Regularly Scheduled Monthly Meeting
The Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee usually meets at 6pm on the second Thursday of every month. Monthly meetings are held virtually, with selected special programs and events conducted in-person, virtually, or in a hybrid format.
Individuals who might like to join these meetings as guests should contact the Committee Secretary in advance to receive call-in information.
– Current & Upcoming Programs –
Asia North 2025 |
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| May 2nd-31st, 2025 | Asia North, a month-long series of arts and cultural events in Baltimore’s Station North Arts District, begins this Friday, May 2nd! The opening reception this Friday will feature still life drawing, a zither performance, dragon dancing, South Asian dancing, and much more – and will also include catered food provided by the BXSCC.Further on in the Asia North series: The May 9th opening – with catered food – to the week-long “Veiled Forms” exhibit is being managed by the Baltimore-Kawasaki (Japan) Sister City Committee and supported by the BXSCC as well as the Baltimore-Changwon (South Korea) Sister City Committee. |
BXSCC Continues Partnership with Bard High School Early College – Baltimore
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| Ongoing | The 2024-2025 school year program included / includes:
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2025 Youth Ambassadors Student Travel Program |
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| Summer 2025 | This year marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee and the 45th anniversary of the Maryland-Anhui Province sister state relationship. As part of a series of celebratory events, the Foreign Affairs offices of both Xiamen and Anhui have offered to host our Youth Ambassadors once again this year. In general, the program would be more likely to be held every other year but, thanks to the anniversary celebrations, this summer we’re holding the program for a second year in a row.Travel is tentatively scheduled from July 15 to August 1, 2025. All Maryland high school-aged students were welcome to apply, with priority given to current Baltimore City Public School System students.Applications for the program closed on February 4th, 2025. Seven students are confirmed to participate in this summer’s program, which will be held in Xiamen, Anhui Province, and likely Shanghai.To contribute to our students’ efforts, visit www.bxscc.org, click the “Donate” button, choose “Baltimore Xiamen” from the drop-down menu, and specify “Youth Ambassadors” in the “tell us why you donate” box. No amount is too small! |
The BXSCC Celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the Baltimore – Xiamen Relationship |
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| 2025 | We’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of the sister city relationship between Baltimore and Xiamen! A photo exhibit commemorating this history is on display on the 2nd floor of the Enoch Pratt Central Library, April through May. |
– Selected Recent Programs –
19th Annual National Committee on U.S.-China Relations CHINA Town Hall |
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| April 24th, 2025 | National Speaker (via webcast): Ryan Hass Director of John L. Thorton China Center at the Brookings InstitutionMatthew Turpin Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution Lingling Wei Local Speaker (in person): |
BXSCC Joins the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) Baltimore’s Baltimore AAPI Night |
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| April 10th, 2025 | The BXSCC, along with our fellow Asia-affiliated sister city committees of Changwon and Kawasaki, tabled at NAAAP Baltimore’s AAPI Night at The 2640 Space for an evening of engagement with and celebration of Baltimore’s AAPI community.For more about this event, see the corresponding NAAAP Baltimore webpage. |
BXSCC Joins Maryland Asian American Business Conference |
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| April 10th, 2025 | The BXSCC was honored to be invited to the Maryland Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives’s Maryland Asian American Business Conference in Rockville!For more about this event, see the corresponding press release. |
Baltimore Welcomes the Vice Mayor of Xiamen and Other Xiamen Dignitaries |
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| April 7th & 8th, 2025 | A delegation led by Xiamen Vice Mayor ZHUANG Rongliang and including representatives from the Xiamen Port Authority and Xiamen Foreign Affairs Office visited Baltimore over two days in April. While in Baltimore, the delegation met with representatives of the Maryland Port Authority and Baltimore’s Office of the Mayor, toured the just-opened BXSCC 40th anniversary photo exhibit at Enoch Pratt Central Library, and discussed an array of ongoing and upcoming exchanges with members of the BXSCC and other city government representatives. |
BXSCC Announces 2025 Leadership Team |
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| December 2024 through March 2025 | The BXSCC is pleased to welcome our leadership team for the 2025 term. Congratulations to our new Vice Chair (Chelsea Nakabayashi), Secretary (Sam Walczak), and Treasurer (Justin Lipsky)! Their terms will run through the end of 2026. Continuing officers on our Executive Committee include Xin (Cindy) Wang as Chair and Hosea Chew as Member-at-Large, both through the end of 2025. Continuing appointed officers include Robin Su as Business Subcommittee Chair and Jeannette Felton as Education Subcommittee Chair. For the latest information on our Subcommittees and Functional Teams, please visit our Leadership page. |
– Selected Pandemic-Era Programs –
BXSCC Featured in Maryland Curiosity Bureau (WYPR) Radio / Podcast Episode ‘Baltimore’s Sister Cities: Where are they? And why them?’ |
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| 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. |
Our Home Too: A Forum in Support of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Communities |
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| May 27, 2021 at 7:00pm-8:30pm | 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 |
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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. |
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:
Local Baltimore media reports:
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– Selected Pre-Pandemic Programs –
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’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) Celebration |
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| May 31st, 2019 | 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 |
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| May 24th, 2019 | 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 |
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| February 11th & April 5th, 2019 | 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. |
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