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Ningbo
(Ningbo City People's Govern)
Updated: 2006-11-17 10:13
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.
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. |
