Ningbo (help·info), formerly written Ningpo, is a sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province in China. It comprises the urban districts of Ningbo proper, three satellite cities, and a number of rural counties including islands in Hangzhou Bay and the East China Sea. Its port, spread across several locations, is among the busiest in the world[2] and the municipality possesses a separate state-planning status.[3] As of the 2010 census, the entire administrated area had a population of 7.6 million, with 3.5 million in the six urban districts of Ningbo proper. To the north, Hangzhou Bay separates Ningbo from Shanghai; to the east lies Zhoushan in the East China Sea; on the west and south, Ningbo borders Shaoxing and Taizhou respectively.