News and Events

 

Regularly Scheduled Monthly Meeting

The Baltimore-Xiamen Sister City Committee usually meets at 5:30 pm on the second Thursday of every month. Meetings are held virtually and at Baltimore City Hall, 100 North Holliday Street, Baltimore, MD 21202.

 

Interested persons who are not committee members should contact the Committee Chair in advance to arrange access to City Hall and/or to receive the meeting call-in information.

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– Current & Upcoming Programs –

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!
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– Selected Recent Programs –

Sister Cities International Young Artists & Authors Program on Food Security
April through May 2023 The submission period for 2023 has closed. This year’s theme was: “Peace by Piece: Food Security in My Community.” See the Sister Cities International webpage for the program for details.

In Memoriam: Alison Dray-Novey (1944-2023)
March 28th and April 30th, 2023 The BXSCC would like to recognize former BXSCC Education Subcommittee Chair Alison Jean Dray-Novey, who passed away on March 28th, 2023. A memorial service was held on April 30, Beth Am Synagogue, 2501 Eutaw Pl, Baltimore. See https://memorials.sollevinson.com/alison-dray-novey/5166520/ for more information.

Baltimore Clayworks’ Lunar New Year Exhibit
January 14th to March 25th, 2023 The BXSCC and our colleagues at the Baltimore-Kawasaki Sister City Committee congratulate Clayworks on their “Lunar Project” exhibit!

Exhibit sponsors included the BXSCC and BKSCC. Learn more about this exhibit inspired by the animals from the Asian zodiac and representing cultures from across Asia via Clayworks’ website.
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– Selected Pandemic-Era Programs –

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
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– Selected Pre-Pandemic Programs –

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

13th Annual National Committee on U.S.-China Relations CHINA Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections
Monday, November 18th, 2019 at 5:30PM
Baltimore City Hall
National Panelists (via webcast): 
President of NCUSCR
Senior Fellow and Director for China Policy at the Center for American Progress
International Management Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management
Executive Vice President and Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security
National Moderator (via webcast):
ABC News Chief Anchor
Local Moderator (in person):
Executive Director and Founder of American Mandarin Society
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.
The 2019 CHINA Town Hall, hosted by the National Committee on U.S. China Relations (NCUSCR), included a nationwide webcast featuring four national panelists: Mr. Steve Orlins, Dr. Melanie Hart, Dr. Yasheng Huang, and Dr. Ely Ratner. The Baltimore program, which was hosted at Baltimore City Hall by the BXSCC and the Office of the Mayor, followed the national program with a local discussion moderated by Mr. Nat Ahrens in person. For more information regarding our national and local speakers, please follow the hyperlinks above.
Check-in & refreshments in Baltimore began at 5:30pm and the nationwide program began at 6:00pm. The local address was from 7:30 to 8:30pm EDT. For further details regarding the Baltimore program, please view the Eventbrite page.

Charm City Night Market
September 21th, 2019 The BXSCC engaged with the Baltimore community with a booth at this annual street festival near historic Chinatown celebrating Baltimore’s Asian community and businesses through conducted a calligraphy activity and other programming.

Xiamen & Beijing “Youth Ambassadors” Summer Camp
June 24th to July 4th, 2019 and various BXSCC Vice Chair Danny Evans spearheaded the planning of and led this visit of 16 Baltimore and Maryland high school-aged students and 2 other chaperones to Xiamen and Beijing. The BXSCC obtained funds via cash grants, donations, and fundraising activities to help offset trip costs. Organizational & business in-kind sponsors included Chick-Fil-A, Starbucks, Shake Shack, Blaze Pizza, Papa John’s, and Xiamen Shuangshi Middle / High School.

Summer trip activities included: In Xiamen, students took classes in airplane modeling, tai chi, calligraphy, folk music & music appreciation, Minnan-style Mid-Autumn Festival culture, literature, martial arts, polymer clay, and more at Xiamen Shuangshi Middle / High School. Participants visited Xiamen Airlines, the Xiamen International Convention and Exhibition Center / BRICS Xiamen Summit venue, Xiamen University, Nanputuo Temple, Gulangyu Island, and engaged with the Xiamen Office of Foreign Affairs. In Beijing, the students visited Peking University, Tian’anmen Square, the Palace Museum, the Beijing American Center (U.S. Embassy in Beijing), the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall, and Beijing Olympic Park.

Associated events included: Two kick-off briefings (on December 7th, 2018 and January 18th, 2019), three participant and parents meetings (on March 29th, May 3rd, & June 14th), a visit to the State Department and USAID in Washington, D.C. (on June 21st), a Small Business Administration presentation (on July 24th), a debriefing with Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young (on July 29th), and a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Panel discussion in Washington, D.C. (on August 29th). At an August 2nd closing reception & awards ceremony, three Youth Ambassadors were presented with certificates and gift cards for their excellent participation in the Youth Ambassadors program.

Annual Baltimore City High School Chinese Embassy Trip
June 6th, 2019 It is a yearly tradition that BXSCC collaborates with schools in Baltimore city to bring students to visit the Chinese Embassy in D.C., to expand their horizon and learn more of China. On June 6th, BXSCC collaborated with Bard High School Early College and brought 24 exceptional students who are currently taking Chinese class from the 9th grade to 12th grade levels to visit the Chinese Embassy. The visit was followed by an authentic Chinese lunch in a restaurant located in Baltimore’s old Chinatown. The students expressed that it was an eye-opening experience, that the forum held after the guided tour helped them gain an in-depth understanding of modern China, and that they look forward to future opportunities to study or work in China.

Baltimore’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (APAHM) Celebration
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
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
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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