Beilun District was on the south of Yongjiang River of Zhenhai County Ningbo City. In 1984, Beilun District was established when Zhenhai County was cancelled. Beilun District governs 5 sub-districts, 2 towns and one village, respectively Xinqi Town, Xiaogang Town, Daqi Town, Xiapu Town, Chaoqiao Town, Baifeng Town, Guoju Town, Meishan Village and Sanshan Village, and there are totally 215 administrative villages and 30 residential communities.  The district government is located in Xinqi Town. 
At present, there are four state-level development areas in Beilun District, Ningbo Economic and Technological Development Zone, Ningbo Free Trade Zone, Daxie Development Zone, and Ningbo Export Processing Area. 
Approved by the State Council, Ningbo Economic and Technological Development Zone was established in October 1984; it has a total area of 29.6 square kilometer , and is one of the earliest and largest state level development areas. In the past 20 years, the Development Zone has introduced a lot of large projects and has become the opening window and main region for investment promotion of Zhejiang Province. 

Ningbo Free Trade Zone was established in November 1992 after approved by the State Council. It is a special economic area enjoying special policies "free of license, free of taxes and free of taxes", having special functions of international trade, import and export processing, and bonded storage, carrying out "foreign operation modes", and it is one of the opening areas with the largest opening degree, the most flexible operation systems, and the most favorable policies in Mainland China. In the past 11 years, the Free Trade Zone has developed to the incubation base of the hi-tech industries of the city, with the overall economic strength ranking the third place among the fifteen Free Trade Zones in China. 

Daxie Development Zone was established in March 1993 after approved by the State Council, enjoying policies for state level economic and technological development areas. Daxie was an island village in Beilun District. It was the decision of Mr. Rong Yiren, former Vice President and the founder of CITIC Trust & Investment Co., Ltd. that Daxi Island be developed. In the past ten years, Daxie Island paid much attention to infrastructure, built Daxie Bridge and island surrounding highway, introduced a lot of projects including British BP, and it has become the largest crude oil transfer base in Asia. 
Ningbo Export Processing Zone was established in July 2002 after approved by the State Council. Its main function is to reform the supervision mode of processing trade, absorb foreign investment with favorable policies, and develop export-processing industries competitive in the international market for the purpose of using foreign investment, introducing technologies, increase employment opportunities and earning foreign exchanges. Ningbo Export Processing Area is located in Daqi Town Beilun District, covering an area of 3 square kilometers. 

In October 2002, in order to speed up the development of Beilun District, Ningbo Municipal Committee and People's Government decided to reform the administrative systems of Beilun District and the Development Zone, combine the two areas and carry out the principle of "one leading group and two signboards". (updated: April 2006)