Hangzhou formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division  or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people. The built up area of the Hangzhou municipality had a resident population of 4.227 million in 2003 (urban and suburban districts), of which there were 1.91 million residents in the six urban core districts.