Ningbo

Ningbo 宁波
—  Sub-provincial city  —
宁波市
Nickname(s): 甬 yǒng
Location of Ningbo Prefecture within Zhejiang
Ningbo Location within China
Coordinates: 29°52′N 121°33′E / 29.867°N 121.55°E / 29.867; 121.55
Country	China
Province	Zhejiang
County-level divisions	11
Township divisions	148
Government
- CPC Ningbo Committee Secretary	Bayin Chaolu (巴音朝鲁)
- Mayor	Mao Guanglie (毛光烈)
Area
- Sub-provincial city	9,365 km2 (3,615.8 sq mi)
Elevation	150 m (488 ft)
Population (2008)
- Sub-provincial city	5,681,000
- Density	606.6/km2 (1,571.1/sq mi)
- Urban	2,201,000
Time zone	China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Postal code	315000
Area code(s)	574
License plate prefixes	浙B
GDP (2008)	CNY 396.4 billion
- per capita	CNY 69,997
Website	www.ningbo.gov.cn (Chinese)
City trees Camphor Laurel Cinnamomum camphora (L.) Sieb.) City flowers Camellia

Ningbo (simplified Chinese: 宁波; traditional Chinese: 寧波; pinyin: Níngbō; Wade-Giles: Ning-po; literally "Tranquil Waves") is a seaport with sub-provincial administrative status. The city has a population of 2,201,000 and is situated in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. Lying south of the Hangzhou Bay, and facing the East China Sea to the east, Ningbo borders Shaoxing to the west and Taizhou to the south, and is separated from Zhoushan by a narrow body of water.

Etymology

Níng (宁) - Serene; bō (波) - Waves; Together - Serene Waves. The city is abbreviated Yǒng (甬), after the Yong Hill (甬山), a prominent coastal hill near the city, just like the Yong River (甬江) that flows through Ningbo. The abbreviation Ning is used for Nanjing.

History

Ningbo was one of China's oldest cities, with a history dating back to 4800 BC the Hemudu culture. Once known as Mingzhou, Ningbo was known as a trade city on the silk road at least two thousand years ago, and then as a major port, along with Yangzhou and Guangzhou in the Tang Dynasty; thereafter, the major ports for foreign trade in the Song Dynasty. The city of Ningbo is recalled for a long time under the name of Liampó, in the Peregrination (Peregrinação) of Fernão Mendes Pinto, novel autobiographic Portuguese of the XVIth century. It is in this place it seems that was installed the first Portuguese salable community of the seas of China, before Macao. There are celebrated the feats of the pirate António of Faria..Ningbo was one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the Treaty of Nanjing (signed in 1842) at the end of the First Opium War between Britain and China. During the war, British forces took possession of the walled city of Ningbo briefly after storming the fortified town of Zhenhai at the mouth of the Yong River on October 10, 1841. In 1864, the forces of the Taiping Rebellion held the town for six months. In March 1885, during the Sino-French War, Admiral Courbet's naval squadron blockaded several Chinese warships in Zhenhai Bay and exchanged fire with the shore defences.

Ningbo was once famed for traditional Chinese furniture production.

During World War II in 1940, Japan bombed Ningbo with fleas carrying the bubonic plague.^[1] According to Daniel Barenblatt, Prince Tsuneyoshi Takeda received, with Prince Mikasa, a special screening by Shiro Ishii of a film showing imperial planes loading germ bombs for bubonic dissemination over Ningbo in 1940. ^[2]

"It has been said of the Ningbo fishermen that, 'no people in the world apparently made so great an advance in the art of fishing; and for centuries past no people have made so little further progress.' "^[3]

Administrative Structure

Ningbo currently has a Chinese Communist Party secretary of Mongol background, Bayanchuluun, serving as first-in-charge of the city.

Ningbo Local Government Offices

• • Ningbo Foreign Affairs Office ^[4]
  • Ningbo Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation Bureau ^[5]
  • Ningbo Govt. ^[6]

The sub-provincial city of Ningbo has direct jurisdiction over 6 districts (区 qu), 3 county-level cities (市 shi) and 2 Counties (县 xian):

	Subdivision
	Ningbo City Proper
	■ Haishu-qu	海曙区
	■ Jiangdong-qu	江东区
	■ Jiangbei-qu	江北区
	■ Zhenhai-qu	镇海区
	Ningbo Suburban and Rural
	■ Beilun-qu	北仑区
	■ Yinzhou-qu	鄞州区
	■ Yuyao-shi	余姚市
	■ Cixi-shi	慈溪市
	■ Fenghua-shi	奉化市
	■ Ninghai-xian	宁海县
	■ Xiangshan-xian	象山县

Geography and climate

• Ningbo covers an area of 9,365 square kilometres (3,616 sq mi) and has a total coastline of 1,562 km (971 mi) including 788 km (490 mi) of mainland coastline and 774 km (481 mi) of island coastline.
• Climatic Features: sub-tropical monsoon climate featured with temperate and humid weather and four distinct seasons; frost-free of 230-240 days
• Average Temperature: 16.2 °C (61.2 °F); average high in summer is 32 °C (90 °F), in winter 9 °C (48 °F)
• Average Rainfall: 1,300 mm (51 in) – 1,400 mm (55 in)

Economy

Ningbo is a very important economic hub and port city. A port city for foreign trade since the 7th century, Ningbo has since become a major exporter of consumer products, electrical products, textiles, food, and industrial tools.

The city formerly suffered from the fact that Hangzhou Bay stood between it and Shanghai, but this barrier was eliminated in late 2008 when a 33 km cross-sea bridge was completed, allowing travel to Shanghai in less than two hours.^[7]

The bridge is already having an impact on the local economy, according to foreign business people in the city – property prices are rising dramatically. Industrial land is now twice that of similar land around Shanghai in 2006. It remains to be seen what economic action will be taken to correct soaring property values and whether the correction will be hard or soft.^[8]

In 2007, Ningbo's economic activity reached USD 56.5 billion, up 33.9% from 2006. The exports totalled USD 38.26 billion, up 33% from the previous year. In addition, Ningbo imported USD 18.24 billion of goods, up 35.7% from the previous year.

Ningbo's economy grew 10.1 percent in 2008 to 396.4 billion yuan (US$57 billion). The city's per capita output was $10,079, more than three times the national average.^[9]

Ningbo is famous for the Si Lan Nong Xiang flower. Used for dying cloth, 2008 exports were responsible for 3% of the Ningbo economic growth.

Ningbo Port

Ningbo is not just an ordinary city – it has the same authority as provincial governments for economic administration – and has a port second only to Shanghai. Unlike Shanghai, the port is deepwater and capable of handling 300,000 tonne vessels. By 2007, cargo throughput will be 250m tonnes and container throughput 7m TEUs, and by 2010, 300m tonnes and 10m TEUs. With bulk container breakdowns, hugely improved logistics, and massive chemical and foodstuff, processing developments, Ningbo could yet win the race with Shanghai as port of choice for servicing the Chinese east coast.^[10]

Tourism

Ningbo at night

• Tianyi Pavilion Museum, (Tian Yi Ge Bowuguan) Ningbo's best tourist attraction, the Tian Yi Chamber (daily 8am-4.30pm; ¥20), is comfortably tucked away in the vicinity of Moon Lake (Yuehu). Built in 1516 and said to be the oldest surviving library building in China, it was founded by Ming official Fan Qin, whose collection went back to the eleventh century and included woodblock and handwritten copies of the Confucian classics, rare local histories and lists of the candidates successful in imperial examinations. Nowadays you can visit the library's garden and outhouses, some of which contain small displays of old books and tablets. It's quite a charming place and the gold-plated, wood-paneled buildings, their bamboo groves, pool and rockery still preserve an atmosphere of seclusion, contemplation and study.
• Baoguo Temple, the oldest intact wooden structure in Southern China, is located in Jiangbei District, 15 km north of Ningbo city.
• Tianfeng Tower
• Ahyuwang Temple
• Tiantong Temple
• Tian Yi Square
• Yushan Islands

Notable people

The monument of victory in the Battle of Zhenhai (Sino-French War)

Many well known Chinese came from Ningbo or their ancestral home was Ningbo.

People in mainland China

• Pan Tianshou (潘天寿), artist in Chinese painting.
• Zhou Xinfang (周信芳), artist in Peking Opera.
• Sha Menghai (沙孟海), the Master Calligrapher.

People in Hong Kong

• Sir Run Run Shaw
• Tung Chee Hwa
• Tung Chao Yung
• Chen Din Hwa
• Stephen Chow
• Sammo Hung

People in Taiwan

• Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), KMT leader and military strongman.
• Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國)
• Morris Chang (張忠謀)

People overseas

• Shien Biau Woo
• Yo Yo Ma

Transportation

Zhao bao shan Bridge, Zhenhai District, Ningbo

The Hangzhou Bay Bridge, a combination cable-stayed bridge and causeway across Hangzhou Bay opened to public on 1 May 2008, connects the municipalities of Shanghai and Ningbo, and is considered the longest trans-oceanic bridge in the world, and the world’s second-longest bridge, after the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway in Louisiana, USA.

The port of Ningbo is one of the world's busiest ports, ranked 4^th by cargo tonnage in 2005, and 15^th in TEU.

Ningbo Lishe International Airport connects Ningbo by air to the rest of China, with regularly scheduled flights to China and international destinations.

Military

Ningbo is the headquarters of the East Sea Fleet of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy. Its sector of responsibility includes Taiwan.

Food

Ningbo is known for Ningbo Tang yuan, small stuffed buns which are boiled. The stuffing is usually ground seasame mixed with sugar. The stuffing is wrapped with sticky rice powder.

Universities and colleges

Ningbo has three universities. Towards the north of the city is Ningbo University, while the Ningbo Higher Education Zone (Yinzhou district) is home to Zhejiang Wanli University as well as the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China – a joint venture between the University of Nottingham and the Wanli Education Group.

Sister cities

Ningbo has city partnerships with many cities around the world.

Sister cities (友好城市)

• Nagaokakyo, Japan (since April 1983)
• Aachen, Germany (October 1986)
• Wilmington, Delaware, USA (May 1988)
• Rouen, France (March 1990)
• Waitakere, New Zealand (November 1998)
• Santos, Brazil (January 2002)
• Veszprem, Hungary (July 2003)
• Nelson Mandela Municipality, South Africa (September 2003)
• Varna, Bulgaria (June 2004)
• Stavanger, Norway (September 2004)
• Nottingham, UK (September 2005)^[11]
• Bydgoszcz, Poland (November 2005)

Cities of friendly exchanges (友好交流关系城市)

• Masuda, Japan (since October 1990)
• Ueda, Japan (February 1995)
• Barcelona, Spain (October 1995)
• Suncheon, South Korea (June 1997)
• Surrey, Canada (May 1999)
• Houston, USA (September 2000)
• Wiener Neustadt, Austria (September 2000)
• Daegu, South Korea (September 2000)
• Aguascalientes, México (November 2006)
• Milwaukee, WI, USA (2006)^[12]

See also

• Jiangnan
• Ningbo People
• Ningbo Twin Towers

References

• Economic profile for Ningbo at HKTDC

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ningbo

• Ningbo Government website
• Ningbo travel guide from Wikitravel
• Ningbo Weather Forecast

v • d • e Zhejiang Province History • Politics • Economy Sub-provincial cities Hangzhou • Ningbo Prefecture-level cities Huzhou • Jiaxing • Jinhua • Lishui • Quzhou • Shaoxing • Taizhou • Wenzhou • Zhoushan See also: List of Zhejiang County-level divisions

Coordinates: 29°52′N 121°33′E / 29.867°N 121.55°E / 29.867; 121.55