Abstract:

Ningbo, a city located at Hangzhou Bay, Zhejiang Province, and Shanghai and Nantong of Jiangsu Province together, are like three bright pearls beside East Sea, and have become a door for economic and trade business between the Yangtze Delta and other parts of the world.To open Ningbo for international trade, the West had made efforts for centuries.According to stipulations of the Sino-British "Treaty of Nanjing"signed in 1842, Ningbo was one of the five cities open to international trade.But due to the rise of Shanghai, peasants' rebellions and pirates' harassments, the Western plan to turn Ningbo into an imporatant port was not realized.Later, Ningbo's merchants played an active role on the stage of Shanghai.When the West forced China to open its door for free trade, those businessmen took up this opportunity to develop their international and domestic business in areas of trade and finance, and established a significant commercial group—the Ningbo Gang.

Key words: the British East India Company, opening-up of Ningbo, Shanghai, the Ningbo Gang