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. 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).

Though a sub-provincial city, it enjoys the same rights as possessed by a provincial government in terms of economic management. Ningbo, "a large city" entitled to formulate local laws and regulations, is also a famous historic city with rich cultural heritage. It is the birthplace of the "Neolithic Hemudu Culture" dating back more than 7,000 years. Two thousand years ago, Xu Fu, a necromancer of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.), led a fleet from here, thus becoming the first to commence China¡¯s exchanges with other countries. Ningbo first rose to importance during the latter part of the 5th century, when Korean  shipping found it the most convenient port for contacts with the southern capital at Nanjing (Nanking; then called Chien-k¡¯ang). Under the Tang dynasty (618-907) this traffic continued. Although official relations lapsed after 838, private trade continued on a large scale. In the 11th century Ningbo became a centre of the coastal trade. Its importance grew with the establishment of the Southern Song capital at Hangzhou in 1127, when overseas trade to and from the capital flowed through Ningbo. It grew rapidly during the Song (960-1279) and Yuen periods.

The early period of the  Ming dynasty (1368-1644) brought a setback to Ningbo¡¯s development. Overseas trade was deliberately curtailed by the government and the building of oceangoing ships prohibited, and even coastal trade was severely restricted. Ningbo was attacked by Japanese pirates, and it became a defensive base of some importance. Its growth seems to have stagnated, however, until the last quarter of the 15th century, when the rural prosperity of its hinterland began to recover.

This recovery was assisted when the Portuguese began trading in Ningbo in 1545, at first illicitly, but later (after 1567) legally. Still later, Dutch and British merchants arrived, and the Ningbo merchants began to trade with the China coast from Manchuria to Canton, as well as with the Philippines and Taiwan. Ningbo was the commercial centre of the coastal plain to the east of Shaoxing and an outport for the Yangtze River Delta area, to which it was linked by the Zhedong Canal leading to Shaoxing and the Qiantang River. As a result, in the 17th and 18th centuries the Ningbo merchants became important in China¡¯s internal commerce and began to play a national role as bankers in the early 19th century. In 1843 Ningbo was opened to foreign trade as a treaty port, but trade declined, and its place was taken by Shanghai.

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.

Of a typical subtropical monsoon climate, Ningbo features mild temperature with moderate humidity and distinctive seasons, and it is an ideal resort to enjoy both natural and cultural endowment. A tranquil coastal city, Ningbo¡¯s 500-km coastline forms a scenic seascape. The Sun and the Moon Lakes, dug in the seventh century, are a particularly beautiful sight. The people of Ningbo have throughout their history had a deep affinity for the ocean.

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.

Geographical Conditions

Ningbo is located at the middle part of China¡¯s coastline and on the eastern part of Ning-Shao Plain in Zhejiang Province, i.e., east longitude from 120o55¡¯ to 122o16¡¯ and north latitude 28o51¡¯ to 30o33¡¯. With Zhoushan Archipelago as its natural barrier in the east, bordering Hangzhou Bay in the north and Sanmen Bay in the south, adjacent to Shaoxing city in the west and connecting with Taizhou city, Ningbo covers a total area of 9,365 sq.km including the urban area of 1,033 sq.km.

Ningbo possesses two main mountain ranges within its boundaries, Siming Mountain and Tiantai Mountain. As one of the eight river systems of Zhejiang province, Ningbo is rich in water resources for occupying Yuyao river, Fenghua River, Yongjiang River etc. Ningbo has a long coastline, with tortuous harbours and scattered islands. Ningbo occupies a total sea area of 9,758 sq.km and a total coastline of 1,562 km including 788 km of mainland coastline and 774 km of island coastline, which takes one third of the coastline of Zhejiang province. The number of islands in Ningbo amounts to 531 with a total area of 524.07 sq.km. There are two bays and one harbour, i.e., Sanmen Bay, Hangzhou Bay and Xiangshan Harbour. Containing a great deal of nourishing substance flowed in with Qiantang River, Yongjiang River and many streams, these bays provide with rich nourishment for organism in the beach area.

The coastal tide in Ningbo belongs to irregular half-day period. There are two high tides and two low tides in a day. The average high tide is 3.14 over Wusong zero point with the highest record of 4.86 m, and the average low tide is 1.47 m with the lowest record of 0.31 m.

Ningbo enjoys subtropical monsoon climate featuring mild temperature, moderate humidity and distinctive seasons. Its average annual temperature is 16.2oC, July being the hottest month (average temp. 28.8oC) and January the coldest (average temp. -4.2oC). As the frost-free period lasts about 230-240 days and the crop growth period 300 days, it is suitable for the growth of grain, cotton and oil plant, etc. The annual precipitation averages 1,300-1,400 mm. The precipitation from May to September takes 60% of the year¡¯s total.

Economy

Industrial economy

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.

Rural economy

Steady progress was made in agriculture. The total output value of the primary industry was 14,840 million yuan, up 5.3% over the previous year. Remarkable progress has been made in the adjustment of agricultural structure. The cultivated area of traditional crop decreased more, down 20.1%, and that of cotton decreased by near third. At the same time, all kinds of economic corn such as vegetables, fruits, medicinal materials have been rapidly developed. The cultivated area of this kind of crop increased 509,000 mu. Steady progress was made in fishery, and the marine cultivated area increased 177,300 mu. The production of aquatic products reached 816,200 ton. The conditions for agricultural production have continuously improved. The mechanization of agriculture continued to be upgraded. In this year, an investment of 1.95 billion yuan was made to improve agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fisheries and water conservancy facilities. The construction of 280km of a planned standard seawall has been completed. The total mechanical power of agriculture reached 1,900,000 kw, up 1.6% over the previous year.

Foreign trade

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-oriented economy.

 More statistics

By February 2005, the national revenue system of Ningbo has netted 220.5 million yuan in tax revenues, exclusive of the taxes collected by the Customs on its behalf, up 14.9% from the same period last year. And the tax revenues of January and February combined add up to 556.3 million yuan, a 31.1% increase over last year, of which domestic VAT comes to 325.3 million, up 37.8% and domestic consumer taxes, 79.2 million, down 4.1%. And up to 28 March 2005, the number of enterprises registered in Ningbo Customs has exceeded ten thousand (10,020), a 20.5% year-on-year increase. Of all this figure, there are 9,301 self-aided declaration enterprises, 58 agent declaration ones, 9 units specialising in customs declaration and 652 processing and production enterprises. According to the newest statistics by State Department of Commerce, Ningbo is listed 8th of Chinese cities for its export of 16.69 billion yuan made last year. With its increase rate of 38.2%, Ningbo is the first of the top ten. In the year, Ningbo introduced an investment of 4.136 billion yuan by its contract value, which was the third of the 15 sub-provincial cities. Its turnover in foreign economy reached 484 million US dollars, the second in the fifteen. On 17 March, the 2005 Bluebook of Competitive Power of Chinese Cities and the Forum on the Competitiveness of Chinese Cities report the comprehensive power and individual competitive indexes of 200 cities of China. In the Bluebook, Ningbo City is placed 6th of the reported cities, two places forward than it was last year. All these figures show that Ningbo is now in the lead in its opening to the outside world.

City Construction

City Development Plan

The new edition of Ningbo¡¯s general city development plan was completed in 1995, it was approved by Zhejiang People¡¯s Government in November 1997, and approved by the National Council in July 1997. The stages of the new general plan: Short term form 1995 to 2000, long term from 2001 to 2010, the prospective outlooks till the middle of 21st century. The plan covers three levels: the urban area is 9,365 square kilometers, planed city area is 1,965 square kilometers. The key points of the central city plan which covers an area of 350 square kilometers including San Jiang, Beilun and Zhenhai. Further study the population and land utilizing scale in the city, reasonably adjust the outline and structure of land utilization in the city, pay attention to the ecological environment construction in the city, well adjust the coast line and landmark of the port city, perfect the transportation network and further study the water resources.

The new edition of general city development plan confirm the nature of Ningbo as a city: The important industrial base and foreign trade port in East China, the economic center in south part of Yangtze Delta and historical & cultural city of national level, the key international deep water port of Shanghai International Shipping Center and the international modern city.

The new general plan confirmed 4 objectives for the city¡¯s development: First is the general development objective, which is the 15-year strategic objective. The main index of Ningbo¡¯s social economic development to reach the level of current medium developed countries, to be highly industrialized, urban modernized, economic outside connected, economic market-oriented, and achieve obvious improvement in economy, society and environment. "Boost the city by port, promote the port by city", to turn Ningbo into an international modern port city which is powerful in economy, highly open to the outside world, well-developed in science & culture, rich in people¡¯s life, good in the social morale and beautiful in the environment. Second is the economic development objective, basically make it the economic center in the south part of Yangtze Delta in 2000, the GDP to be 130 billion Yuan, 23,600 Yuan per person, the port handling capacity to be 0.1 billion tons, and the third industry takes 36% of the GNP; by 2010 the port handling capacity to be 0.2 billion tons and the third industry takes over 50% of the GNP. Third is the social development objective, to set up an all-round social security system with high spiritual civilization and harmonious development of people with the environment. Fourth is the urban construction & development objective, to complete the systematic network of four levels: central city-sub-central city-central town -regular town within the urban area. Construct the urban infrastructure according to the high standard, to build up a highly efficient modern urban management system, keep the urban ecological balance and improve the environment quality. By 2000, the percentage of urbanization to be 50%, by 2010 to be 65%, basically shape the international modern port city within 30 years. To improve the housing standard, guarantee the people¡¯s high-quality living standard, at least 15 square meters for each person; to build up a modern, safe, efficient and comfortable urban transportation system by enlarging the Lishe Airport (it will be constructed according to the 4E standard in the future), make Beilun port the ocean-going container transferring hub of Shanghai International Shipping Center. To create a good urban ecological environment, improve the urban green land, the average green land for each person to be no less than 10 square meters.

In order to suit the need of economic construction and social development, the new edition of the general urban development plan was presented in 2000. "One big, five medium and fifteen small" city & town outline was basically set up, the old part of the city was renovated, the short-term construction project and the traffic plan was completed, and the downtown parking lot plan was modified. According to the outline of city & town, all the counties (cities) compiled their own city & town plan. By the end of November, 2000, the city & town plan of Yuyao, Cixi, Fenghua, Ninghai and Xiangshan was approved by the government, and the general development plan of the above five cities as sub-central cities was also approved by the provincial & municipal government one after another.

Housing Development

Since 1980s, Ningbo has experienced a boom of urban housing construction. In 2002, a total investment of 12.6 billion yuan was put into real estate development of Ningbo, an all-time high. During the year, newly started housing projects represent a total floorage of 5 million square meters, on-going housing projects 8.4 million square meters, completed housing projects 3.41 square meters and booked housing 5.87 square meters. So far there are throughout the city some 30 completed or to-be-completed residential quarters with floorage of over 100,000 square meters each, plus over 60 such residential quarters with floorage of over 50,000 square meters each. The per capita floor space of urban dwellers goes up to 19.8 square meters as compared with 5.6 square meters for 1986, a remarkable improvement in the housing conditions.

Over the recent years, the city has followed the principles of "Proactive Planning, High-standard designing, High-grade development, high-quality construction and high-standard (property) management" to upgrade the overall quality of housing construction and provide pleasant and comfortable residences.

Old City Renovation

The city embarked on renovation of the old city since 1998. The cumulative floorage of old houses pulled down till now totals 5.83 million square meters, including residences of 3.03 million square meters in floorage. This means the relocation of 67,000 people from the small, damp and squalid residence to apartments complete with all necessary living facilities. During the recent years in particular, the city has stepped up with the renovation of low-lying and non-apartment residences in the urban area. Since 1998, it has cumulatively completed the renovation of 49 low-lying residences where lived 7625 households, with the floorage of residences pulled down or relocated totaling 420,000 square meters. By end 2001, dwellers in low-lying parts of the city were basically free from the pestering of ponding. Also in 2001, as part of the urban infrastructure construction campaign, the city renovated non-apartment residences of 370,000 square meters in floorage where lived some 10,000 households. In their place, a number of residential quarters and office buildings were erected complete with necessary supporting facilities. Total 300 or more high-rise buildings are now either completed or under construction.

Road Construction

Till now, dozens of main road were built in Ningbo, the total length is about 700 kilometers, which cover an area of 8,500,000 square meters. In 2002, the construction of Century Boulevard, Jiangnan Avenue and Tong Tu Road started, Zhong Shan Road was widened. A road network suits the need of city development was basically set up. At present, the flow of people and vehicles speeded up and less traffic noise were heard, and road situation greatly improved.

Bridge Construction

There are rivers across the Ningbo city, Fenghua River, Yuyao River and Yong River join together at the downtown area. After 1949, 24 large bridges including Xinjiang Bridge, Jiefang Bridge, the bridge for railway over Fenghua River, Xingning Bridge, Yuyao river Bridge, Yong river Bridge, Jiangxia Bridge, Qin Bridge and Yongfeng Bridge etc were built up. The Yong River Tunnel was put into operation formally in December, 1995. The Zhaobao Mountain Bridge which connects Zhenhai with Beilun is in service. The old Lingqiao Bridge was renovated to be more widen. Several overhead walkway and overpass were built.

There are over 250 large and small bridges in the downtown area in Ningbo.The project proposal of Ningbo-Shanghai sea bridge across Hangzhou Bay was approved by the State Council, With a total investment of 8 billion yuan, the project will be 36km long, including about 33 km for the main bridge. It is designed to be six bi-directional lanes and 100 km/h for the driving speed. After the competition of the bridge in 2006, it will only take 1.5 hours to drive from Ningbo to Shanghai.

Public Transportation

By the end of 2002, there are altogether more than 101 public traffic routes, cover a total length of 669 km; 1613 vehicles for transportation, handling capacity is 621,900 per person/time, there are 14.13 vehicles for every 10,000 people.

The cities and counties administrated by Ningbo also open up the traffic routes. Beside that, there are over 4,000 taxies in Ningbo.

Water Supply & Drainage

Since 1949, several reservoirs were built up in Ningbo, which guarantee the water resources for the city. Now Ningbo has a daily production ability of 2,000,200 cubic meters. The average daily water supply for one person is 310.64 litres.100% of the city area has the water supply. The length of the drainage pipe is 3718 kilometers and the drainage ability is greatly improved. In 2002,the total water supply reached 459.24 million.

Urban gas supply

The city started to develop its urban gas supply facilities as early as 1977. As of now, Ningbo Xinguang LPG Group Company has an LPG storage capacity of more than 10000 cubic meters, with 4 large pipelined LPG supply stations which caters to over 130,000 households and 18 LPG bottling stations (9 in downtown Ningbo). Its LPG sales volume in 2002 was 150,000 tons. The urban coverage of LPG supply is almost 100%.

In the 21st century, the fuel industry will enter into an age of LNG, the clean energy. So far, the city has completed the construction of 100-km-long medium-pressure pipelines and 150-km-long household-access pipelines. An unprecedented effort is being made to develop the urban gas supply facilities to make preparation for the advent of LNG in 2004.

The city¡¯s cultural facilities are also being upgraded. The newly built or renovated cultural facilities include the painting and calligraphy hall of Tianyi Pavilion, the Historical Museum of Coast Defense in Zhenhai, Minguang Movie Center, Ningbo Movie Center, Ningbo Yifu Theatre, the municipal library, Sha Menghai Painting and Calligraphy Institute of Yinxian County, Liang Zhu Cultural Park, Yue Lake (first-phase), Zhongshan Square, Times and Culture Square and Pan Tianshou Square, all of good size and standard. Eight additional cultural facilities under construction include Sanjiang (three-river) Cultural Corridor, Ningbo Grand Theatre, Ningbo Library, Ningbo Concert Hall and Ningbo Art Gallery. At the same time, the renovation of Lanjiang Theatre, Ningbo Theatre and the municipal library will add to the glory of the municipal cultural facilities.

Gardening & Planting

Since the 9th Five-year plan, the gardening and planting became a very important work in Ningbo. By 1996, more than 30 hectares land was made green. 36.83 hectares land was made green in 1997 and 70 hectares land was made green in 1998, and the Zhong Shan Square was built up at the same time; the Moon Lake Garden was renovated in 1999 with investment of 0.6 billions RMB yuan; several planting projects were implemented in 2000. In order to make the 3 rivers and 6 banks more beautiful, the green land in the downtown area in creased by 150 hectares.

So far there are more than 500.00 hectares public green land in Ningbo, average 10.6 square meters per person. The area with planting is 36% and green land takes 32.31%. There are more than 40 gardens in the city, which placed a solid foundation for being the national garden city.

Environment Protection

In recent years, in order to promote the environment protection work, the system of job responsibility for the chief of city and county in Ningbo was set up.

The quality of environment in Ningbo down town area is greatly improved. So far noise control in 57.93 square kilometers area is up to the standard. The smoke/dust control area is 100%. There are thousands sewage treatment works, 35.92% sewage were treated. There are 487 public toilets in the city; 1,739 tons of daily life garbage was handled, the daily treatment ability is 1,501 tons per day. At the same time, the ecological environment was actively promoted. The utilization of methane in Li Jia Village in Yinzhou District and the solid agriculture in Ten Ton Village in Fenghua was praised by the national environment department, it was entitled the "500 best of the world" by the environmental department of the United Nation.

Communal Culture

Ningbo¡¯s charms not only come from its scenic beauty, but also from the culture in its neighborhoods with pervasive moral influence. With the setting up of civilized residential quarters, Ningbo City, old but rejuvenated, is becoming a cozy home, beautiful garden and paradise of culture.

Cultural Entertainment on the Squares for Neighborhoods The frequent cultural entertainment on the squares makes Ningbo resounded with pleasant melodies all the year round, and animates the residents¡¯ faces with constant bursts of laughter.

Service in Neighborhoods The networks for quick household, health and recreation service are well established. Only by a phone call, can the residents get easy access to satisfactory material and mental life enjoyment within the neighborhoods.

Environment in Neighborhoods The residential quarters in garden style have accounted for 86% of the total. Most of residents are living in the picturesque surroundings where their doors and windows are open onto greens and flowers. Blue sky, green trees, fresh flowers, wide grassplots and clear rivers fascinate Ningbo people with pleasure and peace.

Facilities in Neighborhoods The fine libraries and well-equipped gym rooms in neighborhoods have become good places of pastime for residents.

Safety in Neighborhoods What residents in Ningbo feel most satisfied with is its safety in which no other cities can be compared with. Police guardrooms have been set up in every neighborhood of the city, where disputes can be well mediated between families and alarms for help find immediate police response.

Recreation, Shopping & Accommodations

Shopping & Recreation Ningbo is provided with the multinational supermarket chains such as Carrefour, Metro, Trust-Mart, Hymall and Auchen, and the multi-functional gymnasium, racecourse, golf links and other recreation grounds, which fully meet the requirements of residents and visitors for shopping and relaxation.

Hotels & Dwellings There are now 127 hotels in Ningbo, including 2 deluxe, 9 high comfort and 30 average comfort hotels, with a total of 12.767 guestrooms and 22.728 beds. Admission to the hotels totaled about 205.400 overseas and 16.00 million domestic tourists in 2002. Besides these, Ningbo also boasts numerous deluxe villas, high comfort apartment houses and private building with hotel service, thus meeting the requirements of all investors and businessmen for residing in Ningbo. 

Education

The development of education in Ningbo shall focus on the tasks set out in the Tenth Five-year Plan period:

One objective: By 2005, basically realize the modernization of education so that the overall standard of its education reaches the intermediately developed countries of the world.

Three systems: Basically establish a life-long education system, an education innovation system and an industry-integrated education system.

Five leaps forward:

1. Achieve the leap from the nine-year compulsory education to universal senior high school education. Popularise the nine-year education of high standard and quality. Ensure the compulsory education coverage is above 95% and that the rate of admission of junior high students to senior high schools is above 90% (over 95% in urban area). Ensure that senior high school education covers all student population of the city, with a rational structure of regular senior high schools and vocational schools.
2. Achieve the leap from talent-oriented higher education to masses-oriented higher education. Ensure the city¡¯s gross rate of student admission to institutions of higher learning is above 30%, that number of students attending regular full-time institutions of higher learning is above 90,000 and that attending adult institutions of higher learning is above 40,000. Basically complete the High Education Park and set up three institutions of higher learning with enrolment of above 10,000 students each, making the city a sub-centre of higher education in the Province.
3. Achieve the leap from the school age education to life-long education. Perfect the systems of life-long education. Promote the integration of the nursery school with the kindergarten and strive for a nursery school admission rate of over 96%. Strengthen on-the-job training for employees and community education in urban and rural area. Establish a fairly complete network of life-long education and develop an open education system that covers all urban and rural area of the city. Ensure education is extended to cover both the pre-school and post-school population. Ensure all people are provided with various opportunities to receive education and that those aged between 15 and 59 receive an education of over ten years.
4. Achieve the leap from knowledge-imparting education to creative education. Promote the quality-oriented education, restructure the teaching curriculum and approaches and optimise the teaching process. Emphasize creative and student-centred education to provide good conditions for producing talents. Implement a flexible system in various institutions of higher learning and vocational schools to promote the exchange and interfacing between regular institutions of higher learning and vocational schools. Expand the channels of producing talents.
5. Achieve the leap from block-style education to open-style education. Actively build up a structure of integrating classroom education with network education. Set up an education and scientific research network covering all parts of the city by 2005 where the informatization in education is regarded as the overriding strategy and important breakthrough. Basically develop a computerized information network between all the schools so that all urban and rural primary schools and middle schools are interconnected. Open all educational resources to public and encourage the open-type education. Speed up the opening up of education and intensify cooperation and exchanges with domestic and overseas educational facilities.

Educational Institutions

History and Culture

On December 8, 1986, Ningbo, known as "the City of Antiquities", was declared a state-level historic and cultural city among the second group of cities in the country. Now, as one of the 99 current historic and cultural cities of the country, it is well known both at home and abroad as the origin of the Hemudu Culture, the famous port for shipping, trading and cultural exchange since the Tang and Song Dynasty, the cradle of East Zhejiang Culture, the outpost of wars against foreign invasions since the Ming and Qing Dynasty, and for the birthplace of the "Overseas Ningbo Folks" and the large number of well-preserved historic relics and remains. In August 2000, Ningbo Municipal Government summoned a meeting on the cultural activities of Ningbo, where were defined the overall requirements for cultural activities in Ningbo for the time being and for the time to come, namely, to uphold the theories of Deng Xiaoping, the guidelines of the 15th Conference of CPC and the Three Representations; to train all citizens to have their i, deals, to have proper ethic conduct and to be educated and disciplined; to adhere to the principle of serving the people and socialism whole-heartedly; to let a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend; to stand firmly and look out to the future, to achieve breakthroughs in the restructuring of the city¡¯s cultural profile through innovation; to turn over a new leaf in the industrialization of cultural activities and promote the coordinated development of culture, economy and society to provide a sound ideological motivation, intellectual support and cultural environment to an earlier realization of the Four Modernizations. As a nationally cited traditional cultural city, the cultural undertakings flourish in the city of Ningbo. The International Fashion Festival has been successively held in Ningbo for six years. In the 2002 year, Ningbo sponsored or co-sponsored many other major cultural activities such as the 10th Golden Rooster Festival, the Hundred Flowers Film Festival, and the Plum Award of China. Such cultural facilities as theatres, libraries and museums were extended and improved. 

Medical and Public Health

Ningbo shares a long history of medical treatment. In the Remains of the Hemudu Culture dated back about 7000 years, a number of plants are found which are effective in preventing and curing some kinds of diseases. Famous traditional Chinese doctors can be found in different periods of history. Some have even left behind valuable medical books, which play a very important role in the development of the major traditional Chinese medical subjects.

Ningbo is one of cities into which western medicine was introduced at an early stage in history. Starting from the second half of 18th century, missionaries from western countries come to practice Western medicine. The first Western medical hospital Huamei Hospital, now named Ningbo No.2 Hospital, was established in 1843.

Since the foundation of the People¡¯s Republic of China in 1949, the new central government has attached great importance to the public health. Health administration bodies at all levels have been set up. Ningbo Health Bureau, under the direct leadership of Ningbo Government, is responsible for

• implementing the State¡¯s policies, laws and regulations on public health in Ningbo,
• researching and making general plans and objectives for the improvement of the city¡¯s health program,
• making plans for major diseases protection,
• exercising supervision over community public hygiene, labor hygiene and health-related products like food, medical drugs, and biological manufactures for medical purposes,
• determining qualifications of health workers and carrying out the licensing system for health services,
• following the central government¡¯s guidelines, policies and measures on civil patriotic health to carry out all-round health education and mobilize the entire people into health work,
• sticking to the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine to promote the development of both modern and traditional medicines,
• developing plans for the development of the city¡¯s medical personnel and for key medical subject research and education,
• organizing research into and surmounting of key medical problems,
• reinforcing health care for women and children and protecting them from serious and harmful diseases, and
• developing and promoting medical and health technology exchange and cooperation between medical organizations home and abroad.

At present, there are two medical education units in Ningbo, the Medical College of Ningbo University and Ningbo Medical School. Besides, there are 1263 medical institutions with 14653 beds, or 2.68 beds per thousand people. Specialized medical skilled workers amount to 23965, averaging 4.39 per thousand people. Amount them 9927 are doctors, averaging 1.8 per thousand people. Medical apparatus and instruments such as nuclear magnetic resonator, whole body CT, linear accelerator, large X-ray machine, digital subtraction angiographer, automatic biochemistry analyzer and color Doppler have been equipped in some hospital. Ambulances from the First Aid Center can reach any spot in the urban areas within 15 minutes after getting calls for help. In 2002, a total number of 23.2 million outpatients and emergency cases were handled in the hospitals in the city. The inpatients stayed in comprehensive last year amount to 0.2129 million cases. Critical operations like aortocoronary bypass, combined replacement of tricuspid valve, Morfan¡¯s syndrome, homogeneous variant heart transplantation were successfully performed. Cardiology departments of the major hospitals in the city performed the operation of PTCA. Departments of ontology, bone and joint surgery in Ningbo are all well known for their excellent work and have played an important part in ensuring citizens¡¯ health.

Abiding by the guideline of "Prevention priority", health organizations at different levels have taken steps to control and cure general and endemic diseases, strengthen labor hygiene, prevent radiation, and keep food products, public sites, school in sound condition. The steps have effectively helped improved the health condition of Ningbo. In 2001, the death rate of pregnant and lying-in women was 7.76 per 100,000 while that of infants was 7.06 per 1000. Major diseases that influence Ningbo citizens¡¯ life include malignancies, respiratory diseases, cerebral diseases, hearth diseases, trauma and poisoning. The life expectancy of Ningbo citizens in 73.46 years.

Port of Ningbo

In 738, Ningbo Port was put into use formally. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), it was known as one of the three major seaports for foreign trade, along with Yangzhou and Guangzhou. In the Song Dynasty, it became one of the three major port cities for foreign trade together with Guangzhou and Quanzhou. It was declared as one of the "Five Treaty Ports" after the Opium War.

Ningbo Port is well situated at the middle of the coastline of Mainland China, just at the T-shaped joining point of north-south shipping line and the golden waterway of the Yangtze River. It is a modern port composed of Beilun (seaport), Zhenhai (estuary port) and old Ningbo harbor (inland river port) areas, with comprehensive functions and multi-level berths. The business scope of Ningbo Port includes imported iron ore, container, crude and finished oil, liquid chemical products, coal and the loading and unloading, storage and transhipment of other bulk goods. In the year of 2000, cargo throughput topped 100 million tons, enabling the port to become one of the few ports in the world, which own a cargo throughput of more than 100 mil­lion tons. In 2003, the port handled 185 million tons of cargo, ranking second in the ports of Mainland China. The TEU con­tainers handled by the port reached 2.75 million, with an increase highest of the coastal ports of Mainland China over last five years successively. There are more than 90 regular shipping lines for container between Ningbo Port and other main ports all over the world. The container liner services count 460 and more in a month.

Ningbo Port is not only a deep-water port famous all over the country, but also one of the few ports with a cargo throughput of more than 100 million tons in the world. The shallowest section of the entry channel is more than 18.2 meters deep, enough for vessels of less than 250,000 tonnages to enter freely. Huge ships of 250,000 to 300,000 tonnages can also navigate at tide. It is free from big waves and strong winds, so there are more than 350 workable days in a year. Ningbo Port is an , ideal place for developing ocean-going transport to North and South America and Oceania. Up to now it has built trade and transport relations with over 560 ports of more than 90 countries and regions in the world.

Ningbo Port will further improve the functions of the 5 large bases of iron transhipment, international container transhipment, large-scale storage and transhipment for coal, crude oil, refined oil and liquid chemical products. It is targeting at a first-class deep-water hub port in the world, a main line port for international container and an important component of Shanghai international shipping centre.

Resources in Talents

Ningbo attaches importance to the establishment and improvement of talent resource floating mechanism. In June 1988, approved by the Personnel Ministry of P.R.C., Ningbo took the lead in opening the talent market and became one of the eight experimental units. After ten years¡¯ operation, in April, 1997, Ningbo, jointly with the Personnel Ministry a  nd Zhejiang Province Personnel Department, organized Chinese Ningbo Talent Market for Township Enterprises", Which has fully played a basic role of the market in respect of allocation of talent resources and was authorized by national personnel office to re-titled as Ningbo talent market in April,2003. By the end of 2002, there are totally about 40,000 units and 710,000 participants. And 110,000 persons of them have found an ideal job.

In order to meet the requirements of Ningbo¡¯s large-scale economic development, after opening to the world, Ningbo has been striving for discovering, introducing and training various kinds of outstanding talents in many ways.

First of all, it tries its best to accept college graduates and secondary technical school graduates. During 1981 and 2002, 165,000 graduates have been employed in Ningbo area. Secondly, it widely introduces all kinds of academic talents. Up to the end of 2002, kinds of talents totalled more than 90,000 and over 1200 foreign experts were engaged to work in Ningbo. Thirdly, it actively exploits local talent resources. According to incomplete statistics, the persons who received professional training totalled nearly one million.

During the past twenty years, the numbers of talents have been expanding. At the end of 1978, there were only 8,599 professional technicians in the whole city. By the end of 2002, there were 275,000 technicians and experts, which was 32 times over 1978. There were 6 national middle age and youth experts who made outstanding contributions, 208 experts who took the special allowance of the State Department, 12 technicians who made outstanding contribution in Province, 138 technicians who made outstanding contributions in Ningbo, 17 persons obtained the reward from Ningbo Municipal Government, and 1 person from Government of Zhejiang Province. In addition, 31 high-level experts have been included in the list of provincial and state talent cultivation project.

Intelligence Indraught

Ningbo Intelligence Indraught Office is an administrative department to promote the international exchange of talents and cooperation, to exploit international talent resources, to expand international talent markets and Intelligence Indraught channels. It is in charge of inviting foreign experts to work in Ningbo and sending technical and managing persons to go abroad to receive training, and it also helps the related department introduce into and popularize newly technical achievements and new breeds.

At present, the office has established business relations with over forty expert organizations and training organs of main developed countries. It can offer over 30,000 experts to be chosen and kinds of professional technicians to go abroad for training.

These years, the office has introduced over 930 foreign expert projects into Ningbo, engaged all kinds of 1200 foreign experts to come and work here, and sent more than 4000 of technicians and managers to go abroad to receive training. It introduced about 1000 kinds of new breeds in farming, animal husbandry and fishery, which brought the city marked economic results and good social benefits.

Exploitation of Talent Resources

Ningbo Talent Resource Exploitation and Service Centre is an intermediary Organization for talents exchange.

Its main functions are as follows:

1) To offer services on talent exchange: providing places for units and individuals; organizing activities to exchange all kind of talents regularly or irregularly. Through interviews between the suppliers and the demanders and their mutual option, the Service Centre offers its services in recommendation of the excellent talents to the units and gives information of employment opportunity for those qualified personnel.

2) To provide information services on talent resources: having sent up an information network system on the supply and demand of talent.

3) To give all-round personnel agency services: keeping personnel files; grading the graduates; evaluating the technical grades; accepting application for an examination; examining and investigating the political record of the persons who intend to go abroad; collecting and keeping insurance pension and public housing welfare fund and so on.

4) To exploit talent resource: conducting all kinds of training courses; introducing various kinds of talent from the marked to the enterprises

5) To evaluate the person with ability. Using the most advanced computer evaluate system, combined with judging by experts, the centre evaluates kinds of talents, recommend high-grade talents to enterprises and looks for suitable positions for talents.

6) To despatch the talented person with professional technology for various kinds of units.

7) To give advertisement in the newspaper for various kinds of units to employ talented persons.

8) To offer other intermediary services.

Chinese Services Centre for Scholarly Exchange Ningbo Branch

As the only comprehensive management and service agency which established by Ningbo Municipal People¡¯ Government for scholarly exchange, Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange Ningbo Branch(hereafter referred to as the Centre)aims to attract and encourage those overseas Chinese students to participate in Ningbo¡¯s economic construction, fully utilize their scientific and technologic expertise and foreign liaison channels. As one of the first batch eight sub-centres approved by the Chinese Service Centre for scholarly Exchange affiliated to the Ministry of Education, the Centre is an institutional organization affiliated to Ningbo Municipal Personnel Bureau and guided by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Personnel.

The major business scope is as follows: Providing overseas Chinese students and the employers with the concerned supply and demand information; going through the relevant accepting and dispatching procedures for those overseas Chinese students who intend to work in the city of Ningbo; verifying academic credentials or diplomas obtained in foreign countries and providing the concerned consultant services; acting as go-between for overseas Chinese students who wish to serve in Ningbo; going through funding procedures; providing with services for those people who wish to study abroad, Including U.K., Canada, Germany, Singapore, France, Ireland, Russia, Holland, Australia, South Africa etc.

Science and Technology

Over the last few years Ningbo has witnessed remarkable achievements as the campaign to promote the city by science and education was launched. As a result, the city is now among the technologically advanced cities of the country. In 1998, technological progress contributed 41.5% to the economic growth rate of the city. All of the 11 counties (or county-level cities) and districts under Municipal jurisdiction were cited as technically advanced county (county-level city or district) of the county, and altogether 7 counties (or county-level cities) and districts as technically advanced counties of the province. Currently there are 23 technological research and development organizations throughout the city, 2 of which are under jurisdiction of the Ministries, 17 under Municipal jurisdiction, 1 under industrial jurisdiction and 3 under the jurisdiction of counties (county-level cities) or districts. Technological development has experienced a breakthrough particularly after the kickoff of No.1 Project of promoting the city by science and education in 1999.

Currently the city boasts 92 hi-tech enterprises, 28 of which have annual output value exceeding RMB100,000,000 and 13 of which are State-level high-tech enterprises. So far 29 technological research centres for enterprises of provincial or municipal level (8 of which are of provincial level) and 18 key laboratories of provincial or municipal level (4 of which are of provincial level) have been established.

As approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ningbo is the "State-level Base for New Material Industrialization", "State-level Key City for Promoting Trade by Science and Technology", "State-level Entrepreneurship Base for Returned Students" and "State-level Key exemplary city for CAD". Ningbo Technological Park is the first high-tech industrial park of provincial level in Zhejiang.

Ningbo has long been praised as "the State of Civilization". Its scientific and educational undertakings have been fairly developed in China. There are 82 academicians of Ningbo origin who serve in the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering Sciences. In 2002, the output value of hi-tech products reached 61.37 billion Yuan RMB. Ningbo supports 13 institutions of higher education and 2,874 full-time schools of various kinds with a student body of 1.09 million. The South Park of Higher Education in use and the North Park of Higher Education under construction will form a modern university city dominated in education & research, and characterized with ecological environment, sharing sources and entrepreneurship on sci-tech.