宁波英文简介

Ningbo --- A City of Culture and a Gateway to the World

Ningbo, the economic center in the southern part of the Yangtze River Delta, is located in the middle of the coastline of the Chinese Mainland. It is one of China’s first coastal cities to open up to the outside world and a separate planning city that enjoys the same authority as provincial governments in economic planning and management. With six districts, three county-level cities and two counties under administration, the city covers an area of 9, 816 km2 and has a permanent population of 5.76 million.

Great Port in the East

Dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Ningbo, as the starting port of the Maritime Silk Road, had developed close trade links with Japan, Korea and other Southeast Asian countries. In the Song and Yuan Dynasties (960-1368), Ningbo was among the major ports for foreign trade along with Guangzhou and Quanzhou. At present, Ningbo Port is located on the main route of international container shipping in the Pacific Region and has launched 235 container shipping lines worldwide. As one of the top five deep-water ports in the world, vessels of 250,000-tonnage can enter into the port freely. In 2013, cargo throughput of Ningbo port reached 496 million tons, ranking the 3rd in the Chinese mainland and the 4th in the world. Regarding container throughput, Ningbo Port handled 16.7 million TEUs, ranking the 3rd place in the Chinese mainland and the 6th in the world.

The 21st century is an era of marine economy. In 2011, the marine economy development plan of Zhejiang province was upgraded as a national strategy, which has brought new opportunities to Ningbo. In the 12th Five-Year Plan period, Ningbo will focus on such fields as waterway service, advanced manufacturing, emerging marine industries and island development, and make efforts to balance the development on land and in the sea, to structure a modern marine industrial system, and to build up a competitive marine economy.

Commercial Metropolis

Ningbo has been a renowned commercial city from time immemorial and Ningbo Merchants were well-known worldwide. Currently, there are still 300,000 “Ningbo Merchants ” and their descendants living in some 60 countries and regions overseas. Highly developed private economy is the most distinctive feature of Ningbo, as well as a major source of vitality of the city and local market mechanism. By the end of 2013, there were some 160,000 private enterprises in Ningbo, and the number of self-employed exceeded 360,000. The private sector contributed 80% of the municipal GDP, 76% of the tax and 87% of the employment. 49 Ningbo brands were entitled “China ’s Famous Brands”.

In 2013, total import and export volume of Ningbo reached $ 100.3 billion USD. In addition, Ningbo witnessed $ 5.82 billion USD of contractual foreign investment and $ 3.27 billion USD of actual foreign investment. By the end of 2013, Ningbo enterprises have set up 1,839 companies

and institutes in 108 countries and regions worldwide. The accumulated overseas investment stood at $ 5.569 billion USD. The turnover of contracts relating to labor services and project cooperation overseas hit $ 1.50 billion USD.

Land of Rich Culture

This is the place where the 7,000-year-old Chinese civilization and Hemudu Neolithic Culture are born. This is the place where China’s oldest existing private library is located. As a National Historical and Cultural City, Ningbo boasts rich cultural heritages. At present, there are 329 heritage sites under protection, 22 of which are under state protection. 402 intangible cultural heritages have been declared, 14 of which are of national level.

Ningbo people have a fine tradition of valuing education. Notable figures in ancient times include Wang Yangming, Zhu Shunshui, Huang Zongxi and other famous philosophers. In modern times, many leading scholars, scientists and artists were from Ningbo, Yu Qiuyu, Pan Tianshou, Sha Menghai, Chen Yifei, Youyou Ma, Feng Jicai, just to name a few. 102 academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering Sciences are of Ningbo Origin, which is No. 1 among all cities in the country.

Popular Tourist Destination

With beautiful natural scenery and rich culture, Ningbo is a famous tourist destination in China. There are many historic sites and scenic spots, such as Tianyige Museum, Ancient Yue Kiln by the Shanglin Lake, Tuoshan Dam, Cicheng Old Town, Baoguo Temple, Dongqian Lake, Ninghai Hot Spring, Xikou Town, Songlandshan Beach, etc. With comfortable lifestyle, convenient transportation and abundant choices for shopping, recreation and local delicacy, Ningbo is undoubtedly a livable city and a good choice for tourists.