The Guangzhou-Los Angeles Friendship Garden is unveiled in Guangzhou's Yuexiu Park on December 6. (Photo/Chinanews.com)

Ten years ago, when Tom Gilmore first set foot on Guangzhou, China, as a guest accompanying a delegation led by Sister Cities of Los Angeles, he fell in love with the Guangdong provincial capital's buildings, street life, cultural links, history and food.

Gilmore, a property developer, was impressed with Guangzhou's architecture and its growth that he took four to five more trips back to Guangzhou in the decade following that initial voyage.

"The fact that it's such an incredibly large city, by American standard, it's such a progressive city in terms of how much it's moving forward, makes me want to create a relationship with it for the rest of my life, because I see it as the gateway, my gateway to China," said Gilmore, who leads Sister Cities of Los Angeles, the city's leading diplomatic organization.

On December 8, Gilmore joined 100 guests who gathered in Los Angeles to help the city mark its 40 years of friendship with Guangzhou, one of the first pairs of sister cities formed between major US and Chinese cities after the establishment of China-US diplomatic ties in 1979.

The event welcomed city officials and civic organization leaders, some of whom were witnesses or participants to the cities' four decades of ties.

(Photo/Chinanews.com)

As sister cities, Guangzhou and Los Angeles exchanged goods, ideas and best practices with one another. They also supported each other during challenging times and strengthened one another's causes, said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti in a pre-recorded video.

"As sister cities, the bonds between Guangzhou and Los Angeles are strong and lasting. I look forward to all that we can accomplish working together in the decades ahead," he said.

In a congratulatory letter, China's Ambassador to the US Qin Gang said the two cities are "highly complementary" as they are both port cities. Qin said he hopes the two will continue to work together to combat climate change on the subnational level and strengthen people-to-people exchanges.

China's Consul General in Los Angeles Zhang Ping said the sister cities supported each other by conducting video conferences on epidemic control and prevention during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He noted that there are 283 pairs of sister provinces/states and sister cities between China and the US, including Guangzhou and Los Angeles.

On December 8, 1981, then mayors of Los Angeles and Guangzhou Tom Bradley and Liang Lingguang met at the Los Angeles City Hall to sign the sister city agreement.

The event on December 8 was preceded by a similar celebration on December 6 in Guangzhou's Yuexiu Park, where the city's Vice-Mayor Wang Huanqing unveiled the Guangzhou-Los Angeles Friendship Garden. A commemorative plaque is being produced in Los Angeles and it will be delivered to Guangzhou when it's completed.

Source: China Daily

Editor: Annie