The cross-sea road network connecting Ningbo to the Zhoushan archipelago is one of the more remarkable pieces of civil engineering in eastern China. The Zhoushan Cross-Sea Bridge — actually a series of five connected bridges crossing the various channels between the mainland and the islands — covers thirty-plus kilometres and includes a section that was, when completed in 2009, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world.
Driving or busing across the bridge system — which connects Ningbo's Beilun district to Zhoushan island — provides an unusual open-sea perspective on the industrial coast, fishing villages, and island landscape of the Zhoushan archipelago. The bridges are not primarily tourist attractions, but the engineering scale and the sea views make the crossing worth choosing over the faster ferry if time allows. The Hangzhou Bay Bridge, connecting Ningbo to Jiaxing across the open bay to the north, is a separate structure of similar scale and the longest cross-sea bridge in the world.