SHANGHAI, Sept. 20 -- THE Yuhang District of Hangzhou City, capital of Zhejiang Province, has earmarked 15 billion yuan (US$1.99 billion) to turn the 2,200-year-old county into a leisure resort for tourists.

Yuhang lies at the center of the Yangtze Delta where Shanghai, Hangzhou and Ningbo connect. It is famous as the town of rice and fish, the land of flowers and fruit, the home of silk and the province of culture.

Yuhang enjoys a long history, where the Liangzhu Culture, in the dawn of Chinese civilization, came about 5,000 years ago. In 222BC, Yuhang County was set up within the present Yuhang territory.

The southern end of the 1,400-year-old Beijing-Hangzhou Canal starts in the district.

The development for tourists will focus on relaxation and interactive holidays, not just sight-seeing, and highlight the district's culture and history.

Yuhang will offer six tour packages over the next three to five years including the third phase of the Xixi National Wetland Park, the place where Liangzhu Culture began (also known as "the Great Beautiful State"), the Jingshan Hill scenic area where the Japanese tea ceremonies originated and the South Lake which echoes the better-known West Lake.

The district also has Chaoshan Hill, one of the three major resorts to appreciate plums in all their varieties, and where in winter people can enjoy the plum blossoms - "the fragrant snow sea."

Tourists can also enjoy the tasty seasonal fruit loguat in late May in the town of Tangqi in Yuhang. Tangqi is one of the four major loquat growing areas in China.

Yuhang covers 1,220 square kilometers and has a population of 819,000 who live in the plains, wetlands and hills that cover the district.

In 2001 Yuhang became the administrative district of Hangzhou, the largest city after Shanghai in east China.