The Chinese Friendship Garden in Cairns, Australia, opened to the public recently. It symbolizes the long-standing friendship between Cairns and its sister city Zhanjiang, according to the Zhanjiang Daily on Dec 10.

About 500 people including government officials, local residents and garden designers attended the launch ceremony.

Zhanjiang and Cairns became sister cities in August 2004. Through mutual visits and activities over the past 10 years, the two sides have enhanced exchange and cooperation in the fields of economy and trade, environmental protection, science and technology, and education and culture.

The two cities previously built the Sino-Australian Friendship Garden in Zhanjiang in September 2007.

Cairns Mayor Bob Manning, who suggested building the Chinese Friendship Garden, led a delegation to Zhanjiang in 2013 to overview the Sino-Australian Friendship Garden.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of friendship between the two cities, Cairns municipal government started to build the Chinese Friendship Garden in May 2014 with a total investment of 1.2 million Australian dollars.

The Chinese Friendship Garden combines the art of traditional Chinese landscape architecture with Australian gardening style.

Edited by Mevlut Katik