Ningbo is the central city of the China coast. It is also located at the confluence of three rivers and has an excellent ice-free, silt-free, deep-water harbour.

Not surprisingly, the city has been a key port for international trade for more than a thousand years.

For centuries, Ningbo's trade, which is mostly in silk and porcelain, was conducted exclusively with Persian and Arabian traders who set up a permanent settlement in the city. Late, business was expanded to include the Portuguese, Dutch and British, and later still Ningbo became a Treaty Port.

Ningbo now trades with the entire world. It is one of the 14 Open Cities along the coast of China and these days boasts a 100,000-ton computerized container port, the largest and most modern in the country. Ningbo is also a center for fishing, ship-building and agriculture.

A medium-sized city with a population of about 1.3 million, Ningbo contains a wealth of ancient architecture and historical sites including the oldest existing library in China, numerous temples and monasterics, and a 650 year-old pagoda that is still the city's tallest structure.

The city's climate is subtropical and generally humid. January temperatures average 4.2℃, and July temperatures average 28.8℃. There are heavy rains in June and July, and a typhoon season from July to September.