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– What’s New –

Sister City Book Club

April 24th to May 25th, 2023 Join the Village Learning Place, the Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee, and readers around the world in a multinational book club!


This spring, readers in Baltimore, Xiamen (China), Sarasota (Florida), Richmond (Canada), Wellington (New Zealand), and Sunshine Coast (Australia) will be reading Florida native William Brown’s Off the Wall: How We Fell for China, which describes his family’s experiences in China over the course of three decades. Readers are invited to pick up a complimentary copy of the book from Charles Village’s library and community center VLP and join a virtual meet-the-author event the evening of May 25th.


Contact information will be required of readers to join the virtual meeting. Quantities of the book are limited; distribution will be first-come, first-served. Contact the VLP or the BXSCC with any questions.

Asia North 2023

May 5th to June 3rd, 2023 The 5th 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. Inaugurated in spring 2019, Asia North is a collaborative community celebration that recognizes, showcases, and honors the art, culture and the Asian heritage of Greater Baltimore, especially the Korean history of Baltimore’s Charles North community. Regional AAPI artists and organizations present exhibitions and a festival of events including opening & closing parties, performances, makers market, a Filipino feast, film screening, readings of plays, and networking.


This program is presented by Towson University Asian Arts & Culture Center and Central Baltimore Partnership, with participation and support from Baltimore Sister Cities’ Asian committees (Changwon, South Korea; Kawasaki, Japan; Xiamen, China). See the festival webpage for details.

State of Maryland Asian American / Pacific Island Heritage Month Celebration

May 18th, 2023 Details coming soon!

8th China (Xiamen) International Leisure Tourism Expo (CILTE)

May 19th to 21st, 2023 Details coming soon!

Baltimore City Asian / American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Observances

May 2023 Details coming soon!

Bard High School Early College Baltimore Partnership

2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years Details coming soon!

– Other Highlights –

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.

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

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

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

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:

Other featurettes:

  • Baltimore Sister Cities, Inc. podcast
  • Sister Cities International post