Ningbo Profile

   Ningbo (Wade-Giles: Ning-po; literally "Tranquil Waves") is a coastal city in the Zhejiang province of China. It lies in the south of the populous Yangtze River delta and faces the East China Sea to the east. It covers an area of 9,365 sq.km and has a population of 5.43 million.

   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. In the early 20th century "Hong-band" tailors from Ningbo traveled extensively throughout China making their living. And now, Ningbo port is still one of the most important ports in China. Its cargo handling capacity reached 150 million tonnages in 2002, ranking second among the ports in the mainland of China, and its container handling capacity amounted to 1,855,000 TEU.

   As it enjoys a sound infrastructural basis, Ningbo has scored remarkable achievements in its social and economic development since the beginning of reform and opening up. In 2002, the city's GDP reached RMB150.03 billion, among which the per capita GDP makes up 3331 dollars, the revenue RMB 25.8 billion. The average disposable income of urban dwellers grew to RMB12,969.9 and the net income of farmers climbed to RMB5,764. Nowadays, Ningbo has become an important industrial city and foreign trade port in east China, a key city and chemical industrial base in the Yangtze River delta and an economic centre of Zhejiang Province.

   Ningbo has great potentials in its development. Since China adopted the policy of reform and opening, the Ningbo people have pursued the trends of this new era. Visitors may witness the dramatic changes that have taken place in this city: widened roads, more diverse styles of dress on the part of the local people, and Mandarin gradually supplanting the local Ningbo dialect. Ningbo is an active participant in the progressive world trend. By the year 2010, Ningbo will be modernised into a more open international port city that boasts even stronger economy, more advanced science and culture, greater affluence and better social fabrics and environment.

         
   Ningbo is an important industrial base in Zhejiang Province and also a major production base of grain, cotton, edible oil and aquatic products in China. A comprehensive industrial setup has come into being with light and textile, garments, machinery as its traditional mainstay, and large-scale harbour-based industries represented by petrochemicals, iron & steel, power generation and paper-making etc. The private economy appeared early and developed rapidly, so the market-oriented economy is booming. 215,700 families are engaged in industrial and commercial activities individually, involving 381,000 employees and registered capital of RMB 5.917 billion. There are 62,500 private enterprises, involving 1.0187 million employees and registered capital of RMB 53.671 billion, of which nine are national 500 best private enterprises and eight are provincial 50 best private enterprises. 99 products made in Ningbo rank the first in the country, of which 95% are produced by private enterprises.
   As a historical port city for foreign trade, Ningbo had become one of the three ports for foreign trade in China as early as the 7th century. In 2002, the self-oriented import and export trade volume of Ningbo amounted to 12.273 billion US dollars, increasing by 30.70% as compared with 2001.The growth rate of exports stayed middling in China. In 2002, the actual foreign capital utilized in Ningbo reached 1.247 billion US dollars, increasing by 43% over the precious year. All these achievements have laid a solid foundation for further development of Ningbo's export.