His father owned a shoe shop in Ningbo, a city south of Shanghai, where he was born in 1918.

CNN: The Tough Trader

Geng's company, operator of 250 kilometers of toll roads that link mainland dynamo Shanghai, Hangzhou and the booming port of Ningbo, recently reported a 30% profit increase last year.

CNN: TARRED BY A BROAD BRUSH

In June 2011, Novatek, Russia's biggest non-state gas company, sent 60, 000 tons of gas condensate from Murmansk to the Chinese port of Ningbo aboard the MV Perseverance on a three-week voyage.

CNN: China eyes Arctic options in energy, transport

Ms Dada has been running a garments factory in the Chinese port city of Ningbo for nearly two decades.

BBC: Chinese factories turn to Bangladesh as labour costs rise

He made at least three nostalgic trips to his hometown of Ningbo and helped raise money to build a university there.

CNN: The Tough Trader

Nord Anglia had to spend months designing a joint English and Chinese curriculum for its new school in Ningbo City.

ECONOMIST: Old schools are finding new markets abroad

Fortunately, I had an opportunity to do just that last week while on a bit of a road show in Shanghai, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Ningbo and Hangzhou with one of our clients.

FORBES: Are China's Property Prices In Freefall?

On a yearly basis, prices of new homes are down in Hangzhou, Ningbo, Qindao, Haikou, Wenzhou again, Jinhua, Guilin and Dali.

FORBES: China Housing Bubble Up, Up And Away