Sister Cities and the City of Newport News will host four Chinese officials from the Sichuan Provincial Department of Foreign & Overseas Chinese Affairs on Wednesday, January 18th and 19th. This visit is being made in preparation of a trip to the U.S. and hopefully Tidewater by a larger Sichuan delegation this April.
Mr. ZHANG, Yechu, Deputy Director General, Ms. MIAO Ronghua, Director of American & Oceanian Affairs Division, Mr. NING Qiang, Deputy Director of Economy & Technology Division, and Mr. YANG Hang, Deputy Chief Officer of American & Oceanian Affairs Division, will tour Newport News. Their tentative schedule includes site visits to the Tech Center, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab), Christopher Newport University, a visit with the Newport News Economic/Industrial Development Authority and sites in the surrounding communities.
(Picture credit: http://www.ziyang.gov.cn/_ziyang/detail.aspx?id=83146)
Sichuan Province is in West China and is a critical transportation corridor connecting South and Central China, as well as Southwest and Northwest China. In 2013, the population was reported at 81.07 million. There are 21 cities (prefectures) and 183 counties (districts) in the Sichuan. In 2005, Newport News’ Sister Program began a “Friendship City” relationship with one of these cities – ZiYang. The City of ZiYang has a population of approximately 5 million. Most recently, the community is known for building a new type of electric train called “Air-Train”. This commuter train has no track but is suspend from an overhead rail. In the dedication photo shown here, the train is painted to resemble a panda. Giant Pandas also make their home in the Sichuan Province. In December off 2015, a delegation visited with officials from Sichuan Providence. City Manager Jim Bourey, who was in that delegation said of the visit, “We were so thankful of the wonderful hospitality shown by Sichuan Province officials in our visit. I particularly looking forward to seeing Mr. ZHANG,
who was most gracious during our exchange”.
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