The mission of the Sister Cities: Travel to China to initiate a sister city relationship between Valparaiso and a Chinese counterpart, as well as establish and advance relationships with Chinese officials, businesses, and citizens for the mutual exchange of ideas and investment opportunties.
Day 5
Ni Hao from Jiaxing, China. Today we left the beautiful city of Hangzhou to travel one hour to Jiaxing City and its Nanhu District, the first of the two cities we will be visiting for consideration as sister cities. First, we arrived at the beautiful city hall complex and were escorted to the meeting ro...om. The mayor of Jiaxing Nanhu District spoke first and introduced his city to us. Then it was our turn and I gave a powerpoint presentation as an introduction of Valparaiso. The meeting went very well and we got good feedback from our translator.
We exchanged gifts and pleasantries and then headed to a special dining room with a round table for a wonderful lunch. After the filling lunch we were givien some time to go back to the hotel and relax. Our hotel is called Zhejiang South Lake 1921 Club, and it sits directly on Jiaxing's beautiful South La...ke. Once we were settled, we went on a tour of a few local facitories and businesses. First was a tour of a company that makes cell phones including Motorola. Second was a visit to a very unique gallery and museum where artists/sculptors make amazing sculptures out of old automobile and equipment parts. Among the pieces we saw were various Transformers, Wall-e, Number 5 from Short Circuit and many more. Finally we visited a new industrial park and a handicrafts exhibition and workshop center. Among the things we saw there were chinese paper cutouts, and woodcrafts. All very impressive.
Dinner this evening was a banquet held at the lakeside restaurant at our hotel and was quite good. I am enjoying Jiaxing as our first possible sister city visit. Tomorrow is day 2 in Jiaxing. We will be touring schools and a performing arts center, followed by more talks before heading to our second sister city candidate, Huzhou City and its Wuxing District.