Initiative promotes friendship between two cities

As 2014 and 2015 are designated China-Russia Youth Friendly Exchange Years, Chengdu and Volgograd have announced a cultural and educational initiative to promote friendship between young people in both cities.

The initiative includes a painting and calligraphy exhibition that took place at Paotongshu Primary School's Art Center in Chengdu on Thursday.

With a theme of "my hometown through my eyes", the event showcased 100 artworks by young people from both cities, with half from Russia.

Another highlight of the Chengdu-Volgograd initiative is a young reporter program.

A reporting team made up of eight primary and secondary school students from Chengdu headed to Volgograd on Thursday for a weeklong exchange, and eight student reporters from Russia will arrive in Chengdu on Sunday.

The two cities have cooperated in a wide range of sectors including economics, culture, education and tourism since they established a sister-city relationship in 2011.

Sergey Sokolov, then first deputy mayor of Volgograd, led a delegation to Chengdu that year for discussions on cooperative opportunities with the city's authorities in charge of small and mid-sized businesses, education and environmental protection.

A children's dance troupe from Volgograd participated in the Chengdu International Youth Music Week in 2011 and won the Sunbird Golden Award during an international intangible cultural heritage festival. The sunbird is the symbol of China Cultural Heritage designated by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. Its design is inspired by a 3,000-year-old gold disc unearthed at the Jinsha archeological site in Chengdu's western suburbs.

The following year, a middle school from each of the cities founded a partnership and established a long-term relationship. Each school sent delegations to the other four times that year.

A Russian folk music troupe also came to Chengdu to take part in the 2012 Chengdu International Youth Music Week.

At the invitation of then Volgograd Mayor Irina Guseva, a delegation led by Yu Wei, director of the standing committee of the Chengdu People' Congress, visited the Russian city in 2014.

The representatives of both cities shared their views and suggestions for further cooperation. Yu introduced Chengdu's latest developments in investment, opening-up and modernization to his peers in Volgograd.

Peng Chao contributed to this story.

liyu@chinadaily.com.cn