As a short exercise, members of the group paired up randomly and spent half an hour searching for physical, economic, and cultural connections between their cities. The memo below represents some of the results.
Vienna and Nagoya
-travel time: 16 to 24 hrs
-Embassy of Japan in Vienna / Austrian Consulate in Nagoya
-The organization InterNations has a chapter of Austrians in Nagoya
-extensive transportation networks
Changsha and Xi’an
– six hours by bullet train
– 1 hour 55 minutes by air
– both considered as second-tier (or “new first-tier”) cities in China
– Both cities have more than three thousand years’ history
– The capital city of the Han dynasty is Xi’an and the Han dynasty possessed suzerainty over the Kingdom of Changsha
– 一为迁客去长沙， 西望长安不见家 (Tang Dynasty poem describing an official who was sent down to Changsha but looked sadly in the direction of Chang’an).
– Xi’an’s sister city in Japan is Kyoto, which reflects Xi’an’s status as a ancient capital city of the Chinese civilization; at the same time, Changsha’s sister city in Japan is Kagoshima because Hunan is often compared with Satsuma (both regions are extremely important in modern times)
Jakarta and Kyiv:
- wax-resist dyeing (Kyiv – eggs; Jakarta – cloth)
- sister cities
- supported each other’s independence
- embassies opened in 1990s
- providing aid during 2006 earthquake in Indonesia and 2014 political unrest from Russia
Beijing and St. Petersburg
-Transportation: Trans-Siberian-Railway as the main route by train
– Chinese consulate in St. Petersburg
– In 2019, the Beijing local government held a Beijing cultural festival in St. Petersburg.
-Cultural interactions include film, music, publishing.
– Confucius Institute (Beijing Language and Culture University) in St. Petersburg
Washington, D.C. and Bogotá D.C.
5,565 Colombians live in Washington, D.C.
Non-stop flight is 5 hours and 20 minutes for $277 (as of December 2021)
Embassy- Both serve as capital cities with embassies.
Manchester and Guangzhou
- Textile industry connection
- 1-stop flight 15 hours 55 minutes
- Kui Man Gerry Yeung
- Born in Guangzhou, moved back to Manchester, now a facilitator of trade between the two cities
- Soccer teams playing together
- Chapter six of the book Carbon Shock: A Tale of Risk and Calculus on the Front Lines of the Disrupted Global Economy mentions both cities
Helsinki (Finland) and Mombasa (Kenya)
- Kenya exports horticulture products, tea/coffee to Finland
- Finland exports ICT products (Nokia phones are popular in Kenya) and power plant equipment
- Direct flights, car ferries, car, bus
- Finland has an honorary consulate in Mombasa
- Kenya is represented in Finland through its embassy in Stockholm, Sweden
- (2014) double taxation pact – to promote trade/industry
Helsinki’s sister cities = St. Petersburg AND Kiev (Kyiv)!
Mombasa & Guangzhou = sister cities
