Ningbo

Ningbo or Ningpo ( Chinese 寧波市 / 宁波市 , Pinyin Níngbō shì , with Níngbō , "calm wave") is a coastal city in the east Chinese province of Zhejiang . It is one of the 15 sub-provincial cities (副省级城市) of China and thus - after Hangzhou - the second most important city in this province. Ningbo is located in the south of the densely populated Yangtze River Estuary in the Ningshao Plain and faces the East China Sea. It has an area of 9669.88 km² and approx. 5.71 million inhabitants (2010). It is twin town of Aachen .

history

Ningbo looks back on 7,000 years of history. The oldest finds in Yúyáo come from the Neolithic Hemudu culture .

During the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC), under the leadership of Xu Fu, the sea trade with foreign countries began here. In the second half of the 5th century, Ningbo gained an important role as a port city, especially with nearby Korea . During the Tang Dynasty , official relations, and with them much of the trade, were cut off. By the 11th century, Ningbo had become the most important foreign trade center on the Chinese coast. In 1127 Hangzhou was established as the capital of the South Song Dynasty (960-1279), which led to the growing importance of Ningbo, as Hangzhou's foreign trade was carried out in the port of Ningbo.

During the Ming period (1368-1644), Ningbo's development declined. From 1433 onwards, foreign trade was almost completely stopped, and the construction of ocean-going ships was prohibited. The city served primarily as a defensive base against pirates.

The revival of Ningbo was aided by trade. In 1545 the Portuguese began to trade with China via Ningbo, after which Dutch and British merchants came to the city. At the same time, coastal trade and trade with the Philippines and Taiwan flourished . In 1843, Ningbo was one of the five contract ports for foreign trade, but the volume of trade continued to decline in favor of Shanghai .

On October 27, 1940, the Japanese unit 731 used plague bacteria in the Second Sino-Japanese War against the population . 99 people died in the epidemic .

Population development of the agglomeration according to the UN

year	population
1950	282,000
1960	338,000
1970	377,000
1980	447,000
1990	752,000
2000	1,849,000
2010	2,786,000
2017	3,668,000

geography

Ningbo has a coastline of 1562 km, the population is predominantly of the nationalities Hàn , Tujia , Miao and Zhuang together, is the official language in addition to Mandarin still Wu .

Administrative structure

Administrative divisions of Ningbo City

1

2

Fenghua

Ninghai

Xiangshan

1. Jiangbei
2. Zhenhai

At the county level , Ningbo is made up of six city districts , two districts and three independent cities. These are:

City district Hǎishǔ (海曙区 / 海曙區), 595 km², approx. 905,000 inhabitants (2016);
District Jiangbei (江北区/江北區), 209 square kilometers, about 491,000 inhabitants (2004);
Beilun district (北仑区 / 北侖區), 585 km², approx. 350,000 inhabitants (2005);
Zhenhai district (镇海区 / 鎮海區), 218 km², approx. 225,000 inhabitants (2005);
Yinzhou district (鄞州区 / 鄞州區), 814 km², approx. 1,257,000 inhabitants (2016);
Fenghua district (奉化区 / 奉化區), 1,267 km², approx. 510,000 inhabitants (2016);
Ninghai County (宁海县 / 寧海縣), 1,880 km², approx. 580,000 inhabitants (2003);
District Xiangshan (象山县/象山縣), 1,172 km², about 530,000 inhabitants (2003);
City of Cixi (慈溪市 / 慈溪市), 1,154 km², approx. 1.02 million inhabitants (2005);
City of Yuyao (余姚市 / 餘姚市), 1,346 km², approx. 826,000 inhabitants (2005).

climate

In Ningbo there is a typical subtropical monsoon climate , with mild winters and hot summers. The average temperatures in January are between 2 and 8 ° C, in July between 27 and 37 ° C and the annual average between 15 and 19 ° C. The annual rainfall is between 1200 and 1800 millimeters.

Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Ningbo

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C )	8.8	9.5	13.6	19.7	24.1	27.5	32.3	31.9	27.5	22.8	17.5	11.6	O	20.6
Min. Temperature (° C)	1.2	2.2	5.7	11.1	16.4	20.7	24.6	24.5	20.7	14.8	9.0	3.1	O	12.9

Precipitation ( mm )	54	79	104	115	137	193	165	140	190	87	64	46	Σ	1,374

Source: China Meteorological Administration

economy

According to a study from 2014, Ningbo has a gross domestic product of 179 billion US dollars in purchasing power parity . In the ranking of the economically strongest metropolitan regions worldwide, the city took 64th place. The GDP per capita is $ 23,153 (PPP). The city employed 1.2 million people, 46.5% of them in the manufacturing industry. With 7.8% in the period from 2009 to 2014, GDP per capita grew rapidly.

Today the port of Ningbo is one of the most important ports in China, its handling capacity in 2002 reached 200 million tons (see Ningbo-Zhoushan Port ). In the Beilun port basin there is a large quay that is used to transship ore.

An airport was built in the 1980s. Ningbo is also an important industrial location, especially for the chemical and textile industries, but also for the photovoltaic industry .

Buildings

Ningbo Center , high-rise

sons and daughters of the town

Dong Xi (Yuyao) military leader
John Merle Coulter (1851–1928) American botanist and founding editor of the Botanical Gazette
Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975 Fenghua) military and politician of the Kuomintang
Zhang Shichuan (1890–1954) film director and film producer (considered a pioneer of Chinese film)
Run Run Shaw (1907-2014 Zhenhai) film producer
Chiang Ching-kuo (1910–1988 Fenghua) Kuomintang politician
Shi Jiuyong (* 1926) lawyer and legal scholar
Tu Youyou (* 1930) pharmacologist and Nobel Prize winner
Morris Chang (* 1931) IT engineer and business manager
Liu Zhongli (* 1934) Minister of Finance of the People's Republic of China
Lu Yongxiang (* 1942 Cixi) engineer and science manager
Chen Liangyu (* 1946) politician
Xie Xuren (* 1947) Minister of Finance of the People's Republic of China
Han Zheng (* 1954 Cixi) politician
Ding Yaping (* 1967) German-Chinese table tennis national player
Zhou Weihui (* 1973 Yuyao) writer