Bonsai exhibition

Recently, a bonsai exhibition was held in Kongpu Street Community of Jiangbei District. All the exhibited flowers and plants were provided by residents in the community.

"Flea market" in the community

On March 16, residents of a community in Jiangdong District took part in the "flea market" held in a community with great enthusiasm

A lay-off learning cosmetics

A lay-off learning cosmetics

A 40-year-old woman named Li Fengqun, a former personnel manager of an SOE, was learning cosmetics in Ningbo.

Expats learning calligraphy

Expats learning calligraphy

A calligraphy training class for expats were organized at the Sha Menghai Calligraphy Academy a couple of days ago.

Expanding opening of Ningbo Port approved

News came from the administration committee of Ningbo Meishan Bonded Port Area that the State Council has recently approved the plan to expand opening up of Ningbo Port, following the official approval of the establishment of Meishan Bonded Port Area in February 2008.
The bonded port area, 30 kilometers away from downtown Ningbo, is the fifth bonded port area in China approved by the State Council. The latest approval of opening up involves all the 27-kilometer coastline of Meishan Island.
Reportedly, the first phase of Meishan Bonded Port Area with an area of 2.5 square kilometers has been put into use since June 2010. In August that year, the container terminal was put into trial operation. As it is still in temporary opening period, the joint check of foreign ships by all related departments of the bonded port area usually costs about 1.5 hours. The time will be reduced to less than an hour when it is opened officially. According to the planning, some special markets for import and export commodities, such as trading centers for imported food, liquid chemicals and electronic products, will be established in Meishan Bonded Port Area, making it a distribution center for various resources and elements

Shipbuilding industry entering “winter”

Affected by the global financial crisis, the shipping industry, which is closely related to foreign trade, has undergone great pressure since the second half of last year. The shipbuilding industry in Ningbo is confronted with a severe situation after a rapid annual growth rate of 1.5 times for two successive years.
The latest statistics from Ningbo Customs show that in the first two months, 3337 ships valued at 82.48 million US dollars were exported, down by 43% and 58.9% respectively over the same period last year. Among them, 3335 ships (worth 897,000 US dollars) are small ships for entertainment and sports utility, and were exported on a general trade basis.
According to some related officials from Ningbo Customs, the dramatic decrease of ship exports in Ningbo was mainly caused by the ever-growing contradiction of supply and demand in the market. Mr. Ye, Manager of Ningbo Dongsheng Shipbuilding Co. Ltd., said that since the second half of last year, the shipping market has entered “deep winter period”. Last year, some shipbuilding plants could draw on their previous orders. However, with the decrease of inquiries this year, shipbuilding enterprises are facing the problem of order shortage. In addition, with the ever-increasing cost caused by price rise of raw materials, financing difficulties, increase of labor costs and appreciation of RMB, the profit space of related enterprises is shrinking.

90% of finance in Jiangdong goes to livelihood improvement

The Government of Jiangdong District plans to allocate another 214 mln yuan for 95 projects this year. Theses projects are mostly related to the wellbeing of residents, among which 195 mln yuan will go to such sectors as road building and repairing, renovation of old city and education as well as sanitary facilities, which accountfor 91.2% of the newly scheduled expenditure.

The First Tulip Flower Festival (Ningbo) to be open

There is no need to go to Holland to see tulips and nor is there any need to fly to Provence to enjoy the flower seas, for the First Tulip Flower Festival (Ningbo) in Dongqian Lake, that is the biggest tulip flower exhibition of Ningbo is set to be open on March 28. The festival held in the Dongqian Aquatic Garden is about to last one month till April 28. Therefore, Ningbo citizens could feast their eyes on tulips and take in the charm of exotic flavors of Holland to their hearts’ content.
The festival with the theme of “enjoying & photographing” is sponsored by the Administrative Committee of Dongqian Lake and organized by Ningbo Dawei Travel Co., Ltd. A total amount of 500,000 tulips of 38 species will be put on display within the one-month festival.
According to the introduction from the authority, the tulips to be exhibited are all introduced from Holland, all of which are of such different yet dazzling colors as red, yellow, pink and violet etc, admitting the tulip-lovers to enjoy themselves to their content.
The whole layout is basically centered on tulips and implemented with other grass and flowers, integrating differently-themed gardens, flowerbeds and other funning works of landscape which blending the flavor of spring perfectly with the charming of Holland. The organizer elaborately forged the following 8 scenes: “the Song of Spring”, “the Longing of Spring”, “the Beauty of Spring”, “the Melody of Spring”, “the Tune of Spring”, “the Love of Spring”, and “the Affection of Spring” as well as “the Taste of Spring”, fully displayed people’s love and affection for the Spring. And the visual feast is also embellished with colorful waterwheels and windmills and unique pastures imported form Holland.      
During the festival, the organizer will also host ten activities such as the photography competition and writing competition to attract and mobilize visitors.
The Aquatic Garden and the Lakes Pavilion in Dingqian Lake Scenic Area will open to the public during the festival.
Services:
Admission charge: A ticket to the festival is 60 yuan per person. And a series of preferential measures are to be provided: 100,000 50%-off coupons will be handed to Ningbo townships; visitors could get free tickets with ID Cards on the birthdays; the first 10 visitors will receive a bunch of tulips; and visitors happen to be the one hundredth, one thousandth and such lucky numbers would get a free ticket to attractions of the Water Park in Dongqian Lake, a place of recreation to be open in June.  
Transportation: Self-drivers could reach the opposite side of Kana Lake of Dongqian Lake by way of Xianxiang Town of Yinzhou District, and they could park their cars in the self-affiliated parking lots with 1,000 parking spaces in it. Buses of No.906, 966, 960, 968, 603, 612, 620, 629, 654, 660 also pass the site on Guojiazhi Station

Xiangshan Hilton hotel design conference held

 The Xiangshan Hilton hotel design conference was held March 13. Representatives from 11 well-known design companies gathered in Xiangshan, making design plans for the Xiangshan Hilton. Quan Shiyong, vice president of WATG and chief designer of the Xiangshan Hilton hotel and Deputy Magistrate of Xiangshan Qiu Jinyue attended the meeting.
The Xiangshan Hilton Hotel is the first Hilton Hotel & Resort Hotel in Ningbo, with a total construction area of 109,800 square meters, and a total investment of 1.1 billion Yuan. As one of the three renowned hotels to settle in the East China, the Xiangshan Hilton Hotel will be put into operation in 2014. The hotel has a health spring center, 316 sets of full sea view suites and Ningbo’s largest banquet hall with 1200 square meters. After its opening, the hotel will the second Hilton hotel which is run by its owner but managed internationally by Hilton Group just as the example of the Hilton Shanghai hotel.
When asked about the design philosophy, Quan Shiyong said that we should integrate Xiangshan’s unique sea scenery and culture into the design, making each corner a feeling of surprise

CCTV spotlighted on Beilun's public rental housing

The production crew of CCTV made a trip to Beilun recently, to make an interview on Beilun’s construction of public rental housing by enterprises themselves.
Beilun is the first district in Zhejiang where migrant population exceeds the local population. The district pays high attention to the housing problems of migrant workers. In the recent years, Beilun government has put into great efforts to improve the housing security system with the building of public rental housing as its main part while investing funds in constructing low-renting houses. Last October, Beilun authority carried out the trial policy for the constructing public rental housing and firstly launched the construction of houses with enterprises’ capital, the act of which won appreciation from Zhejiang Provincial leaders.
　　In the two-day interview, CCTV interviewed Beilun officers who are in charge of the program, mainly centered on topics that where to arrange land resources and how to engage needy enterprises into this program etc. At the same time, they also made spot interview at the construction sites of Ningbo Steel Co., Ltd. and Shenzhou Knitting Co., Ltd

250 hectares of green land and 2,324 trees adopted for protection

On the morning of March, 10th, residents and 99 enterprises, the largest number ever, signed agreements of “adoption” with the Ningbo Urban Greening Commission, Municipal Landscaping and Gardening Bureau and the Chengguan Bureaus of the six districts to get their protection share of 250 hectares of green land and 2,324 trees. Residents brought children with them to attend the signing ceremony at Zhongshan Square, hoping that they could learn to protect green land and trees.
It was learned from the Municipal Gardening Bureau that as a major model for protecting the green, Ningbo started the practice of cooperating with enterprises to protect the green in 2004. At that time, only 16 enterprises participated and 21 hectares of green land was adopted. In 2009, 160 hectare of green land found protectors of 60 enterprises and in 2011, 227 hectare of green land were claimed for protection by residents and 92 enterprises

PPI in February climbs a bit as against the previous month

The city’s PPI in February dropped by 0.76% over the same period last year, and climbed by 0.43% as against the previous month, according to a survey released on March 12.
Analysts say that this trend is attributed to two factors: the high base price last year and the rise of prices of product oil and non-ferrous metals