Zhejiang Province, on the coast, 186km (116 miles) E of Hangzhou
Thanks to the international attention that Shanghai has received in recent years, Ningbo has been inspired to transform itself from container port and manufacturing base to a burgeoning new tourist destination. The city center has almost completely reinvented itself, with a spanking new shopping plaza that showcases a 95m (312-ft.) musical fountain and probably the largest Starbucks in Asia. Best of all, authorities recently invested in a brand-new tourist office, complete with colorful brochures and English-speaking (to a degree) staff. No longer solely a stop-off point on the way to Putuo Shan, Ningbo is now a gateway to dozens of new and interesting destinations that probably will not make it into most guidebooks for another 5 or 10 years. Choose the right time of year to come and Ningbo makes an excellent base for exploring original destinations that few others have even heard of, let alone visited.
Although Ningbo seems proud of its long history of foreign trade, the last remnants of its treaty-port-era architecture around the port were coming down as this book went to press, except for a few token buildings at the city's central Y-shaped river confluence, San Jiang Kou.
The city is bustling and prosperous, and looks best at night with bridges and the old Catholic church colorfully illuminated. The center is being rebuilt in part with a brisk modernism that resembles a Silicon Valley high-tech campus more than a standard Chinese town.