is a National Harmonious Community Construction Demonstration City and one of the Top Ten Counties (Cities and Districts) in Provincial Social Governance, and has achieved the title of First Safe China Construction Demonstration County and won the Golden Tripod of Star-One in Zhejiang for social harmony and stability.

The grassroots social governance model of self-governance, the rule of law, and rule of morality originated from Tongxiang and was written into the report of the 19th CPC National Congress and has become a demonstration for the "integration of three modes of governance" nationwide.

In recent years, Tongxiang has also increased its investment in people's livelihood. Its per capita income gap between urban and rural residents is 1.56:1, making it one of the smallest gap in the country.

The city has seen coordinated development in social undertakings such as education, healthcare. The education brand of "Learning in Tongxiang" has been continuously enhanced, and the development of "healthcare alliance" has taken a leading role in the province. Tongxiang has basically achieved the full coverage of residents’ pension insurance and medical insurance.

Tongxiang has been executing the development concept of pursuing regional progress against the standards of scenic area management to integrate the development of a Beautiful Tongxiang, a Charming County and Idyllic Rural Areas. It has won twice the title of Excellent City Development in the program of Beautiful Zhejiang as well as the Tripod of Dayu for regulating water resources, and is a National Healthy City Demonstration City, National Sanitary City, National Garden City, Provincial Forest City and is currently striving to become a National Civilized City.