BXSCC Remembers Longtime Treasurer Arella Liu with New Scholarship Program |
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| November 2020 | In memory of long-time BXSCC Treasurer Arella Liu, who passed away in October 2020 after a brief battle with late-stage cancer, the BXSCC will be establishing a scholarship for Baltimore City youth with a strong interest in China. The scholarship is projected to help fund studies of Chinese language and culture, including potential travel with Sister Cities. Arella was the originator of the BXSCC’s Youth Ambassadors program and despite, per her preference, not being one of the “faces” of the program, was key in executing the program in the background. She also loved foreign travel and bringing the Chinese language and culture into the lives of the citizens of her adopted hometown of Baltimore.
More details about this scholarship program will be announced via the BXSCC website. |
14th Annual CHINA Town Hall |
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| November 10th, 2020 – November 18th, 2020 | Join us for the 14th Annual CHINA Town Hall, hosted nationwide by the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (NCUSCR) and in Baltimore by the Baltimore – Xiamen Sister City Committee.
In light of the growing downturn in U.S.-China relations over the past year, CHINA Town Hall has expanded from a single night into a multi-night series of programming to address the range of issues confronting the relationship. The series will kick off at 7:00PM on Tuesday, November 10th, starting with a keynote event with renowned investor Ray Dalio, followed by events on three subsequent evenings, each focused on a specific issue area: economics and trade, climate and health, and society and culture. In addition, a fifth Mandarin-language event will be held for Chinese-speaking audiences in the United States, China, and around the world. Due to public health concerns, Baltimore’s 2020 edition of this event will be all-virtual. To allow a wider audience to participate, this year’s event is free to attend. Register via Eventbrite for more details and to sign up for the most recent updates. |
COVID-19 in Baltimore and Maryland |
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| Ongoing | Baltimore Sister Cities Food Drive for our hungry neighbors: Support food insecure members of our community by donating to the Maryland Food Bank! |
China International Fair for Investment & Trade (CIFIT) |
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| September 8th, 2020 – September 11th, 2020 | The China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) occurs in September of every year in Xiamen, China. CIFIT aims to focus on international business investment, promotion, development, and relations both in and outside China. The fair has been held annually for more than 30 years in Xiamen, Fujian Province in southeast China and is the largest such event in the country, regularly attracting more than 100,000 business people and 5,000 enterprises from more than 100 countries.
Due to the current COVID-19 situation, CIFIT has elevated their platform to be both online and in-person. This year, BXSCC is partnering with the Maryland Department of Commerce to have a virtual booth to advertise and promote multiple aspects of Maryland industry and business. The Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee (BXSCC) is celebrating 35 years of sister city relations with Xiamen this year. For more information on CIFIT, please visit https://www.chinafair.org.cn/ Many of MD Department of Commerce and BXSCC international activities are going virtual this year, so please contact Felicia Pullam (MD Department of Commerce) or Robin Su (BXSCC Business Sub-Committee Chair) at their respective organizations to get involved in future events. |
BXSCC Announces New Secretary |
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| June 17th, 2020 | BXSCC members elected Brian Jia through 2021. Brian is also taking over as Website & E-Communications Content Manager. |
City of Xiamen Donates 50,000 Surgical Masks to Baltimore |
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| May 29th, 2020 | On May 24th, a shipment of 50,000 surgical masks valued at nearly US$ 25,000 arrived at JFK Airport in New York for further transport to Baltimore. This is a gift from Baltimore’s sister city of Xiamen, China to the City of Baltimore to assist in the city’s COVID-19 response efforts. It follows an April letter of support from Xiamen Mayor Jiahan Zhuang to Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young. The masks will be kept at the Baltimore City Emergency Operations Center and distributed based on requests received from local health care institutions to meet critical shortages of this equipment.
More about this project can be found in the press releases linked to below:
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Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month 2020 |
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| May 2020 | Pursuant to public health guidelines during the COVID-19 outbreak, the in-person 2020 celebration in partnership with Enoch Pratt Free Library was unfortunately cancelled. We’ll be back in 2021 – but in the meantime, we encourage all members of the BXSCC community to visit virtual APA-themed displays from our community partners:
Towson University’s Asian Arts & Culture Center and partners created a virtual Asia North celebration: https://www.towson.edu/campus/artsculture/centers/asianarts/collection-resources/asia-north/
Baltimore Asian Pasifika Arts Collective’s Virtual Art Gallery: https://baltimoreapac.org/apahm-virtual-art-gallery
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Port Discovery’s Year of the Rat Lunar New Year Celebration Event |
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| January 25th & 26th, 2020 | BXSCC members volunteered at Port Discovery Children’s Museum on Saturday, January 25th and Sunday the 26th to celebrate the Lunar New Year with personalized bookmarks, handicrafts, coloring pages, lessons on how to use chopsticks, and a photo booth. |
Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee, An International Partnership