China
Travel Guide
 

Cixi Introduction

Cixi has a long history. It was six or seven thousand years ago that our ancestors began tolive here and created the world- famous Hemudu Culture. Cixi is one of the birthplaces of Chinese Nation. In the year of 110 B.C., Xu Fu, the great cultural envoy, leading 3,000 virgins, started his successful voyage to Japan from Dapeng Mountain of Cixi city. He took five cereal seeds, metal tools, and skills of balustrade building, agriculture, medicine, bamboo and wood to Japan, which was in the fishing and hunting economic period of the Neolithic Age. Cixi is also the origin of Chinese celadon, opening the Ancient "Pottery and Porcelain Road" on the sea, which contributed to the development of cultural exchange and international trade greatly.

Lying at 121.02"-121.42"(east longitude) and 30.02"-30.24"(north latitude), Cixi is a developing city with a population of 1 million in China Yangtze River Delta, the open economic zone. It is adjacent to Ningbo (the second large port in the mainland of China) to the east, and 145Km away from Hangzhou to the west. It faces Shanghai, the world-famous city across the sea, which is also called Hangzhou Bay. Cixi is the second centre of Ningbo and is also the extension zone of Ningbo industry. In 1995, it is upgraded to one of the second class cities in China.

Cixi city covers an area of 1154sq. Km. Along the south boundary, there are green hills and gentle slopes with numerous fruits. In the central and west part, there are boundless plains, producing heavy agricultural and special products, such as cottons and grains. In the north, there are 77.56 Km long coastline. "Sanbei Shallows", With reservoir, fishpond and saltern, is the largest seamud in Zhejiang province. The area available for reclaiming and developing reaches 50,000 hectares.