Are Cixi and Ningbo the same city?

No. According to the Cixi Municipal People's Government, Cixi is located on the coast of the East China Sea, on the south bank of Hangzhou Bay, 60 kilometers from Ningbo in the east, 148 kilometers from Shanghai in the north, and 138 kilometers from Hangzhou in the west. It is the center of the economic golden triangle of the three major cities in Ningbo. According to inquiries from the Ningbo Municipal People's Government, Ningbo is located in the middle section of my country's coastline, on the southern flank of the Yangtze River Delta. It has Zhoushan Islands as a natural barrier in the east, Hangzhou Bay in the north, Shengzhou, Xinchang and Shangyu in Shaoxing City in the west, Sanmen Bay in the south, and is connected to Sanmen and Tiantai in Taizhou. Ningbo governs six districts: Haishu, Jiangbei, Zhenhai, Beilun, Yinzhou and Fenghua, two counties: Ninghai and Xiangshan, and two county-level cities: Cixi and Yuyao. So Cixi and Ningbo are not the same city.