+ our new lgbtq+ section | photo & Essay contest winners | what's your local | pork on the fork | shake it shake IT | it's whiskey time | AND MORE EDITOR'S NOTE This is a great month. We hope you had a party hosted by Ganesha Indian Restaurant. are always more than happy to back quality rejuvenating and/or exhilarating Chinese New The food will be delicious, there is alcohol, run local businesses full of heart. There are so Year. As usual record amounts of people went and it's the best place to enjoy yourself without many of them in Ningbo. to a record amount of places and did a record disrupting those observing the holiday for amount of good and not so good things. actual religious reasons. And no, just because Second, this month we've finally added your Vodka Red Bull is pink doesn't mean another kind of pride section. We are excited With the celebrations coming to a close and it's also celebrating HOLI. Have fun and be to finally have an LGBTQ+ section in our the year beginning in earnest, we have a few respectful 'Bo. magazine and look forward to being able to more excellent distractions to keep you busy promote and publicize some great events and through the month of March. For those of you who want to put something stories. else inside your brains besides the next season First off, we want to say a huge thanks to of The Walking Dead... (if no one raises And finally, next month we're headed off everyone who came to help raise money for their hand, we get it) there is the Bookworm to North Korea to run the Pyongyang single mothers in Ningbo. You helped to raise International Literary Festival at UNNC. Mararthon. If you'd like to join us, you're 3,875 RMB and the party was a blast. It was a They have some great guest speakers headed more than welcome to and the details are in great way to start the year. We have a lot more in to talk about some really interesting our Travel section. Sign up soon because the excellent charity parties lined up and we'll let topics ranging from communism in the UK, deadline is March 20th and spots fill up fast. you know when and where you can help. to modern sexuality, to tracing the route of Genghis Khan on horseback. There's a It is a once in a lifetime kind of thing, so For parties in the month of March, it's obvious complete schedule in our Arts section. Please less thinking and more doing usually works that St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner. head there and check it out, everything is free. out best. We hope you'll join so Ningbo can The biggest party for that will be in Laowaitan. properly represent on that starting line. Venues like Eudora Station have great parties Next, we received some great submissions planned, don't miss it. for our Photo & Essay Contest! Please keep Bang. sending them in. It's a great way for everyone The other epic blowout is HOLI. The Hindu to see and share what it is to live in Ningbo. Nick Jumara religious festival of colors is a bit of a tradition in Ningbo. Annually hosted throughout the This month we are proud for two great city there are a lot of separate chances to reasons. You'll find our "LOCAL AND celebrate the holiday. We recommend the PROUD" sticker popping up all over town. We ALWAYS INDEPENDENTLY PUBLISHED 《我爱宁波》DM广告 2015年03月出版 Contributors 广告许可证 东南传媒 甬广固（2013）15号 Gabriella Butarazzi 法律顾问 钱家骏 Steven Elsinga Maria Kotova 广告代理 宁波市江东贵德广告有限公司 Beyond Mandarin 地 址 宁波市中山东路455号 邮 编 315040 Zhou Qian 电 话 0574-27780803 Dezan Shira 传 真 0574-27780802 David Straughan E-mail [email protected] 崔绿南 Cui Lv Nan 网 址 www.ningboguide.com 寻找广告良机，请联系我们 { } Contact us at +86 (574) 2778-0803 For advertising opportunities, call us or email [email protected]. 4 NINGBO GUIDE | MARCH 2015 www.ningboguide.com Company Registration (WFOE or Hong Kong Company) Your first choice for business services +86 135 8694 9385 +86 574 8764 8228 www.innocorpconsulting.com Import & Export Licenses, Secretary Services, Virtual Office [email protected] Industrial Real Estate Relocation Services - Office Hunting - Apartment Hunting - Factory Hunting - Visa Services - Foreign Investment - Driver’s License Consultation Services English Speaking * Sensitivity to Your Needs * International Experience * Useful Local Knowledge The BRIEFING Ningbo Fifth Among China's Most Romantic Cities, 2014 Amazon China ranked Ningbo fifth among 1st Ningbo International Marathon China's most romantic cities in a list released in February. The list was calculated based Scheduled for October on the amount of books and music sold on subjects of marriage, love and idols from China's top 50 cities in terms of GDP. Chongqing was ranked first on the list, followed by Jiangsu province's Changzhou. Zhongshan Road to be Renovated In a press conference on February 10th, Ningbo government released the development plan for Zhongshang Road which detailed a post-Spring Festival renovations project. The road will serve Ningbo's first international marathon is scheduled to be held in late October of as a 9.2-kilometer link between Century this year. The race, which will be held by the local government, will pass through Avenue and the Airport Expressway, and some of Ningbo's key landmarks and economic hot spots in order to show off will feature one of the city's most developed some of the city's features. The marathon will include five and ten-kilometer green corridors. The construction is expected races in addition to a a half-marathon (23km) and a full-lenth marathon to last nine months total, and the city is (42.195km). limiting construction near residential areas to between the hours of 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM. 6 NINGBO GUIDE | MARCH 2015 www.ningboguide.com X THE WIRE / SHORTLIST / INSIGHT / BUSINESS Yinzhou Getting Traditional Chinese Painting 30 New Public Bike Exhibition Held in Tianyige Stations This Year Museum Yinzhou District will be the recipient of at least 30 additional public bike stations and 1,000 bikes in 2015. The additional stations will mostly service areas with large passenger flow such as schools, hospitals, bus stations and residential communities. The additional stations will be placed mostly to areas north of Yinxian Avenue, as the planned tram will cover areas to the south. The district is currently home to more than 4,700 public bikes and 168 stations. Registered Population Climbs to 5.84 Million in 2014 Ningbo's population hit 5.84 million by the end of 2014. The city's natural growth rate, or the increase in population due to births, stood at 3.59%, up 1.2% from the same period last year. Tianyige Museum, one of Ningbo's most important cultural sites, held The city also saw a rise in disposable income per a traditional Chinese painting exhibition from February 14th through capita, at 38,074 RMB; an increase of 9.9% from a March 1st. The exhibition features more than 50 works of art by Li Caijiao, year ago. It also saw a decrease in the income gap a professor of art at Ningbo University. It is her first solo exhibition in between urban and rural residents, from 1.85:1 in Ningbo, and features flowers, birds and other traditional Chinese elements. 2013 to 1:82:1 in 2014. UNNC Architecture Department Earns RIBA Certification The University of Nottingham Ningbo China's Architecture Department has been awarded certification from the Royal Institute of British Architects, one of the United Kingdom and the world's leading professional bodies for architects. People who complete a three-stage training course and seven years of professional courses can be officially qualified as architects under RIBA. Now, undergraduate students at UNNC's architecture department will receive credit for the first stage of this training with the University's new certification. www.ningboguide.com MARCH 2015 | NINGBO GUIDE 7 The BRIEFING X THE WIRE Ningbo to Invest Two Billion RMB in Educational Infrastructure According to the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Education, the city plans to invest more than two billion RMB in educational infrastructure projects, including the construction of more than 30 new schools and institutions. The investment is part of Ningbo's “Three-Year Action Plan for Ningbo's Economic and Social Transformation and Development,” which also includes a plan to provide safe drinking water to more than 700,000 students and teachers at the city's primary schools and middle schools. City to Construct Maritime Silk Road Research Institute An agreement was signed February 12th between Ningbo government and Beijing Foreign Studies University to build a Maritime Silk Road Research Institute. The institute is part of an ongoing effort by the central government to do research on China's relationships with countries and regions along the “Maritime Silk Road,” which is the aquatic trading route which connected Asia, Africa and Europe during ancient times. As part of the deal, Beijing Foreign Studies University will also build an affiliate college in Ningbo to strengthen the city's foreign language education. Housing Market Free Buses to Dongqian Lake to Continues to Drop Open in March As part of measures to deal with According to statistics released by the State increasing traffic around Dongqian Statistics Bureau in January, the price of new Lake, the city is opening three free houses in Ningbo dropped by 6.2% over the bus lines to the area for March year.