Ningbo is located at
the middle part of China's coastline and south flank of
the Yangtze River Delta, bordering on Shanghai and
Hangzhou.
Ningbo is one of the cities opening up to the outside
world, an independently planning-city enjoying the same
rights as those of a provincial government in economic
management, "a large city" entitled to formulate local
laws and regulations, and a famous historic city with
rich cultural heritage. It covers an area of 9,672 sq.km
and has a population of 5.567 million. The jurisdiction
of Ningbo City encompasses two counties (Xiangshan and
Ninghai), three county-level cities (Yuyao, Cixi and
Fenghua) and six urban districts (Haishu, Jiangdong,
Jiangbei, Zhenhai, Beilun and Yinzhou) .
Ningbo boasts a long history. It is the birthplace of
the "Neolithic Hemudu Culture" dating back more than
7,000 years. Ningbo has been a well-known key port for
foreign trade ever since ancient time. Ningbo ranked
with Yangzhou and Guangzhou as the three biggest ports
for foreign trade in Tang Dynasty and with Guangzhou and
Quanzhou in Song Dynasty. After the First Opium War,
Ningbo had been one of the five commercial ports opened
to the Western countries. Ningbo port has become one of
the important ports in China. Its cargo handling
capacity reached 270 million tonnages in 2005, ranking
second among the ports in the mainland of China, and its
container handling capacity amounted to 5.20 million
TEU.
Enjoying sound conditions for economic development,
the social economy of Ningbo has been developed rapidly
since opening up to the outside world. In 2005, the city
GDP reached 244.64 billion RMB yuan, the GDP per capita
38733 RMB, the revenue 45.55 billion RMB yuan .The
average disposable income of urban dwellers grew to
17.408 RMB yuan and the net income of rural population
climbed to 7810 RMB yuan. Nowadays, Ningbo has become an
important industrial city and foreign trade port in east
China, a key city and chemical industrial base in
Yangtze Delta and an economic center of Zhejiang
Province.
Ningbo enjoys subtropical monsoon climate featuring
mild temperature, moderate humidity and distinctive
seasons. The city is an ideal tourist place with culture
monuments and historical sites.
Ningbo has great potentialities in development. By
the year 2010, Ningbo will be built into a modernized
socialist international port city with strong economic
strength, further opening, advanced science and culture,
comfortable life, fine social morality and beautiful
environment.
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