Expand Friendship-City Platform to Build Yangzhou as a World City

Yangzhou puts friendship first while paying attention to achieving practical results in its contact with its international friendship cities. It has carried out fruitful exchanges and cooperation in the fields of economy， science and technology， culture， sports， and personnel training， giving impetus to economic and social development of both sides， and accelerating Yangzhou’s transformation into a city of the world.

Yangzhou first developed friendship-city ties with Karatsu in Saga Prefecture of Japan in 1982. It has since established such relations with 19 cities in 11 countries in Asia， Europe， America， and Oceania， and friendly-exchange relations with 29 cities.

Increasingly Close Youth Exchange

Youth exchange is one of the major programs in sustaining and developing friendship-city ties. Yang- zhou has carried out exchange visits of young people friendship envoys and student cultural delegations， and organized children’s painting competitions respectively with its paired cities of Kent， Westport and Stanford of the U.S.

The friendship envoy exchange program between Yangzhou and Kent has been conducted for the past 17 years with the participation of over 70 teenagers on each side. The program received the attention of the two city governments and support of various social circles. During their visits， the young envoys made extensive contact with the local government， schools， friendly personages and their peers， contributing to understanding and the sustainable development of the friendship-city ties.

The middle and primary school student exchanges between Yangzhou and Atsugi in Japan involves calligraphy and painting， martial arts， choral music， sport， etc. The GP Youth Football Team from Atsugi has visited Yangzhou 27 times since 1986 with the participation of nearly 900 players； Yangzhou Baoying Youth Football Team has also visited Atsugi many times involving more than 100 young people.

In addition， Yangzhou has sent a dozen middle or primary school art troupes comprising over 300 students to Japan， the Republic of Korea， Myanmar， Germany， the United States， New Zealand and Australia. It has also hosted an“International Youth Gala” to promote understanding and friendship. More than 200 youths from Japan， the ROK， the U.S.， Germany and Australia joined over a thousand middle school students in Yangzhou in various activities.

The youth exchanges have also led to the participation in the friendship cause of participants’ families， schools， and society， thus broadening the scope and increased the depth of contact.

Fruitful Cultural and Sports Exchanges

Up to now， the “Three-Country Three-City” Friendship Cities Go Invitational Tournament has been successfully held 14 times involving Yangzhou， Karatsu， and Yosu of the Republic of Korea； the China-Japan Friendship Wood of Sakura Preservation Association has made 25 visits to Yangzhou； and the annual Yangzhou Jianzhen International Half Marathon in April， has received strong support from friendship-cities including Atsugi and Karatsu of Japan， Rimini of Italy and Bree of Belgium. Mayors and leaders of city council of Atsugi and Karatsu led goodwill or sports delegations to take part in the event.

Yangzhou has sent delegations on cultural exchange and art performance tours to its friendship cities in Australia， Japan， the ROK， Singapore， Belgium， Germany and the United States. Successful events such as Huaiyang cuisine demonstration， sampling the dishes of the Red Mansion Banquet recreated in accordance with the Chinese classic Dream of the Red Mansion， puppet shows， storytelling in Yangzhou dialect to the accompaniment of stringed instruments， and pedicure demonstrations have also helped Yangzhou’s bid to be a world city.

Beginning from 1997， Yangzhou has carried out exchanges of teachers and personnel training with its partners. It has sent more than 20 teachers to teach in Westport， Connecticut and a dozen teachers from Westport have come to China. Teachers dispatched by Kent and Atsugi to work in Yangzhou University， Yangzhou Polytechnic College， Jianghai Polytechnic College and other colleges have raised the level of the city’s foreign languages teaching.

Since 1998， the personnel training programs Yangzhou has carried out in cooperation with its twinned cities have achieved good results. So far， it has dispatched nearly 200 people to the U.S.， Japan， the ROK， Germany， Australia， and Singapore for training for one to three months， sometimes half a year， during which the trainees not only learned advanced management concepts and work methods， but also laid a solid foundation for future communication.

In-Depth Friendship-City Interaction

The annual “Flowery March”Yangzhou International Economy and Trade Tourism Festival receives enthusiastic participation of the international friendship cities including Breda of the Netherlands， and Bree of Belgium， Yongin and Gyeongju of the ROK. Since 2007， Yangzhou has successfully hosted the China Yangzhou World Canal Cities Expo for seven years， establishing contact with more than 30 canal cities in more than 20 countries and regions.

Through it， Yangzhou has established friendly exchange relations with over 20 emerging canal cities like Ismailia on the Suez Canal in Egypt； Strasburg on the Midi Canal， France； Buffalo on the Erie Canal in the U.S.； Panama on the Panama Canal； Kingston on the Rideau Canal， Canada； Wolfsburg on the Mittelland Canal， Germany； Balashikha on the Moscow Canal， Russia； and Amsterdam on the Amsterdam Canal in the Netherlands. Yangzhou has strengthened friendly ties with the World Canal Conference organization and staged the event in 2012.

In addition， the city has organized activities to commemorate friendshipcity twinning anniversaries. These have included the Exhibition of China Yangzhou International Friendship Cities mounted in Yangzhou， and “Sister-City Day”， “Yangzhou Day” and “Yangzhou Week” held in its international friendship cities.

Pragmatic Economic Exchange

International friendship-city ties have become a major channel for Yangzhou to attract foreign businesses and investment. It has sent trade and entrepreneurial delegations overseas to visit companies and hold business talks， while mayors and other city officials of its twinned cities came to attend largescale activities in the city at the head of industrial and business delegations.

Il-Yang Pharmaceutical Co.， Ltd. from Yongin， the ROK， invested more than US$10 million in Gaoyou， Yangzhou to set up the Yangzhou Ilyang Pharmaceutical Co.， Ltd. Sales have risen 30% since inception and its products have been included in China’s Catalogue of Drugs for Basic National Medical Insurance. JBC from Bree has set up a research and development center in Hanjiang District. VITO， a research institute from Belgium， has cooperated with Yangzhou in building an air quality monitoring network. Companies from Italy have set up Marcegaglia China Co.， Ltd. and the Italian Industrial Park in Guangling District and Baoying County of Yangzhou respectively.

In 2010， a Shanghai Volkswagen project with an annual output of 300，000 passenger cars was launched in Yizheng. It has facilitated economic， trade and administrative communications between Yizheng and Wolfsburg， headquarters of Volkswagen. In 2011， Echo Point was registered in Yangzhou， becoming the first Dutch company in Yangzhou.

So far， Yangzhou has carried out economic and trade cooperation and exchanges with more than 160 countries and regions， and more than 30 of the world’s top 500 companies have set up factories or businesses through the channel of international friendship and friendly-exchange cities.