As an old cultural city with a clear distinction of four seasons and moderate climate, Ningbo is famous for its natural scenery, historic relics and cultural heritage. As one of the first China’s Excellent Tourist Cities, it boasts 11 state-level protection units of cultural heritage among the 255 protected historic and cultural sites. They include: the Hemudu Neolithic Culture Relics dating back 7,000 years; Tianyi Pavilion, the oldest private library in China; Baoguo Temple, the oldest wooden structure south of the Yangtze River, Shanglinhu porcelain kiln remains of Yue; Tuoshanyan Water Conservancy Project; remains of the Zhenhai coastal defence and Chiang Kai-shek's former residence in Xikou, Fenghua. Besides, there are Tiantong Temple, the second of China's top 5 temples of Zen Sect of Buddhism, King Asoka Temple noted for the preservation of one parietal bone of Sakyamuni, and Xuedou Temple. Xikou Scenery Area, Tengtou Ecological Tourism Area, Tianyi Pavilion museum and Songlan Mount seashore for tourism& holidays are national 4-A scenery sites. The area is central to many scenic destinations: metropolitan Shanghai to the north, the sacred Buddhist site, Putuo Island to the East, splendid Mount Yandang to the south, and the picturesque West Lake in Hangzhou (the capital of the Province) to the West. At present, there are 125 travel agencies and over 140 hotels with stars. In the year of 2003, the city received 221,5000 tourists from the abroad and 17.2 million at home, involving a total volume of RMB16.406 billion.
l Hemudu Neolithic Cultural Relics
Hemudu Relics, which is located in Hemudu village in Yuyao city, has been verified to have a history of 7000 years. From the site, large amount of rice, animals' remains, fruits, wooden buildings, oars, thousands of ceramic vessels and primitive handicraft have been excavated. This stands to prove that Ningbo is the first place to grow rice. Like the Yellow Valley, Yangtze Valley is also the origin of China's brilliant culture.
Hemudu Relics is now under national preservation. And a museum of Hemudu Relics has been built with inscriptions from the late Chairman Jiang Zeming. Researchers can find here many objects and documents for their study of human history.
l Dongqian Lake
The Dongqian Lake is about 15 kilometres away from the city proper with an area of 22 square kilometres which is five times that of West Lake. There are 72 streams pouring water into the Dongqian Lake.
With a history of 1200 years, Dongqian Lake has such scenic spots as Mr Tao Angling Rock projecting over the lake, White Stone Greenyard and Wang Anshi Temple.
Surrounded by mountains on four sides, the vast Dongqian Lake is a nice place for travel, recuperation and escaping the scotching sun in summer.
Going to Dongqian lake is very convenient. The hotels, playing ground and all kinds of water sports facilities there will be sure to give tourists a real recreation.
l Tuoshan Weir
 In former times, the life of Ningbo inhabitants was quite different from that of northerners. The Hemudu Neolithic Site reflects the mode of life at that time, when piles were built by the waterside, upon which stilted houses were constructed. The people of Ningbo have thus always lived close to the water.
Over 1,000 years ago, at a time of drought, salt water flowed back into the Fenghua River, and at a time of flood, the river inundated its banks. The local people suffered sorely, and so built the Tuoshan Weir. Located on Tuoshan Hillside, southwest of Jinxian County, it is one of China's four ancient water conservancy projects, the other three being Zhengguo Canal, Ling Canal and Dujiang Weir. For more than 1,000 years Tuoshan Weir has been maintained in its original state.
Tuoshan Weir is 100 meters long, nearly 5 meters wide, and has 36 steps. It is a wood and stone structure, and each stone pile weighs several thousand kilograms. The four stone piles along the ancient river course still bear inscriptions in the handwriting of ancients. The weir has an ingenious design. During the dry season, 70 percent of the water flows into the canal and 30 percent into the river. When floods occur, 70 percent of the water flows into the river and 30 percent into the canal. Changes in the river course have, however, resulted in Tuoshan Weir falling into disuse.
Now more than 1100 years have passed, most part of Tuoshan Weir still remains intact and is functioning to prevent salt water, store fresh waste water, channel water into the fields and sluice water elsewhere. Tuoshan Weir is currently a focus for experts specializing in ancient water conservancy projects. Ever increasing numbers of researchers, both Chinese and from abroad, have come to visit it, and in 1988, it was designated a key historical site under national protection by the State Council.
l Temple of the Town God
Temple of the Town God is popularly called Old Chenghuang Temple. In 1347 Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang gave orders to construct Chenghuang Temple at the Prefecture of Ningbo with a view to bring peace to people for the prosperity of the country. The whole construction area is 4,700 square meters and it is one of the biggest Chenghuang temples in China. The style of the construction is the mixture of the best construction from Ming and Qing dynasties. In Ningbo, it is the first selected tourist attraction and place for businessmen from different parts of the country and has been prosperous since Ming Dynasty. Over more than ten years of development or construction, the temple area now has the street of new temple and old temple, food city, Guotai handicraft, the Shopping Centre of Asia with a planned area of 100,000 square meters and a construction area of 70,000 square meters. The temple has become a shopping centre of both dining and touring in the downtown area.
l Baoguo Temple
Baoguo Temple, situated in the valley of Lingshan Mountains, 15 kilometers to the north of Ningbo, is the oldest and most completely preserved wooden structure construction in South China with over 970 years of age. It consists of Shan Men (Mountain Gate), Tian Wang Dian (Hall of Heavenly King), Da Dian (Grand Hall), occupying an area of 13,000 square meters with the construction area of 6000 square meters. The Grand Hall is invaluable in the history of Chinese construction in the field of history, arts and science. The main characteristics of the hall are that its depth is larger than its width; hence its form is a vertical rectangle. This structure is rare in the construction of Buddhist temples in the same period. The whole structure of the hall, supporting the roof of over 50 tons, has layers of layer ingeniously interlocking wooden brackets but not a single nail was used. There are three hollowed-out sunken panels in the ceiling, hiding the roof beam; thus the hall is called "Beamless Hall." Besides the unique structure, there is another peculiar phenomenon in the beamless hall. No birds have ventured inside to make nests, not a single spider web is found and no dust is accumulated.
l Tianyi Pavilion
Tianyi Pavilion is the earliest and oldest, private and folk library well preserved in China today, and even in Asia. Located in the west of Yue Lake, it was built in 1561-1566 by Mr. Fan Qin, a high-ranking official equivalent to today's minister of national defence in the 39th year of Emperor Jia Jing's reign in the Ming Dynasty. Originally, it had collected more than 70,000 volumes of books. After over 400 years of vicissitudes, there still have kept a large collection of about 300,000 ancient books, among which 80,000 are rare and the only extant copies, mostly woodcut and hand-written copies of the Song and Ming dynasties. They are rich sources of local chronicles and imperial examinations and are precious materials for the study of history, people, social customs and habits.
The original and graceful design of the two-layer Tianyi Pavilion also helps to give it its name. In front of the building is a sink called Tianyi Sink with a hill of rare stones in the middle, just like nine lions and one elephant playing in water. The Zunjin Building, the Mingzhou steles, the Dongyuan and the branch of Qingshi ancestral temple constitute integral parts of the whole Tianyi Pavilion.
l Xikou Scenery Area and Xuedou Mountain
 Early in the Han Dynasty, Xikou enjoyed a high reputation of being a fairyland on the sea. Xue Dou Mountain, standing above a chain of connected mountains and covered with verdant old pine trees and flickering green bamboo, is a famous summer resort of natural beauty. In addition, it is also renowned home and abroad for being the hometown of Chiang Kai-shek (also known as Jiang Jieshi, he served as leader of the Kuomintang after the death of its founder, Sun Yat-sen, in 1925. After the Communists gained control of the Chinese mainland in 1949, Chiang retreated to Taiwan, where he established a government in exile.)
The Xuedou Mountain is located 35 kilometres southwest of the city proper of Cixi city. Its three scenic spots include the Xikou town, Xuedou Mountain and Tingxia Lake. In Xuedou Mountain, there is a Buddhist rite of Maitreya, Thousand Feet Rock waterfall, Miaogao Platform and Yushu Pavilion.
In Xikou town, there remains the Fenggao house, the former residence of Chiang Kai-shek and the Tomb of Chiang's mother. Chiang Kai-shek's former residence consists of the Fenggao House, the Yutai Salt Shop and the Western-style House. The Fenggao House, situated on the Middle Street, Xikou, Fenghua City and facing the stream, was the birthplace of Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Jing-guo. Its architectural space covers an area of 4800 square meter, and its floorage is 1850 square meters. The structure of the house is typical of traditional Chinese style with an antechamber, a back chamber, two wings and four verandas. The high buildings and elegant balconies, the winding verandas, the black columns and red walls, all these keep the house splendid. In the front courtyard there are three gardens, connected with each other by moon-shaped gates. The honeysuckle in the small mid-courtyard was planted by Madame Soong Mei-ling. The east and the west wing-rooms were respectively the living rooms of Mme. Song and Mao Fumei (Chiang's first wife). The independent little house to the west of the west wing used to be the residence of Chiang's mother. At the entrance to the Danqiang Lane on the mid-street of Xikou, is the site where the Yutai Salt Shop was originally situated. The Shop was the property of Chiang's father a
nd grandfather's as well as his birthplace. The Shop is a stone building. On the horizontal board were inscribed two Chinese characters "qing lu" (Quiet Cottage), and on the cornerstone at the front are the words: "the original site of the Yutai Salt Shop, written by Chiang Kai-shek.
The Western-style House, a two-storey building, was built in 1930. Standing at the foot of the Wushan Mountain and facing the Shanxi River, the House is in the quiet and beautiful environment. Mr. Chiang Jing-guo lived here after his return from Soviet Union in 1937.
The Chiang Kai-shek's Former Residences at Fenghua is a national key unit for cultural relics preservation of the State Council of China. As a summer resort, the whole scenic area is about 60 square kilometres with an average temperature of 16 throughout the year.
l Liang-Zhu Cultural Park
 The violin concerto "Liang-Zhu" (Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai) tells a poignant love story, a Chinese equivalent to "Romeo and Juliet", based on one of China's four most popular folk tales. Historic sites relating to this legend can be found in many localities, but the best preserved is the Liang Shanbo Temple in Jinxian County, Ningbo.
The Liang Shanbo Temple is located on the banks of the Yuyao River. It is said that in ancient times the river frequently flooded. At that time, Liang Shanbo served as magistrate of the county, and exerted great efforts towards harnessing the river, thus winning the love and esteem of the people. To commemorate Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, the local people built the Liang Shanbo Temple.
The Liang-Zhu Cultural Park, with the temple at its center, consists of a cluster of buildings in ancient style, including pavilions, terraces, towers, and waterside pavilions, with the love story as its main theme; and the Liang-Zhu Wedding Folklore Festival is an exceptionally grand occasion.
l Shanglinhu Porcelain Kiln Remains of Yue
The Yue Kiln is located in the Shanglinhu, Cixi city. The celadon ware from Yue Kiln have fine and smooth rough cast and sparkling colour. Thanks to these qualities, they were used to pay tribute to emperors and were shipped to Korea, Japan and Arabian countries trough Ningbo. Even now some relics of celadon can be found in India, Iran, Egypt, Japan and South Korea.
Apart from the Yue Kiln, Shanglinhu is also famous for its beautiful landscape.
l Asoka Temple
 Situated under the Luhua Peak in Taibai Mountains, Asoka Temple is 19 kilometres to the east of Ningbo and is one of the "China Five Buddhist Mountains". Asoka was a king of ancient India and a devout Buddhist. In his lifetime he built more than 8,000 Buddhist pagodas all over the world. In Ningbo there is an ancient temple named after Asoka, with a history of 1,700 years. It was built in the third year of the reign of Taikang during the Western Jin Dynasty, and is one of the five famous temples of the Zen Sect.
The Asoka Temple is famous worldwide for a fragment of Sakyamuni's parietal bone, which is kept in the seven-story stone pagoda in the Hall of Relics. The stone carvings of Buddha's four warrior attendants and brick carvings of 16 princes are vividly lifelike. In the Hall of Relics hang horizontal boards bearing inscriptions in the calligraphy of Emperor Gaozong and Emperor Xiaozong of the Song Dynasty.
The Asoka Temple consists of a cluster of grand buildings, including the Great Buddha Hall and the Hall of Relics, covering 80,000 square meters. Inside the temple are stone tablets erected during the Tang and Song dynasties. The temple comprises architecture, sculpture, gardens, paintings and historical sites, and attracts large numbers of tourists and pilgrims.
l Remains of Zhenhai Coastal Defence
Zhenhai, at the sea mouth of the Yongjiang River, is on the coast of the East Sea. It is an important strategic area of the southeast coast of China to fight against foreign invasions. Undergoing wars against foreign invaders in the past over 400 years, Zhenhai has recorded many heroic deeds of the Chinese people.
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