City launches first aid training program

City launches first aid training program

In a recent program, 55 employees working in public institutions in Haishu District of Ningbo received first aid training to improve the public's skills in first aid and emergency response.

The 4th lake leisure festival opened

The 4th lake leisure festival opened

The fourth Chinese lake leisure festival was held in Dongqian Lake area the other day. Six series of activities with different themes about different images of Dongqian Lake were held.

Overall quality of Ningbo private entrepreneurs joins the first ranks

The Chinese Academy of Personnel Science and the Development Research Center of Ningbo Municipal People’s Government jointly released a report recently, saying the overall quality of Ningbo private entrepreneurs has made to the first ranks in China. 
The statistics say that, there are 470,000 private market entities in Ningbo, 94.7% of the total market entities in Ningbo. There are about 120,000 private enterprises, contributing more than 80% of the economic growth. In the 2011 Chinese Private Enterprises Top 500, 20 were from Ningbo, about ten of which made to the Top 100. 
The private entrepreneurs in Ningbo fall into four categories. Most of them have their own business. Those who enter the private business sector after leaving the state-owned enterprises have an easier access to bank resources. Entrepreneurs with experience abroad have a broad perspective and much greater potential to develop. And those who were once professional managers before are more skilled at management. The four categories of entrepreneurs have different backgrounds, ideas about management and goals. 
A survey shows that Ningbo private enterprises have been persisting in developing their own businesses and emphasizing developing new products and brands. After year’s development, they have achieved well in the traditional industries such as fabric, clothes and machinery, in the port-based industries such as steel, electricity and paper-making, in the technological industry such as biomedicine. Ningbo has become the production bases of stationery, mold, plastic machinery, clothes and household appliances in China. All these are attributed to the fact that Ningbo private enterprises, while enjoying port resources, have seized the historic opportunity to develop the private economy.

Prize giving ceremony for Technology Business Plan Competition held

The prize giving ceremony for the Technology Business Plan Competition was held in Ningbo Innovation Port on the afternoon of Sept. 22. A total number of 105 awards worth of 7.9 mln yuan were unveiled on the ceremony. The more exciting news was that 23 business plans on the competition had successfully raised fund of 340 mln yuan.
The competition was jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ningbo Municipal Government. Since its launch in March and especially since the special report of building Ningbo into an angelic city written on June, 14, the authority had endeavored to encourage more private capitals to invest in Ningbo and more talents to start businesses here. In answer to the government’s appeal, many departments and offices such as the Municipal Personnel Office and Ningbo Science and Technology Bureau went to Beijing and Shanghai and held advertising activities there. What’s more, they also sent invitations to over 200 overseas students’ organizations via Overseas Students Association and Chinese Professional Association and other agents. At the beginning of this month, Wang Huizhong, the Party Secretary led a team to Silicon Valley and New York and held talks with overseas talents, appealing them to start businesses in Ningbo.
In the meantime, the competition made changes on the reward mechanism, setting up a special award to overseas talents who start businesses in Ningbo. Among which two are awards for overseas elites, each with a sum of one mln yuan. And the winners of these two awards were announced on the spot, being the program leaded by Dr. Dai Junhui and the program of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology respectively.
Zhai Lixin, Deputy Director of the Department of Policy, Regulations and Reform of the Ministry of Science and Technology made his congratulation on behalf of the Ministry of Science and Technology and expressed his sincere hope that Ningbo could be built into an angelic city, an innovative city as well as an entrepreneurial city. 

Video dialogue settles international trade disputes

Recently, local quality watchdog successfully settled a trade dispute through the internet with a US Company over the quality problems of the toys imported from a Ningbo manufacturer. The later agreed to pay the US side 20,000 yuan as compensation.

A few days ago, the Administration Bureau for Industry & Commerce in Fenghua of Ningbo received an e-mail from a US company named Lyco product LLC, complaining the colors of the $34,000 toys it imported from a Fenghua Toy Factory are inconsistent with the original samples. The Administration for Industry & Commerce soon conducted an investigation in the involved toy factory.

According to the investigation, the US company sent representatives a month ago to the Fenghua toy factory and signed a contract worth $ 34,000. The contracted stated that the seller's duties are complete as soon as the goods are delivered to the carrier.

After an in-depth investigation into the toy quality, the two sides had no objection to the quality of the sample after a face-to-face negotiation. The contract failed to make a clear agreement on the product quality, appearance, and color. The US buyer neither sent an inspector nor retained the samples for later identification.

Eventually, both sides accept the ruling of the local safety watchdog. The toy manufacturer agreed to compensate 20,000 yuan to the US company.

Ningbo University seeks co-ops with government deparment

Yesterday, Ningbo University(NBU) signed a package of strategic co-operation agreements with 10 government departments including the Municipal Politics and Law Commission, the Civil Administration Bureau, and the Development Research Center. Besides, the university and Ningbo Daily Newspaper Group jointly set up an internship base for the journalism majors. Yu Hongyi, the Publicity Minister of Ningbo, and Zhang Minghua, the vice mayor, attended the signing ceremony.

According to the agreements, NBU will strengthen co-operations in the fields of information, scientific research, personnel training and exchanges, and construction of cooperation platforms.

Yu fully affirmed Ningbo University's efforts and achievement in serving local economy. She hoped that NBU shall continue its effort to serve the local economic and social development and enhance the capability to solve major economic and social issues in Ningbo. She urges NBU to further strengthen cooperation and exchange with more government departments, and jointly promote the sustainable development of Ningbo’s economy, order and culture.

Free bus rides on offer for Car Free Day

Commuters in Ningbo can enjoy a free ride on the bus on Saturday September 22 as part of China's Car Free Day activities, said Ningbo Municipal Government this Tuesday. On September 22, free bus services will be offered in Ningbo. The move is to encourage motorists to give up their cars for a day. Meanwhile, the city plans to open up more bus lanes to improve bus speed and encourage more people to use public transport.

This Saturday marks the annual China's Car Free Day. According to Ningbo's transportation departments, from 0:00 to 24:00 on Saturday, Yinzhou, Haishu, Jiangdong, Jiangbei, Zhenhai, Beilun District will offer free bus rides for passengers to raise public awareness of energy conservation and environmental protection.

This is not the first time Ningbo offers free bus rides for the public. When the typhoon "anemones" made the city a flood of water on August 10 and 11, the municipal government offered free public transport to ease the traffic pressure. The move has been applauded by the general public. On September 22, Ningbo will launch another free bus rides program. "It is meant to encourage people to use public transport and give up their cars for a day," said an official of the Municipal Transportation Bureau. From 8:00 am to 6:00 pm on Saturday, the rightmost lane on the six major roads will be restricted to buses only to speed up public transport. Drivers are urged to give priority to buses on Car Free day.

In addition, Ningbo will launch special public transport services on Car Free Day. A "mini-bus" line will be opened in Higher Education Park in Yinzhou District. Meanwhile, gas-powered buses and LPG/Gasoline Dual-Fuel taxies will be used to promote the concept of "green" traffic.

On "Car Free Day", publicity programs will be held in Zhongshan Square, major bus stations in downtown, and large residential areas

Ningbo's universities see more female students

As a new semester begins in most Ningbo schools last week, many local universities and colleges saw an increase in female students.

In Ningbo Institute of Education, the students are predominantly female in recent years. In 2012, the number of female students in the school accounts for 88 percent, a record high. The school enrolled 1,015 new students in 2012, including 893 females and only 122 males. They enrolled more than 200 pre-school education majors, but only six are male students.

And it's not just vocational schools that are seeing a rise in female students. The same situation happened in some comprehensive universities in Ningbo. Ningbo University enrolled a total of more than 8,000 freshmen this year, and the gender ratio was 45:55 (male to female). Women students definitely dominate such majors as languages study.

Zhejiang Wanli University enrolled 4,989 freshmen, including 2,256 boys and 2,733girls, or 45.2 percent male students and 54.8 percent female students, remaining a similar gender ratio with Ningbo University.

Even science and engineering-based universities like Ningbo University of Technology tend to see higher female enrollment. The school enrolled a total of 3,353 new students this year, with boys accounting for 58.66 percent and girls 41.34 percent. Girls dominate the liberal arts majors, especially language majors. The Japanese language program recruited 51 girls and only 10 boys. Another example is the Chinese Language program, which attracted 70 girls but only 11 boys.

However, many employers in Ningbo prefer male applicants when hiring employees, which makes female graduates more difficult to find jobs and less opportunities to get promotion than their male counterparts.

Brazil increases import tariffs, affecting Ningbo

Brazil has decided to increase the import tariffs it imposes on hundreds of products, the Foreign Trade Commission of Brazil said on September 6. The change is meant to encourage Brazilian companies to make similar products amid the current global economic troubles. The new measure might affect Ningbo's exportation to Brazil.

According to the new measures, the import taxes Brazil imposes on tiles will increase from 15 percent to 35 percent, on bicycles from 20 percent to 35 percent, on air conditioners from 18 percent to 35 percent, and on bicycles and car tires 16 percent to 25 percent.

The substantial increase of tariffs was a surprise to most industry insiders. An even larger tariff hike is on mineral oil, which increases from 4 percent to 25percent.

Inspection and quarantine experts pointed out that major target of Brazil's tariff hike is China. The new measures will also have a direct impact on other Chinese-made products including automobiles, tires, glass, pharmaceutical, mechanical and electrical products, and footwear. China may be the biggest victim of Brazil's protectionism.

In addition, Brazil will also implement anti-dumping sanctions on carbon steel pipe imported from China.

Brazil's move is affecting many exporters in Ningbo, who have seen rising exporting volume to Brazil in recent years.

Statistics from Ningbo Inspection and Quarantine Bureau show, there are more than 1,000 Ningbo exporters to Brazil, exporting 6,977 batches of products from January to August, worth $ 276 million, an increase of 20.27 percent and 11. 73 percent over the same period last year.

Ningbo mainly exports products like automobiles, bike accessories, lamps, small home appliances, and clothing to Brazil. The exportation of agricultural products, chemical industry, machinery and equipment is relatively small.

An owner of a local exporting company said the heavy tariff increases means a price hike of their products, which inevitably hurts the competitiveness in price.

Inspection and quarantine experts pointed out that the enterprises should make efforts to optimize the structure of foreign trade and increase their reputation when carrying out the "go global" strategy.