From July 28 to 31, "Hello, Shenyang "International Friendship City Exchange Event and 2024 Dadong District and Gangbuk District Youth Cultural Exchange Week was successfully held.

This event is jointly organized by Dadong District Government and Gangbuk District Government of Seoul, and supported by Shenyang Foreign Affairs Office. More than 70 people including Liu Dawei, acting District Mayor of Dadong, Lee Sun Hee, Director of Gangbuk, relevant officials from Shenyang Foreign Affairs Office, and youth representatives from the two districts attended the launching ceremony.

In his speech, Liu Dawei said that international sister cities are important channels for Shenyang to engage in civilization dialogue with overseas cities, promote high-quality opening up and build an international business environment. Organizing sister city exchange and youth cultural exchange activities is an effective approach to promote the development of sister city relations, and an important platform to further upgrade the level of opening up and promote and expand international exchanges.Since 2019, Dadong District has actively promoted the development of friendly district, continuously deepened exchanges in various fields with Gangbuk District, and has held three sessions of "Sister City Exchange Workshop", two sessions of "Youth Cultural Exchange Week" and other activities, becoming an innovative brand for sister city exchanges. Dadong District has arranged a variety of activities, hoping that young people in Gangbuk District can personally experience the charm of an open, friendly, vibrant, and modern "international city" of Shenyang, and further deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields between the two districts, promote resources sharing, strengthen exchanges and mutual learning, and achieve win-win cooperation.Lee Sun Hee expressed that the two districts enjoy deep-rooted friendship benefited from frequent exchanges and extensive industrial cooperation. He hopes to take this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of Chinese culture and art, so that the tree of friendship between young people in the two districts will flourish, and wide-ranging exchanges and cooperation will be carried out to promote the prosperity and development of the two districts.

Culture creates a sense of connection and resonance. The teenagers in Dadong District and Gangbuk District performed songs, dances, instrument playing, poetry recitation, card magic and other performances, fully demonstrating the youthful vitality of the two districts' teenagers and enhancing mutual understanding and friendship. The event also set up four major sections: urban sightseeing experience, technological entertainment experience, historical and cultural experience, and specialty food experience. More than 20 exchange activities were held, including ticking off the Poetry Promenade in Wanquan Park, visiting the EX Robot Future Science and Technology Museum, the Zhujue’er Immersive Theme Park, The September 18th Historical Museum, Times Library, and tasting local specialty food. The youth representative of Gangbuk District stated that this event has further enhanced the friendship between the two sides and would undoubtedly become a bridge and bond for friendly exchanges between the youth of the two countries.

Since the beginning of this year, Shenyang has continued to strengthen the "Foreign Affairs Plus" and build an "International Shenyang", comprehensively creating an upgraded version of the "Hello, Shenyang" global promotion event brand. It has played a positive role in showcasing the new image of Shenyang's revitalization and development in all aspects, promoting exchanges and cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, and culture, and enhancing the city's influence and reputation. Next, the Foreign Affairs Office will continuously enrich the connotation of "Foreign Affairs Plus Education", continue to build rich cooperation platforms for international exchanges among young people in our city, continuously strengthen cultural and educational exchanges between Chinese and foreign young people, further explore the international perspective of young people in our city, and enhance cross-cultural communication capabilities.