Ningbo: A City Connecting China and the World

NINGBO, China, May 27, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- An anime When We Try to Portray Ningbo in a Five-minute-anime produced by China Matters shows Ningbo's rich cultural heritage and opening. That is Ningbo – the city with a long history of civilization connecting with the world and high-tech industries renowned globally.

Youtube Link: https://youtu.be/_hJfOPawixQ?si=Op1tLyyc870DLkag  

In the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Florence, Italy, there is a map of China drawn in 1575. This map highlights Ningbo as one of the few cities marked, symbolizing a historic friendship between the two cities. Centuries ago, these two cities were closely connected through the Maritime Silk Road. Today, they have established a sister city relationship, marked by numerous exchanges over the past decade.

The relationship between the two cities is an example of Ningbo as the forefront of cultural exchanges between China and the world. Ningbo is not only a significant origin of Chinese civilization, but also a major cultural and intellectual hub during the Song and Ming dynasties. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the "Zhedong School", a school of thought in east Zhejiang province, represented by Wang Yangming's thoughts on "Unity of Knowledge and Action," had great cultural influence in China and beyond. The Tianyi Pavilion is famous for its rich collection of books in East Asia and around the world. In modern times, thanks to its cultural legacy, Ningbo is home to many renowned scientists such as Tu Youyou, Tong Dizhou, Tong Zhipeng, Zhu Gaofeng, and Zheng Weimin in fields like biology, medicine, communications, and supercomputing, earning Ningbo the name of "Home of Chinese Academicians."

Ningbo is not only an ancient city with rich cultural heritage, but also a trade port connecting the world. Since modern times, merchants and entrepreneurs from Ningbo had developed their business globally and established "Ningbo townsmen association" everywhere. Today the Zhoushan port of Ningbo has maintained world's largest port in cargo throughput for 15 consecutive years while Ningbo's enterprises and industries have made their own names worldwide. In 2023, added value of Ningbo's high-tech industry reached 332.288 billion yuan, and the value of new products reached 813.56 billion yuan, ranking first in Zhejiang province. In April 2024, 7,900 new energy vehicles have been exported from Ningbo to global market.