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– What’s New / Ongoing Programs –

Sister Cities International Young Artists & Authors Program on a Resilient and Sustainable Urban Future

April through August 2024 Youth in Baltimore, our sister cities around the world, and other locales participating in the Sister Cities program were invited to join this annual contest. The 2024 theme was “ClimateScape: Resilient Cities for Tomorrow’s Climate”.

In August 2024, 16-year-old CHEN Yiqi of Xiamen was named the second-place winner of the photography category for her piece “Urban Charm”. Yiqi described her photo as follows: “Xiamen is a civilized coastal tourist city that attaches great importance to reasonable and scientific planning between urban construction, citizen transportation and marine ecological protection. The work constructs Xiamen’s ecological environment, urban architecture, citizens’ health, etc., fully demonstrating the concept of Xiamen’s coastal ecological construction of “harmonious coexistence of man and nature”.”

See the corresponding Sister Cities International webpage and winners announcement for more details, including depictions of the young artists and their work.

– Other Highlights –

Youth Ambassadors Student Travel Program Resumes!

July 21st through August 5th, 2024 After a five-year hiatus, the Youth Ambassador Program resumed! Seven students and four adults from the Baltimore region traveled to our sister city of Xiamen, Maryland’s sister province of Anhui, and China’s capital Beijing for over two weeks.

 

Media Coverage:

Video from our group’s time in Xiamen courtesy of the Xiamen People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, with English audio and bilingual captions: Youth Ambassadors in Xiamen 2024 “Moments”

Blurb and video about our group’s time in Xiamen from Xinhua News, in English: “American students charmed by Chinese culture in Xiamen, China”

Video from our group’s time in Xiamen from Xiamen Star, with English audio and Chinese captions: 2024美國「青年大使」鷺島行圓滿舉行

Video from our group’s time in Xiamen from Hong Kong Commercial Daily, with English audio and Chinese captions: Chelsea的廈門CityWalk

Article about our group’s time in Xiamen from People.cn, in Chinese: 2024美国“青年大使”鹭岛行:Citywalk鹭岛走透透

Article about our group’s time in Xiamen from Fujian Daily, in Chinese: 美国青年来厦City Walk!2024美国“青年大使”鹭岛行在厦举办

Article about our group’s time in Xiamen from Fujian Daily, in Chinese: 2024美国“青年大使”鹭岛行活动举行

Article and video about our group’s time in Xiamen from Xiamen TV, in Chinese: 感知中国·趣淘厦门:2024美国“青年大使”鹭岛行在厦举行

Video from our group’s time in Xiamen from Xiamen News, in Chinese: “歪果仁” 学习李白的诗

Blurb and video about our group’s time in Anhui from Xinhua News, in English: American students explore Chinese culture in Anhui Province

Blurb and video about our group’s time in Anhui from Xinhua News, in Chinese: 美国高中生在徽州山水间续写中美友谊

Article about our group’s time in Anhui from China News, in Chinese: 美国青年“徽游记”:迎客松前续友谊

Article about our group’s time in Anhui from China News, in Chinese: 感登黄山、访宏村 美国师生领略世界遗产之美


The Youth Ambassadors Program staff, participants, & parents thank the following entities for their generous financial support of the 2024 program: The Baltimore Community Foundation‘s Van Buskirk International Exchange Fund and Bard College. Financial support was also provided by Jeannette Felton and Xin (Cindy) Wang.

We also thank the Office of Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott, the Office of the City Council President of Baltimore, the Office of the Secretary of State of Maryland, the Embassy of the United States in Beijing, Xiamen Airlines, Xiamen University, the Xiamen Municipal Government’s Foreign Affairs Office, Huangshan University, the Anhui Province Foreign Affairs Office, the Anhui Province Department of Education, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the United States, the Nakabayashi family, and many other individuals and organizations for their support including in-kind donations.

In honor of our late treasurer and Youth Ambassadors program co-founder Arella Yan Liu, the BXSCC provided special need-based funding for select participants under the “Arella Yan Liu Scholarship Program”.

For more information, including the 2024 itinerary, visit our overall program webpage: https://bxscc.org/youth-ambassadors-program/

The BXSCC Joins Baltimore Sister Cities’ Booth at Artscape

August 2nd through 4th, 2024 The BXSCC team was honored to join BSC – rain or heat – at Baltimore’s very own arts and culture festival this summer! Recent programs and opportunities were shared with the Baltimore community and guests.

Asia North 2024

May 3rd to June 1st, 2024 The 6th annual Asia North community exhibition and festival celebrates Baltimore’s Charles North (a.k.a. Station North) neighborhood’s constantly evolving identities as a Koreatown, arts district, and creative center. Co-presented by the Towson University Asian Arts & Culture Center and the Central Baltimore Partnership.

For more information, visit the festival website.

Bard High School Early College Baltimore Partnership

2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years

The 2022-2023 school year program featured a calligraphy demonstration and class by master calligrapher Bing-jib Huang 黃秉驥, a luncheon featuring food from long-time Charles Village institution Orient Express, and awards for top students.

The 2023-2024 school year program includes:

• Sep. 20th: Exhibit featuring photos previously shown in the lobby of Baltimore’s World Trade Center

• Sep. 29th: Fall Dean’s Hour featuring lantern-making for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

• Dec. 1st: Field trip to Washington, DC, including a visit to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China and an exploration of Chinatown; see the BSC website for details

• Dec. 13th: Chinese Embassy reception in honor of the 50th anniversary of “ping pong diplomacy” hosted by Ambassador XIE Feng

• Jan. 26th: Lunar New Year Family Teacher’s Union (FTU) Community Event including fall semester Chinese language and culture awards for top students, performances, and special guests; see the BSC website for details

• Apr. 26th: Field trip to Washington, DC, including a visit to the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art and an exploration of Chinatown

• Spring semester Chinese language and culture awards for top students

The BXSCC and BHSEC-Baltimore thanks participating students, parents, colleagues, and our corporate partner BGE Asian American Resource Group for their support of this programming.

18th Annual National Committee on U.S.-China Relations CHINA Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections

April 9th, 2024 from 6:30 to 9:00pm at Baltimore City Hall
National Speaker (via webcast):

Dr. Kurt Campbell
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State (2024-present)

 

Local Speaker (in person):

Robert Daly
Director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Wilson Center


The BXSCC, in cooperation with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and Baltimore’s Office of the Mayor and Office of the City Council President, hosted a town hall on U.S.-China relations at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, April 9th at Baltimore City Hall. This event included national speaker Dr. Kurt Campbell (current U.S. Deputy Secretary of State) via webcast, local speaker Robert Daly (Director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States) in person, and a buffet-style Chinese meal from NiHao.

For more information, visit https://chinatownhall2024baltimore.eventbrite.com

BXSCC Featured in Maryland Curiosity Bureau (WYPR) Radio / Podcast Episode ‘Baltimore’s Sister Cities: Where are they? And why them?’

March 21st, 2022 In February and March, the BXSCC and fellow sister city committees were contacted by Aaron Henkin for his WYPR program The Maryland Curiosity Bureau, where members of the public are asked “What’s got you curious about Baltimore, the region, and its people? Is there a local mystery that’s always left you scratching your head?”. The result: An eye-opening tour of Baltimore and its sister cities worldwide.

To listen to the program, visit the episode link on WYPR’s website.