– What’s New / Ongoing Programs –
Bard High School Early College Baltimore Partnership |
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| 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years | The 2022-2023 school year program featured a calligraphy demonstration and class by master calligrapher Bing-jib Huang 黃秉驥, a luncheon featuring food from long-time Charles Village institution Orient Express, and awards for top students. The 2023-2024 school year program has featured and is set to also include: • Sep. 20th: Exhibit featuring photos previously shown in the lobby of Baltimore’s World Trade Center • Sep. 29th: Fall Dean’s Hour featuring lantern-making for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival • Jan. 26th, 2024: Lunar New Year Family Teacher’s Union (FTU) Community Event; see the BSC website for details • Spring Dean’s Hour • Field trip(s) to Washington, DC • Chinese language and culture awards for top students The BXSCC and BHSEC-Baltimore thanks participating students, parents, colleagues, and our corporate partner BGE Asian American Resource Group for their support of this programming. More details coming soon! |
– Other Highlights –
Baltimore Sister Cities & Friends Fall Social
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| October 19th, 2023 | Thank you to all who joined or supported us at R. House (301 W 39th St., Baltimore, MD) for a fantastic fall meet-and-greet! We were excited to bring together friends, old and new, to celebrate our city’s diverse cultures and connections through food traditions from around the world. This in-person gathering comprised of an evening filled with fun, laughter, and community spirit. Registration was conducted via Eventbrite. |
The NCUSCR CHINA Town Hall Returns to Baltimore City Hall! |
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| October 11th, 2023 |
National Speaker (via webcast): R. Nicholas Burns Local Speaker (in person): Mary E. “Mendy” Nitsch China’s rapid development and Sino-American relations have a direct impact on the lives of nearly everyone in the United States. CHINA Town Hall is a national conversation about China that provides Americans across the United States, and beyond, the opportunity to discuss issues in the relationship with leading experts. |
BXSCC Visit to Fujian Province |
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| July 2023 | To kick off the resumption of in-person exchanges after the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, BXSCC Chair Xin (Cindy) Wang met with both the Xiamen (City) Foreign Affairs Office and the Fujian (Province) Foreign Affairs Office on the first in-person trip to Xiamen by a BXSCC representative in four years. In addition to reviewing the past few years of exclusively-virtual exchanges and thanking Xiamen partners in person for their support of Baltimore’s pandemic efforts, the meetings also laid groundwork for future exchanges in business, the arts, education, healthcare, and many other areas. The BXSCC also thanks the Maryland Department of Commerce Office of International Investment and Trade as well as Maryland Center China for their support of this visit. See the Xiamen Foreign Affairs Office social media post (in Chinese) for more details. |
Baltimore City Asian / American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebrations |
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| May 23rd, 27th, and 31st, 2023 | This May, the BXSCC and our partners at the BGE Asian American Resource Group and Constellation Asian American Resource Group co-hosted a by-invite-only AAPI Heritage Month happy hour at Water Song Yunnan Kitchen in Baltimore’s Federal Hill neighborhood. The program featured remarks from organizers/sponsors and state & city officials, as well as the presentation of a new Chinatown oral history project by Professor Jacqueline “Jacky” Shin of Towson University / Goucher College. In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, Mayor Brandon Scott visited local AAPI-owned businesses Dear Cafe Leon and NiHao in Canton over Memorial Day weekend. The Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs (MIMA) facilitated these visits, with input from community partners including the BXSCC. To close out Baltimore’s celebration of AAPI Heritage Month, Mayor Scott also hosted a reception Baltimore City Hall featuring special remarks by MIMA Director Catalina Rodriguez-Lima, Mayor Scott himself, and BXSCC Chair Xin (Cindy) Wang. The program included presentation of certificates of recognition to local AAPI-serving organizations and individuals. The BXSCC thanks our members, guests, and local partners for sharing in the celebration of Baltimore’s AAPI community throughout May 2023 and beyond! |
State of Maryland Asian / American Pacific Islander Heritage Month Celebrations |
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| May 18th and 25th, 2023 | The BXSCC joined the State of Maryland’s Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives’ and Governor Wes Moore’s receptions in Elkridge and Annapolis, respectively, to celebrate Maryland’s Asian American / Pacific Islander communities this May. At the Elkridge event, Baltimore’s Kawasaki & Xiamen sister city committees partnered on display tables and reconnected with community partners, including colleagues at the Maryland Sister States program. |
Asia North 2023 |
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| May 5th to June 3rd, 2023 | The 5th annual Asia North community exhibition and festival celebrated 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 presented exhibitions and a festival of events including opening & closing parties, performances, makers market, a Filipino feast, film screening, readings of plays, and networking. The 2023 program was presented by the Towson University Asian Arts & Culture Center and the Central Baltimore Partnership, with participation and support from organizations including Baltimore Sister Cities’ Asian committees (Changwon, South Korea; Kawasaki, Japan; Xiamen, China). Catering by NiHao for the closing reception was sponsored by the BXSCC. See the 2023 festival webpage for more details. |
Sister City Book Club |
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| April 24th to May 25th, 2023 | In spring 2023, BXSCC members and friends joined the Village Learning Place (VLP), the Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee, and readers around the world in a multinational book club! Readers in Baltimore, Xiamen (China), Sarasota (Florida), Richmond (Canada), Wellington (New Zealand), and Sunshine Coast (Australia) read 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 were 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. Quantities of the book were limited; distribution were on a first-come, first-served. “Best reader” swag bags were gifted to select program participants. See the corresponding VLP webpage for more details. |
Sister Cities International Young Artists & Authors Program on Food Security |
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| April through August 2023 | Youth in Baltimore, our sister cities around the world, and other locales participating in the Sister Cities program were invited to join this annual contest. The 2023 theme was “Peace by Piece: Food Security in My Community”. In August 2023, 16-year-old ZHANG Jingwu of Xiamen was named the second-place winner of the photography category for his piece “On the Field of Hope”. Jingwu described his photo as portraying “A bountiful harvest and boundless hope. The yellow grains in the sun form a golden ocean, and the terraced fields transformed from the hills are layered on top of each other, showing the hope of thriving in the sunlight. The golden sunlight renders the banana trees in the field emerald and gold, and the rich colors show the joy of the harvest in the mountains.” See the corresponding Sister Cities International webpage, winners announcement, and Xiamen Foreign Affairs Office social media post (in Chinese) for more details, including depictions of the young artists and their work. |
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. |