Ningbo is a major deepwater port city just south of Shanghai, in Zhejiang Province on China's East Coast. Reachable via expressway (four hours) or via plane (a 30 minute hop) from Shanghai, it is also easily accessible from the Provincial capital of Hangzhou. A hovercraft service also runs between Ningbo & Shanghai, (one hour) with the upgrading of the expressway meaning a 90 minute intercity cruise when this is finished in 2006 with a 54km bridge - which will be the longest in the world - being part of this route. Ningbo has developed well over the past few years and now has a significant amount of infrastructure to boast - including excellent port facilities, a good free trade zone and speedy import-export processes. All this makes the city an increasingly attractive option when considering the expense of Shanghai, especially in the manufacturing area. It really is developing as a true Shanghai satellite.

Ningbo's main role as a Port is to break down larger cargoes brought in on bulk or giant containers for transshipment onto smaller vessels which will in turn carry the cargo onto the smaller ports and up the Yangtse through Shanghai or elsewhere along the east coast. As a result Ningbo is of significant future strategic importance and is developing quickly into this new role.

Places to stay include the five star Nanyuan Hotel (0574) 8709 5678, or the four star East Seaport Hotel (0574) 8737 3188, and the Asia Garden (0574) 8711 6888. The recently refurbished airport is about 20 minutes from downtown.

Ningbo was an old Treaty Port (1842) and consequently signs of old European involvement in trade can still be seen today. History abounds here, the SouthWest area of Moon Lake houses Tianyige Library - China's oldest, dating from 1516 and surrounded by beautiful classical gardens. Close by, Baogao Si is one of China's oldest Buddhist temples, dating back to 1013. This area is now developing as a combination of up-market shopping and local antiquities and is fun to walk around.

The population of Ningbo is about 6m, with the majority of its local businesses being involved in export processing, but significantly larger operations are here too, including petrochemical refineries, paper manufacturing and feed processing - all due to the sheer scale of the port facilities, and the processing needed close by to accommodate process and disperse product brought into the facility.

For nightlife and cheap beer (we know our readers well!) the best local bars are The Windsor Bar, located inside the CITIC Hotel, or for more rock'n roll and chatting up the local girls, just opposite the East Seaport Hotel on Caihong Road are a number of bars - they do change hands frequently, but the best current ones are Gigi's, Anna's & Bar Eleven. Some of them may serve a little more than just drinks if you're in search of local variety fragrant Ningbo honey in little tight pots.

The operations at the Free Trade Zone are very professional and well run, getting off to a slow start in 1984 but now accommodating and user-friendly. For investments or enquiries about Ningbo please contact our Shanghai office at (021) 6279 8658 or email us at info@dezshira.com . Ningbo is developing well, has great infrastructure and should seriously be considered as an alternative location to Shanghai.

Happy Traveling!