Ningbo

Overview

About

Ningbo, on the coast of eastern Zhejiang where the Yong River meets the sea, was known in the past as Mingzhou and is a National Famous Historical and Cultural City. Under the Tang and Song it was already a great port for foreign trade with close ties to Japan and Korea, one of the starting points of the Maritime Silk Road; in modern times it was one of the five treaty ports, and Ningbo merchants spread across the country. See also Cities of China.

The Hemudu site at Yuyao, some seven thousand years old, has yielded quantities of rice and the remains of timber pile houses and is the classic Neolithic culture of the lower Yangtze. In the city, the Tianyi Pavilion, built by Fan Qin in the Ming, is the oldest surviving private library in China. North of the city, the main hall of Baoguo Temple, built in the Northern Song, is one of the best-preserved early timber buildings south of the Yangtze.

East of the city, Tiantong Temple and Ayuwang Temple are famous Chan monasteries; Tiantong is one of the ancestral temples of the Japanese Sōtō school. Dongqian Lake, the largest natural lake in Zhejiang, has gentle scenery. Ningbo cooking is known for seafood and savoury flavours, and for its sweet rice dumplings.

Travel tips

Getting there: Ningbo Lishe International Airport is south-west of the city; high-speed trains run to Ningbo station, and the Hangzhou Bay Bridge leads towards Shanghai.

Sightseeing: Tianyi Pavilion and the Old Bund are in the city; Baoguo Temple, Tiantong Temple and Dongqian Lake need half a day each; Hemudu is at Yuyao.

Photo credits: Tianyi Pavilion: Nablazzz (CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons); Baoguo Temple: Zhangzhugang (CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons); Dongqian Lake: Wolfgang Weber (CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons)