Zurich

City Introduction

(Source: Internet)

When people mention the world’s most expensive city, Zurich, the city consistently ranks in the top 3. But in addition to the developed economy and perfect infrastructure, only a few people know about Einstein’s university---the world famous Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and Zurich University, which are located here. Zurich is also the origin of Dadaism during the beginning of last century. Although it is the metropolitan in Switzerland, Zurich is a small village both in terms of its size and population when compared to the rest of Europe. Comparing to the big cities of neighboring countries, such as Paris, Berlin, it is absolutely not as large as them. Such a concentrated city has not denied its charm, but demonstrated its own personality with its unique opportune.

The narrow sense of Zurich refers to Zurich city (not to be confused with the state of Zurich, Zurich city is the capital of Switzerland). Many people mistakenly think that Zurich is the capital of Switzerland. Indeed, until 1848 Zurich gave place to Bern---a beautiful city located in the south of Zurich that takes about one hour by car. Zurich is the largest city as well as economic and commercial center in Switzerland. The main tourism attractions of Zurich are concentrated near Bahnhofstrasse, which is not far from the Central railway station as well as the Limmat River. Switzerland is a mountainous country, while walking in the city of Zurich you may encounter many mini hillsides up and down, one by one. The downtown area is very small, there are often direct transportation options from A to B, and it will not be more than 20 minutes by walking.

Area: 91.9 square kilometers.

Population: 1.112 million

Local languages: German, French and Italian.

History and Culture

During the rule of the Roman Empire, Zurich belonged to Belgian Gaul province of the Empire (began in AD 90) which was the main tax point of the border separating in this province and Germania province, to transfer the goods through Limate River. In 1045, the King of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor, Henry III, approved the convent to have the power of market, taxation and coinage. That event made the dean of the convent become a powerful ruler of the city.

In 1218, after Zaehringer family’s direct descendent had no off springs, Zurich became the Royal Municipality. When Zurich was under the control of Rome Empire it was the main tax point to deliver the goods to the Empire via waterway. And it became the territory of Holy Rome Empire later. In 1218, it became the free city of the Empire. In 1351, it joined the Swiss Federation and became the 5th state of the Swiss Federal. In 1440, land disputes with other states led to war and was expelled by the Swiss Federation. In 1446, it was defeated in the civil war, in 1450 it returned to the Federation again. After the rebellion in Zurich, on 6th September 1839, the public demanded for city expansion. The wall, which was built in the 17th century, was demolished without being attacked so as to ease up the worries that suburban people’s attitudes to the city hegemony. In 1859 Austria, France and Sardinia signed the Treaty of Zurich.

From the beginning of 1847, the first railway in Switzerland—“Spain-Buluoteli-Barnes” railway connected Zurich and Baden together. While the Zurich Train Station became the starting point of Swiss railway network. Now the history of terminal building can be traced back to 1871. Zurich is one of the Swiss cultural, education and research centers. “Crawford” church near Zurich Lake was founded in AD 853 and was built in Roman architectural style. The city’s most beautiful Baroque style building used to be the Wine Association which is not far from the church. The building which is on the other side of the river as well as opposite to “Crawford” church is the Cathedral of Zurich. A pair of towers was built in the 15th century, which is an important symbol of Zurich City. The City Hall is a magnificent building of Italian Renaissance style.

There are more than 50 kinds of museums and art galleries in Zurich City. Zurich Federal Polytechnic and Zurich University and other colleges are all well-known institutions of higher education. Nearly 500 students from China are studying in these two universities for further education. The Swiss National Museum and Library are both located here. Lenin was engaged in research work in the city from 1916-1917 and wrote the famous book Imperialism is the highest stage of the development of Capitalism.

Climate

Zurich is a temperate continental climate region with four distinct seasons. The lowest temperature in January is about −0.5℃, the peak temperature in July is 17.6℃. It is a city which is suitable for recreation in the four seasons a year. With different seasons, the scenery is different. You can walk around the surrounding cities in spring and autumn. In summer, there will be a lot of open-air concerts and cinemas in the city center. In winter it is a world of ice and snow.