Geographical location

Xiangshan county, situated in the east of Zhejiang province and surrounded by sea on three sides, is home to hills, plains, coastlines and islands. 

Xiangshan enjoys a subtropical monsoon climate with four distinctive seasons, which brings the region adequate sunshine, sufficient heat and plentiful rainfall.

Being part of Ningbo city, with population of 530,000, Xiangshan is the economic center in the south of the Yangtze River Delta, covering a land area of 1,175 square kilometers and an ocean area of 5,350 square kilometers.

As one of China's top 100 prosperous counties in term of comprehensive economic strength, Xiangshan has convenient traffic with an efficient transportation network on land and sea. It is three hours' drive from Wenzhou, and also three hours' drive from Shanghai crossing the Hangzhou Bay Bridge.

Natural conditions

Xiangshan has a coastline of 800 kilometers, with 608 natural islands and reefs.

Nature endows Xiangshan with ample tourism resources, giving it the reputation of being "the fairy county in the sea with all the views of a picture".

The whole county receives more than 100 million tourists from home and abroad every year, with tourism revenues exceeding 300 million yuan ($44.97 million).  

Xiangshan enjoys a great investment condition as well as a sound and stable social environment. Recently, it has been listed as one of the nation's ecological demonstration counties.

Xiangshan is developing fast into a modern coastal city with good living conditions. 

With a subtropical monsoonal and mild climate, Xiangshan's average temperature is 16-17 C and the annual average rainfall is above 1,250 mm. The rain is concentrated mostly in May or June --called the plum rain season -- and in August or September during the summer monsoon season.

The county has never registered an earthquake.

Traffic and Transportation

1) Highway

Xiangshan is less than one hour's drive from Ningbo city proper, from the quay of Beilun Port and from Ningbo Airport. 

2) Railway

The total length of the interconnected railways in Ningbo is 186.7 km, which connect Xiangshan with Jiangxi province, Shanghai municipality, and Hangzhou city. In 2001, the freight transportation capacity by railway hit 12 million tons, while passenger transport exceeded 350 million. 

3) Port

Container liners heading for 553 ports of 88 countries and regions around the world are available in Beilun Port, where regular international container liners serve Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia, the Persian Gulf, Northwest Europe, and the east coastline of the USA. 

4) Aviation

More than 30 national and regional air routes are available at Ningbo Lishe International Airport, which is among the busiest airports in China. In 2001, its passenger throughput hit 121 million, while the cargo throughput reached 22,000 tons. 

Economy

The dominant industries in Xiangshan consist of fabric manufacture, aquatic product processing, electronics, food machinery, automobile fittings and mold processing. Xiangshan has a complete fabric processing industry, from knitting to floating, dying to printing, completing a full industrial chain. Globally sophisticated equipment has also been introduced in Xiangshan to make both medium-grade and high-grade knitting possible. 

Shipu Port, a state level central fishing port, and Xiangshan Harbor, a natural deep water harbor, are located in Xiangshan. Industries, such as its port industry, aquatic product processing, and marine bio-engineering, have bright prospects for growth. 

The agriculture in Xiangshan is typified by special fruits and vegetables, wild animal breeding and fish farming. 

With a sound investment environment, stable and secure social order, tidy and reasonable layout, Xiangshan has been elevated to a model national ecological county. Xiangshan is embarking on the construction of a new modernized ecological city by the sea.