Located at northern latitude of between 29°11′~30°02′ and east longitude of 118°20′~119°20′ in the west of Zhejiang Province, Chun’an County is the location of the Thousand-islet Lake, a famous national level scenic area, and is an old revolutionary base county approved by Zhejiang Provincial Government. Chun’an is adjacent to Lin’an on the north, Tonglu and Jiande on the east, Changshan and Quxian County on the south, Kaihuang on the southwest, Xiuning and Shexian of Zhejiang Province on the West. With east-western length of 96.80, south-northern width of 94.40km and total area of 4427km, Chun’an is the largest county in Zhejiang  Province, accounting for 4.35% of the total area of the province. Chun’an is in jurisdiction of Hangzhou city and is 151km from downtown Hangzhou. 

By the end of 2014, the county has set up 23 towns and townships, including 11 towns, 12 townships, 425 administrative villages and 12 communities. The county has total registered population of 459,037, including male population of 233,119 and female 225,918, with agricultural population of 376,414 and non-agricultural population of 82,623 (appendix: 2014 List of Chun’an County Administrative Regions)

Underdeveloped Rich County: underdeveloped county: In order to construct Xin’an River hydropower station, the former Chun’an and Shui’an counties and 300000-mu fertile farmlands were submerged under water, 255 enterprises were moved out and infrastructures were almost depleted. Chun’an turned from first class well-off county before the construction of the reservoir to an impoverished county after the construction of the reservoir. The economic development has undergone a tortuous course of “decade’s retrogress, decade’s stagnancy and decade’s recovery”. It was not until 1977 that the economy barely recovered to the level in 1958. At present, it was still one of the 26 underdeveloped regions in Zhejiang Province and the only economically underdeveloped county in Hangzhou; Rich county: the county owns first class eco- environmental resources and tourism resources. With 1078 islets, lake shoreline of 2500km and lake area of 573 square kilometers, Thousand-islet Lake is the first batch national level scenic area approved by State Council and the largest forest park inChina. Thousand-islet Lake was dubbed “the clearest water under heaven” with water quality ranking top among 61 key monitored lakes (reservoirs) inChina. Chun’an has abundant natural resources. Thousand-islet Lake has 91 types of freshwater fishes and is one of the four freshwater fish bases inChina. With 17.8 billion cubic meters of first grade water body, it is a superexcellent water and beverage industrial development base. With mountain forest area of 5.37 million mu, the county ranks the first among Zhejiang province in forest stock. Unique lake region microclimate is ideal for cultivation of numerous high quality agricultural products, such as sericulture, tea and dried fruits. The county was appraised as Comprehensive Agricultural County in Zhejiang Province. Chun’an also has rich political resources. Due to Chun’an people great sacrifice to construction of Xin’an River Hydropower Station and further dedication to protection of Thousand-islet  Lake, the central, provincial and municipal governments have extended special concern for Chun’an. Central leaders Zhou Enlai, Jiang Zemin, Li Peng, Qiao Shi, Zhu Rongji had successively came to Chun’an to inspect and guide work. Four provincial governors Zhang Dejiang, Xi Jinping, Zhao Hongzhu and Xia Baolong have successively regarded Chun’an as grassroots work contact point. At present, focused on the target of “clarifying water and richening people” , Chun’an is thoroughly implementing key supporting lake under national river and lake ecological environmental protection, provincial pilot of key eco-functional area and experimental area of beautiful Hangzhou. The county has further changed economic development mode and strives to set an example in “making profit from clean water and verdant mountains”  

Largest “Small” Town: Large county: Chun’an is the largest county in Zhejiang province in size with total area of 4427 square kilometers, larger than the whole Jiaxing region; it is also the largest immigrant county, with 290,000 residents having been immigrated and 80,000 being relocated locally for the construction of Xin’an River Hydropower Station; it is the largest reservoir area county in Zhejiang province with reservoir area population of 126,400. Small county: the county is small in economic aggregate. In 2014, the county achieved GDP of RMB 19,154 million Yuan, local financial revenue of 1386 million Yuan, fixed assets investment of RMB 14,505 million Yuan, urban and rural resident income of RMB 30,559 Yuan and RMB 13,278 Yuan respectively. The economic aggregate of the county accounts for around 2% of that in Hangzhou city. Rural per capita net income was only about 65% and 55% of provincial land municipal average level. 

Ancient “Young” County: Ancient town: Chun’an is an ancient county with long history and profound cultural deposits. Chun’an started organizational system in the 13^th year in Jian’an reign of Eastern Han Dynasty dating back to over 1800 years ago. It is the place where Anhui-style culture and Jiangnan culture integrated. Neo-confucianist of Song Dynasty Zhu Xi ever wrote the famous poetic line of “ Why is the water so clear in the dyke, for the freshwater comes from the spring head” when he was giving lecture in Chun’an. Ming Dynasty famous honest and upright official Hai Rui ever served as magistrate of Chun’an County for four years. Chun’an has glorious revolutionary tradition. Northward Spearhead against Japan of Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army entered and exited Chun’an and Sui’an twice in 1935. In 1988, Chun’an was approved as old revolutionary base county by Zhejiang Provincial People’s government. It is the only old revolutionary base area in Hangzhou. Young County: the county is young because the present Chun’an County has a history of only 54 years. It was combined from former Chun’an and Sui’an County in 1959 as a result of the construction of Xin’an River Hydropower Station, which was China’s first large scale hydropower station independently designed and constructed by the country with home-made equipments.