Ningbo Culture
Ningbo has abundant cultures.
First, there is the advanced eastern Zhejiang academic culture. The reason why “Eastern Zhejiang academy” attracts much attraction is that it has produced many first – class scholars like Wang Yangming, Huang Zongxi, Wangchong. Etc.
Second, there is a vibrant commercial culture of Ningbo people. Ningbo merchants are good at moving forward with the times. Ningbo people have a long history of doing business, at least in the late Ming dynasty. In the capital of Beijing, Ningbo merchants controlled the Chinese pharmaceutical industry, the garment industry, the banking industry, etc. Ningbo businessmen group was one of the most influential businessmen in China’s history.
Third, there is Sino-Foreign trade port culture. As one of the three major ports in China, Ningbo is closely related with Japan and Korea, forming a maritime silk road. Song dynasty was the heyday of the Mingzhou maritime Silk Road. In the Ming dynasty, the Shuangyu port became the center of the eastern Asia folk international trade, known as the “Shanghai of the 16th century”.
Besides, it’s the celadon culture center of southern China. In the development history of China’s ceramics, celadon in Yue Kiln is the most distinctive, influential and longest existence porcelain. It also has a glorious page in the world history of civilization.
Fifth, it is one of the cultural centers of Chinese library. In the Ningbo history, there are lots of collectors and buildings of collected books. The most famous one is Tianyi Pavilion, which is the oldest private library in China and one of the oldest three halls of learning in the world. At present, it has become the cultural research center of ancient Chinese library.
Sixth, it is a developed area of the southeast religious culture. The religion of China is mainly Buddhism and Taoism, especially Buddhism. Ningbo Buddhism has a long history. Because of its special position of Sino-trade port, Christianity became to spread in Ningbo after the end of Ming dynasty.
Finally, it has a splendid and long architecture culture. The buildings in Ningbo are quite abundant, and there are relics in all historical periods. People can feel the existence of a splendid and long building culture there. For instance, the dry column architecture of the Hemudu people 7,000 years ago, Tashanyan of Tang dynasty, Baoguo Temple of Song dynasty, Yongfeng library of the Yuan dynasty, etc.