China Trip Part I: Xi'an International Friendship Cities Conference
Oct. 24th, 2026 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipThe 2026 China International Friendship Cities Conference was held at the Xi'an International Convention Center, an extensive conference site, luxury hotel, and function centre surrounded by beautiful parks, forestry, and lakes. With over a thousand international visitors, a wall displayed the names of various politicians and public figures, both local and international, a handful of whom addressed the opening-night welcoming dinner. After the dinner, we were taken to Xi'an's famous ancient city walls for an elaborate and operatic Tang Dynasty Grand Welcoming Ceremony, which highlighted through dance and song the splendour that was a short golden age of China when said dynasty, based in Xi'an (Chang'an), ruled a vibrant, open, multicultural, artistic and trading capital.
The second day was the conference proper, a single day of proceedings with both initial high-level presentations by local and international leadership, before separating into three separate streams. The stream my own presentation, "Ties that Bind: Meaningful Sister City Relationships Between
Australia and China", had a decidedly environmental focus, so I made some slight changes to the presentation that was almost exclusively researched with great competence by co-conspirator Nitul D. I was particularly taken by the speeches by local representatives on how they have combatted desertification, how they've established environmental relationships with Pacific Island nations with actual products, and a truly impressive success in reducing pollution and emissions in Xi'an city itself. My own presentation, about how Sister Cities sometimes don't work and what to do about it, was well received and sparked follow-up discussion. At the end of the conference, attendees were invited to a Youth Concert featuring the Xi'an Youth Symphony Orchestra, Xi'an Fanyi University, the Orchestra of Xi'an Tie Yi High School, and international visitors from the German Oldenburg Municipal Music School and Indonesia's State Surakarta High School. It was quite a good program mixing international and local compositions.
In a previous brief visit to Xi'an I had the opportunity to visit the glorious Bell and Drum Tower along with the extensive Muslim Quarter and great mosque. A notable absence was the world-famous Terracotta Army, the collection and restoration of the thousands of figures (warriors, horses, chariots) is impressive enough and certainly the mausoleum deserves the UNESCO World Heritage Site status. Just prior to the flight to the second part of this visit, we did get a somewhat rushed visit, which detracted a little from the grandeur, and not helped by the excessive crowds. The attraction is one of the most visited in the country, and the recommendation to visit in low season (December, January) was well-received. With some rather important contacts following the conference, I suspect I might be back in this part of the world sooner rather than later.
The second day was the conference proper, a single day of proceedings with both initial high-level presentations by local and international leadership, before separating into three separate streams. The stream my own presentation, "Ties that Bind: Meaningful Sister City Relationships Between
Australia and China", had a decidedly environmental focus, so I made some slight changes to the presentation that was almost exclusively researched with great competence by co-conspirator Nitul D. I was particularly taken by the speeches by local representatives on how they have combatted desertification, how they've established environmental relationships with Pacific Island nations with actual products, and a truly impressive success in reducing pollution and emissions in Xi'an city itself. My own presentation, about how Sister Cities sometimes don't work and what to do about it, was well received and sparked follow-up discussion. At the end of the conference, attendees were invited to a Youth Concert featuring the Xi'an Youth Symphony Orchestra, Xi'an Fanyi University, the Orchestra of Xi'an Tie Yi High School, and international visitors from the German Oldenburg Municipal Music School and Indonesia's State Surakarta High School. It was quite a good program mixing international and local compositions.
In a previous brief visit to Xi'an I had the opportunity to visit the glorious Bell and Drum Tower along with the extensive Muslim Quarter and great mosque. A notable absence was the world-famous Terracotta Army, the collection and restoration of the thousands of figures (warriors, horses, chariots) is impressive enough and certainly the mausoleum deserves the UNESCO World Heritage Site status. Just prior to the flight to the second part of this visit, we did get a somewhat rushed visit, which detracted a little from the grandeur, and not helped by the excessive crowds. The attraction is one of the most visited in the country, and the recommendation to visit in low season (December, January) was well-received. With some rather important contacts following the conference, I suspect I might be back in this part of the world sooner rather than later.
