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Locals and foreign guests visit a 2011 'sister cities' photo exhition in Jinan. Zhao Ruixue / China Daily |
One of Shandong province's earliest sister-city successes has been the one between Yantai, on the northern coast of Shandong Peninsula, and San Diego, in southern California, who joined the program in July 1985, indicating a good start for Yantai's international exchange program.
In the last two-and-a-half decades, Yantai has gone on to establish relations with 17 cities in 11 countries, including Britain, Japan, South Korea, and Russia.
Li Shujun, Yantai's deputy mayor, explained, "The sister city programs have proved to be a good means for increasing in international exchanges and important in increasing our strength overall."
The city has had over 100 exchange events for economy, culture, education, science, technology and sports.
Economic ties
Yantai and San Diego have enjoyed close economic and trade ties and, since 1989, the San Diego-Yantai Friendship Association has sent US business delegations to Yantai on a number of occasions. In 1993, the two cities' ports even set up cooperative ties.
Many companies from Yantai's sister cities in Japan, the US, South Korea and elsewhere have set up businesses in Yantai.
South Korea, which is one of the closest countries, had over 3,300 large projects in Yantai by this past May, with total investment worth $4.69 billion, accounting for a sixth of Shandong's total foreign investment and making South Korea the city's biggest foreign investor.
As a result of this, Yantai's international convention and exhibition industry has gotten a really great boost and more than 60 sister-city delegations have visited for international commercial and cultural events. These have included the East Asian Trade Fair and annual Yantai International Wine Festival.
Yantai has held more than 50 exchange events in its sister cities covering the fields of economy, science and technology, all of them backed by local governments and civic affairs organizations.
In December 2007, a Yantai fishing delegation visited its sister city in New Zealand, Tauranga, and signed an agreement with local companies on aquaculture projects on 2,000 hectares offshore, with a 300-million-yuan investment in Tauranga.
Cultural exchanges
In general, there have been a number of cultural exchanges with 17 sister cities, over the past 20 years, and Yantai delegations, representing the opera, song and dancing, painting, calligraphy, and photography, have traveled abroad.
In September 2005, the Yantai government presented statues of "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea" to Beppu, a sister city in Japan.
A local legend has it that the eight immortals set off from Yantai to a number of islands, one of which might have been Japan.
In return, Beppu sent Yantai about 2,000 young sakura trees, which were planted in parks and squares, and add beauty to the urban landscape when they blossom every year.
Over the decades the sister cities have offered training programs for the people of Yantai in agriculture, fisheries, foreign trade, medical care, electronics and language.
Doctors, nurses and technicians at the Yantai Development Zone Hospital have received free training from Japan's Hotou Hospital.
The sister-city exchanges have also covered human resource development and Yantai now has some 50 civil servants and teachers from friendly cities abroad.
Three cities in South Korea have gotten involved in civil servant exchanges with Yantai.
Beppu has also taken in seven civil servants and 30 researchers in agriculture and the hospitality business from Yantai, which has, itself, accepted seven civil servants and 65 students from Beppu.
Yantai is now home to more than 40,000 South Koreans, which has meant an increase in the number of Korean restaurants, stores and schools, to help them adjust to life in China.
From China Daily
