A garden party highlighting traditional Chinese culture

Residents and visitors in Haishu District were enjoying a garden party highlighting traditional Chinese culture last Sunday. The party featured a traditional handy craft show and traditional games and performances, adding a lot of fun to the long weekend.

Book club for migrants opens

Last Friday, a book club for migrant construction workers was opened on a construction site in Ningbo. The book club will organize lectures and recommend books for migrant workers

Ningbo to rebuild Xinjiang Bridge

Ningbo to rebuild Xinjiang Bridge

According to Ningbo Municipal Planning Bureau, Ningbo is going to rebuild Xinjiang Bridge at the Sanjiangkou area of Ningbo.

Rapid developing outsourcing service industry in Ningbo

With the support of Zhejiang Provincial Government, Ningbo is speeding up the development of the service outsource industry.

4th phase container wharf works of Beilun won national-level awards

The other day, the 4th phase container wharf works of Beilun won the 10th Zhan Tianyou Award of China Civil Engineering Works.

Broadcast exercises competition in Ningbo

On the morning of April 21, the broadcast exercises competition was held in Youngor Gym, as a celebration of the coming May 1 International Labor Day.

Traveling passport for foreign experts

On April 9, many foreign experts in Zhenhai District got their traveling passport from the district Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security. As members of the foreign expert club in Zhenhai District, they are entitled to visit all the scenic areas in the district for free.

Seven highway tolls to be canceled

Twenty-nine highway tolls and 30 toll stations in Zhejiang Province will be canceled on May 1, according to an official statement. In addition, 11 highway toll stations will stop charging extra road fees. Seven highway toll stations in Ningbo will be canceled, said an official from Ningbo Highway Administration bureau last Sunday.

According to Zhejiang transportation authorities, from 2005 to 2011, 78 highway toll stations had been canceled (including 46 toll stations of second-class highways financed by government loans). Last June, the Ministry of Transport, together with four other State departments, launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate unreasonable and over-extended toll charges. In the wake of the campaign, Zhejiang Province stopped 62 highway toll collectors from seven cities in Zhejiang. Twenty-nine items of fees and 30 toll stations have been canceled. Eleven highway toll stations stopped charging extra road fees. The move is expected to reduce 320 million yuan in highway tolls.

Ningbo's 38 A-share listed companies disclose annual report

According to Ningbo office of China Securities Regulatory Commision(CSRC), the 38 A-share listed companies have disclosed their 2011 annual reports before April 26 (no report from Ningbo Cixing Co., Ltd., a new listing this year). The annual reports show 15 companies have shrinking net profit due to various reasons. The rest 23 companies are maintaining considerable growing profits. More than 70 percent of the companies will have dividends.

Among the 39 companies, 38 are profitable except Ningbo Fubang Holdings Limited. The top three most profitable companies are Bank of Ningbo, Ningbo Port and Younger Group, whose total net profit adds up to 7.484 billion yuan, accounting for 56.64 percent of all A-share listed companies in Ningbo.

Statistics from Ningbo office of CSRC show that the listed companies in Ningbo maintained a steady growth in 2011. By the end of 2011, the total asset of Ningbo listed companies had hit 486.097 billion yuan, an increase of 4.85 percent year-on-year. The net assets reached 105.669 billion yuan, a rise of 12.82 percent year-on-year. The total revenue toped 125.25 billion yuan, an increase of 16.87 percent year-on-year, accounting for 20.84 percent of Ningbo's GDP in 2011. The companies earned a net profit of 13.214 billion yuan, a rise of 4.47 percent year-on-year. The basic earnings per share(basic EPS) and return on net assets(RONA) were 0.41 yuan and 12.51 percent respectively.

60-year-old donates corneas

Last Friday, Ms. Gan Mingzhu, a 60-year-old, donated her corneas, which were later implanted into two patients with eye afflictions. Another dying wish she set is to be buried at sea. In a country where cornea donations and sea burials are uncommon, Gan's noble acts have moved many people.

At 3:30 p.m. on April 27th, Dr. Lu Bin in the Ningbo Eye Hospital received a phone call from Gan's husband. In grief, he told the doctor that his wife had just died of illness, and he asked doctors to help him to fulfill his wife’s last wish as a cornea donor. Dr. Lu Bin soon rushed to hospital and organized doctors to collect the corneas.

Ms. Gan Mingzhu, the cornea donor, was 60-year-old, and lived in Haishu District. In the eyes of her neighbours and friends, she always kept a low profile. However, her two dying wishes surprised them. Her family supported her decision and has completed her first wish. Now they are submitting applications for a sea burial for Ms. Gan.

Ms. Gan's first wish have benefited two patients with eye afflictions. After collecting the corneas, two experienced surgeons in Ningbo Eye Hospital performed corneal transplants for 49-year-old Mr. Li and 57-year-old Mr. Lai, helping them to restore eyesight

Credit support of 7b yuan granted to foreign trade companies

Recently, a promotional activity for 100 developing foreign trade companies has been held in International Convention and Exhibition Center in Ningbo. The program was jointly hosted by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange(SAFE), Ningbo Branch and Ningbo Bureau of Foreign Trade ＆ Economic Cooperation.

More than 120 small and medium-sized foreign trade companies secured credit support amounting to 7 billion yuan from financial institutions, which means a strong financial support for their future development.

The promotional activity belongs to a large-scale SME foreign exchange services program offered by SAFE Ningbo Branch. The move aims to further improve the foreign exchange allocation and step up development of Ningbo's open economy.

International Tea Culture Festival to kick off in May

The 6th International Tea Culture Festival will be held from May 11 to 13 in International Convention and Exhibition Centre in Ningbo, said organizing committee of the Tea Culture Festival last Friday.

The Tea Culture Festival is jointly hosted by the China International Tea Culture Research Association, the China Tea Marketing Association, the China Tea Science Society, the Agriculture Department of Zhejiang Province and Ningbo Municipal  Government.

According to the organizing committee, the Tea Culture Festival features events including a tea fair, an agricultural products fair and a Taiwan trade fair. So far, the registration and invitation process of the fair has been completed. The organizers arrange 164 booths for the tea fair, including Mingzhou Tea Pavilion and Pavilion for Top Ten Zhejiang Tea. Besides, they invite 143 participating companies in the Agricultural Products Fair, with 100 kinds of well-known agricultural products. They also arrange 232 booths for 160 participating companies in Taiwan Trade Fair, which will display products including tea, crafts, leisure foods, and health foods.

Besides, a promotion conference for tea producers and buyers will be held during the festival. The China Tea Marketing Association has invited 100 tea buyers to the conference, which is the first time for Ningbo to invite professional buyers. In addition, the activities of the Tea Culture Festival also include the 6th Ningbo International Tea Culture Festival Trade Fair, a competition of tea ceremony, and a concert