BXSCC Monthly Meetings

Our remaining 2026 meetings are at 6pm via Google Meet on Thursday, October 15th, Thursday, November 12th, and Thursday, December 10th. The December meeting will also act as our year-end celebration. Guests are welcome to attend our regular meetings! Contact the Committee Secretary for call-in information.

Looking Ahead to 2027

Planning is under way for the 2027 Youth Ambassadors Program and for the 21st annual CHINA Town Hall in early April. Details will be posted on those pages as they are finalized.

Baltimore Sister Cities Film Programming at the SNF Parkway Theatre

The SNF Parkway Theatre, home of the Maryland Film Festival, has adopted a new mission centered on international cultural exchange. Baltimore Sister Cities has been invited to help bring films and filmmakers from its Sister Cities, including Xiamen, to the Parkway's year-round programming and to the Maryland Film Festival. The BXSCC is working with the Parkway and our fellow committees on a Sister Cities film event, tentatively planned for spring 2027. Watch this page for details as the program takes shape.

BXSCC Continues its Partnership with the World Trade Center Institute

Committee Chair Chelsea Nakabayashi, Vice Chair Justin Lipsky, and BSC President John Facelo met with Ziqi Li and Loren Kupferschmid of the World Trade Center Institute, Maryland's largest international business network, to explore collaboration on future Chinese delegations and youth programming, including WTCI's Albrecht Fellowship for high school students.

Youth Ambassadors Annapolis Tour

All five 2026 Youth Ambassadors traveled to Annapolis to present a slide show of their trip to Secretary of State Susan C. Lee, Deputy Secretary Michael Lore, and the Secretary's International Affairs staff, whose office coordinated the Anhui portion of the trip through the Maryland-Anhui sister state relationship.

2026 Youth Ambassadors Student Travel Program

Five Baltimore City College students traveled to China with Committee Chair Chelsea Nakabayashi and with two chaperones. The group joined students from Orange County, San Diego, and Xiamen at the "Friends of Xiamen" summer camp, visited Huangshan and sister schools in Anhui Province, Maryland's sister state, and finally visited Beijing as guests of the Beijing Foreign Affairs Office and Beijing School in Tongzhou. Schools in all three regions expressed interest in partnerships with Baltimore, and Xiamen has invited the BXSCC to return in 2027. Thanks to our hosts, chaperones, families, and donors! More on the program webpage.

Click any photo to enlarge.

Sister Cities International 70th Anniversary Homecoming

Sister Cities International celebrated its 70th anniversary with a homecoming at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C. Baltimore Sister Cities, Inc. President John Facelo attended, joining Sister City organizations from across the country to mark seven decades of citizen diplomacy.

8th China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference

BXSCC Treasurer Xin (Cindy) Wang represented the committee at the 8th China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference in San Francisco, where she was invited to speak during the conference's Youth and Education session.

Asia North 2026

Further on in the Asia North series: A May 17th walking tour of Baltimore's Koreatown is organized by the Baltimore-Changwon Sister City Committee. For more details regarding this and other Asia North events, please see the program website.

Study in China Fair at the Chinese Embassy

Twenty students from Baltimore City College traveled to Washington, D.C. for the China Higher Education Open House at the Chinese Embassy. They were the largest student group at the fair and met with representatives from nearly 30 Chinese universities about study abroad opportunities in China.

Maryland Zoo AAPI Heritage Month Celebration

The BXSCC celebrated Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month at the Maryland Zoo! The day featured entertainment, community vendors and resources, cultural activities, hands-on crafts, and special Zoo experiences including keeper chats and animal ambassadors.

The Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee hosted a booth with games and merchandise by our Youth Ambassadors to fundraise for their trip to China. For more information, visit the Maryland Zoo's event page.

20th Annual National Committee on U.S.-China Relations CHINA Town Hall

National Speaker (via webcast):
Stephen Biegun
Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State

Stephen Biegun, former U.S. deputy secretary of state, and Sarah Beran, former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and former senior director for China and Taiwan affairs at the White House National Security Council.

Sarah Beran
Former Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing
Former Senior Director for China and Taiwan Affairs at the White House National Security Council.

Local Speaker (in person):
Dr. Meredith Oyen
Associate Professor of History at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County

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 6m on Tuesday, April 7th at Baltimore City Hall. This event included national speakers as listed above via webcast, local speaker Dr. Meredith Oyen in person, and a buffet-style Catered Chinese meal.

BXSCC Announces 2026 Leadership Team

The BXSCC is pleased to welcome our leadership team for 2026.

Congratulations to our new Chair (Chelsea Nakabayashi), Vice Chair (Justin Lipsky), and Treasurer (Xin (Cindy) Wang)! Their terms will run through the end of 2027.

Continuing officers on our Executive Committee include Sam Walczak as Secretary (through the end of 2026) and Hosea Chew as Member-at-Large (through the end of 2027).

For the latest information on our Subcommittees and Functional Teams, please visit our Leadership page.

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

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.

Our Home Too: A Forum in Support of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Communities

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM), a time when we recognize the history and achievements of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. Unfortunately, the 2021 celebrations were marred by increasing rates of targeted violence against AAPI individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. These actions are rooted in our nation’s history of periodic exclusion, discrimination, racism, and xenophobia which have long been juxtaposed with the vitality, promise, and mutual benefit endowed by our diversity of backgrounds and experiences.

Friends and allies joined Baltimore Sister Cities and our partners in solidarity, community and celebration as we honored the invaluable contributions of AAPI communities in Baltimore and Maryland. During this panel discussion, we explored what AAPI heritage means to all of us: How have AAPI communities contributed to Baltimore and American history? What are AAPI communities currently doing to contribute to culture, the arts, activism, and public service in our region? What new directions are they calling for?

For more information, visit Our Home too.

BXSCC Remembers Longtime Treasurer Arella Liu with New Scholarship Program

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 established a scholarship for Baltimore City youth with a strong interest in China. The scholarship was 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 were to be announced via the BXSCC website.

City of Xiamen Donates 50,000 Surgical Masks to Baltimore

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 was 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 followed an April letter of support from Xiamen Mayor Jiahan Zhuang to Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young. The masks were to 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:

From the Office of Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young: Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young Announces Donation of 50,000 Masks from Baltimore’s Sister City
From Baltimore Sister Cities, Inc.: S.O.S – Save Our Sister
From the Baltimore – Xiamen Sister City Committee: Baltimore’s Sister City in China Donates 50,000 Surgical Masks to Baltimore

Local Baltimore media reports:
In The Baltimore Sun

Other featurettes:
Baltimore Sister Cities, Inc. podcast
Sister Cities International post

Port Discovery’s Year of the Rat Lunar New Year Celebration Event

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’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) Celebration

The Baltimore-Changwon, Baltimore-Kawasaki, and Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committees along with other area Asian and Asian-American organizations, came together in celebrating Asian Pacific American (APA) cultures and the contributions of APAs to Baltimore at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). BCSCC led the 2019 event planning. Over 550 guests attended, including representatives of the Japanese and Chinese embassies and from the local Vietnamese community. Welcome remarks by MICA president Samuel Hoi.

Guest speakers included Maryland State Senator Susan C. Lee and Dr. Van-Khue Ton, a University of Maryland cardiologist. The event consisted of martial arts demonstrations, singing, dance and drum performances, and other cultural activities.

The BXSCC Welcomes Xiamen International Bank Delegation to Baltimore

BXSCC officers met with human resources representatives of Xiamen International Bank at the State of Maryland Department of Commerce offices, as liaised by BXSCC member and Commerce’s Regional Manager for East Asia Felicia Pullam.

Sister Cities Animated! Film Screening

At the SNF Parkway Theatre on February 11th and at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County on April 5th, Baltimore Sister Cities held an international screening of short animated films created by artists working and/or residing in Baltimore and in Baltimore’s Sister Cities. Sister Cities Animated, which featured 20 short films, was curated by award-winning animator and animation scholar Lynn Tomlinson, with help from assistant curator Safiyah Cheatam. The screening’s “Student Award” was awarded to “The Burning of the King Boat” by Xiamen Academy of Arts and Design, Fuzhou University student Kai Gao.