In 1980, Shenyang established its first international sister with Sapporo, Japan. Subsequently, it established sister city relationships with Kawasaki, Japan, and Seongnam, Daejeon Metropolitan City, Incheon Metropolitan City in South Korea. It also established friendly cooperative city relationships with over ten cities such as Hamamatsu, Sasebo in Japan, Gongju, Gumi, Daegu Metropolitan City, Gunsan, Jeonju, Gwangju Metropolitan City, Gwangyang, Geoje, Chuncheon in South Korea.

Shenyang and Sapporo, Japan: Writing a New Chapter of International Friendship City Cooperation in Over 40 Years of Friendly Exchanges

Sapporo is the first international city to establish a sister city relationship with Shenyang. It is also the city that has the closest connection, the most extensive exchanges, and the most remarkable exchange results with Shenyang.

In 1981, the Nanjing No.1 Elementary School in Shenyang became a sister school with Sapporo Sankakuyama Elementary School. In 1986, Shenyang gave the Chinese-style courtyard building “Shenfang Garden” and the large sculpture “Marching Towards the World” as gifts to Sapporo. The following year, 80 bumper cars donated by Sapporo were settled in Nanhu Park in Shenyang. In 1998, China Southern Airlines launched a direct flight from Shenyang to Sapporo. In 2006, Hokkaido Bank, headquartered in Sapporo, established a representative office in Shenyang. In 2010, the roses, the city flower of Shenyang, donated by Shenyang were planted in the Rose Garden in Sapporo, and the lilac trees donated by Sapporo were settled in the Shenyang Expo Garden. In 2012, the Sapporo Pacific International Music Festival Orchestra successfully held a commemorative performance for the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan in Liaoning Grand Theatre. In 2018, initiated by Sapporo, the 18th WWCAM Mayors Conference, with Shenyang as a founding member city, was successfully held in Shenyang. In 2024, the 3rd Sapporo China Festival was successfully held in Sapporo, during which food enterprises from the two cities carried out project matching, and the youth martial arts team from Shenyang participated in the opening ceremony performance.

Over the past 44 years, the two cities have continuously innovated exchange mechanisms, deepened economic and trade cooperation, strengthened cultural exchanges, and enhanced people to people exchanges. They have carried out extensive exchanges in fields such as economy and trade, culture, education, sports, health, and urban construction, achieving fruitful results and contributing to the promotion of the China-Japan strategic and mutually beneficial relationship through international friendship city cooperation.

Shenyang and Incheon Metropolitan City, South Korea: Building a Bridge of Friendship and Drawing a New Blueprint of Win-Win Cooperation

Since Shenyang and Incheon Metropolitan City in South Korea established sister city relationship in 2014, the two cities have had close exchanges and frequent interactions. They have actively participated in brand activities such as "Korea Week in Shenyang" and "INCHINA FORUM", established a mechanism for the exchange and dispatch of civil servants, and vigorously carried out exchanges and cooperation in multiple fields such as economy and trade, industry, and culture. The Shenyang Area of China (Liaoning) Pilot Free Trade Zone and the Incheon Free Economic Zone, as well as Shenbei New District and Seo-gu District of Incheon Metropolitan City signed friendly exchange and cooperation agreements in 2019 and 2024 respectively.

In September this year, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of sister city relationship between the two cities, Mayor Yoo Jeong bok of Incheon Metropolitan City led a delegation of 57 people to visit Shenyang. Wang Xinwei, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Liaoning Provincial Committee and Secretary of the CPC Shenyang Municipal Committee, met with the delegation. The two sides reached six cooperation consensuses on jointly promoting industrial development, jointly expanding consumption markets, building excellent product exhibition halls for each other, jointly promoting scientific and technological innovation, jointly deepening culture exchanges, and jointly promoting "Friendship City +". They also successfully held the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the sister city relationship between Shenyang and Incheon.

Deepening Economic and Trade Cooperation: Embarking on a New Journey of Sustainable Development

Practical exchanges and cooperation between international friendship cities are the lifeline for the continuous and healthy development of sister city relationships. Shenyang Foreign Affairs Office (Shenyang People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries) has continuously actively utilized the resources of international sister cities as a platform for the city's “inviting foreign investments” and “going global”, promoting mutually beneficial economic and trade exchanges.

In 1995, Toshiba Elevator Co., Ltd., headquartered in Kawasaki, Japan, invested 15 million US dollars to establish Toshiba Elevator (China) Co., Ltd. in Shenyang and set up a new factory in Hunnan District, Shenyang in 2005. In 2006, Shenyang and Sapporo jointly held the “Hokkaido- Shenyang Economic and Trade Week”. Shenyang promoted 175 key projects and negotiated and matched 48 projects such as vegetable processing and livestock and poultry processing projects, with a total negotiation amount of 450 million US dollars. In 2019, Shenyang organized enterprises such as Neusoft and SIASUN to visit Japan and South Korea, focusing on promoting cooperation with international friendship city enterprises such as the Nippon Life Insurance Company in Kawasaki, Japan and SHINSUNG E&G (Semiconductor) in Seongnam, South Korea.

In addition, Shenyang jointly held more than 10 activities such as Entrepreneur Friendly Exchange Days and Women Entrepreneur Exchange Meetings with Seongnam and Daejeon Metropolitan City in South Korea, strengthening the exchanges among entrepreneurs. At the 14th China-ROK Meeting on Economic Cooperation held in 2016, Shenyang signed the "Memorandum of Understanding on Promoting Economic and Technical Cooperation" with Daejeon Metropolitan City, elevating the friendly relationship to the national strategic level.

Mutual Learning and Exchange in Urban Construction to Jointly Promote New Improvements in Urban Governance

The exchanges and cooperation between Shenyang and its friendship city Kawasaki in Japan in the fields of pollution prevention and control, energy conservation and environmental protection are the most representative. In the 1960s and 1970s, Kawasaki was once “the city with the most serious industrial pollution in Japan”. After years of efforts, Kawasaki City has achieved the transformation from a heavily polluted city to an eco-environmentally friendly city and has been designated by the Japanese government as “one of the first batch of ecological pilot cities”.

The cooperation between Shenyang and Kawasaki in the field of energy conservation and environmental protection started in 1997 when the two cities signed the Protocol on Environmental Technology Exchange and Cooperation between Shenyang and Kawasaki. Since then, Kawasaki City has continuously received environmental technology trainees dispatched by Shenyang for 19 consecutive years. In June 2009, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (now the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the PRC) and Ministry of the Environment of Government of Japan signed the Memorandum of Cooperation on Building Environmentally Friendly Cities between Shenyang, China and Kawasaki, Japan in Beijing, and the two cities launched a demonstration project to jointly promote the construction of environmentally friendly cities.

Shenyang and Sapporo have also carried out a series of cooperation in the fields of urban construction, tap water supply, and fire protection. In 1990, the Shenyang General Waterworks Company signed the Friendly Cooperation Agreement with the Sapporo Waterworks Bureau. Over the past 20 years, the two sides have carried out extensive technical exchanges and cooperation in the fields of tap water technology and operation in cold regions. Experts from Sapporo City have also assisted Shenyang in carrying out large-scale technical renovations on the underground pipe network. In 1996, Shenyang Urban Construction Bureau signed the Friendly Cooperation Agreement with the Sapporo City Construction Bureau. Through the form of dispatching trainees by the JICA project, the Urban Construction Bureau and the Fire Department of Shenyang respectively carried out technical exchanges and personnel training with the Sapporo City Construction Bureau and the Fire Department on road construction technology and disaster prevention technology in cold regions. Sapporo City has received technical and management personnel in the above fields from Shenyang and dispatched its key business personnel to Shenyang to guide the work, with a total of hundreds of people having been exchanged between the two cities.

Strengthening Youth Exchanges to Build the Bridge of Future Friendship

Over the years, Shenyang and its friendship cities in Japan and South Korea have enhanced mutual understanding and friendship through carrying out a rich variety of youth exchange activities, laying a solid foundation for the stable development of friendship city relations.

Shenyang City and Sapporo City in Japan have held activities such as the “Exchange Meeting between Shenyang Northeast Yucai Foreign Language School and Sapporo Intercultural and Technological High School”, the “Exchange Meeting between Shenyang Chuying Primary School and Sapporo Shinkawa Primary School”, and the “Exchange Meeting between Shenyang Northeast Yucai Foreign Language School and Kawasaki City Tachibana High School”.

Shenyang City and Gumi City in South Korea have established a mechanism for mutual dispatch of middle school students for exchanges and carried out the “International Friendship City Youth Home-stay Activity”. Shenyang has also mutually dispatched young players with Chuncheon City and Daejeon Metropolitan City to participate in activities such as the Shenyang “Peace Cup” International Youth Football Tournament, the Chuncheon City International Youth Football Friendship Tournament, the “Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of Friendship between Shenyang and Daejeon and the 2023 China-South Korea Online Go(Weiqi) Exchange Tournament”, and the 2024 Shenyang “China-South Korea Youth Taekwondo Invitational Tournament”.

In addition, the youth of Shenyang have also participated in activities such as the “Our Festival Celebration” International Children’s Painting Exchange Exhibition in Chuncheon City, South Korea, the traditional martial arts performance at the opening ceremony of the “Daejeon Zero O’Clock Festival” , the “Shenyang-Sasebo Twin Cities Exchange Exhibition of Youth Painting Works”, and the “Daegu International University Student Summer Camp” in Daegu Metropolitan City, which have enhanced the international vision of the youth of Shenyang and promoted the young people on both sides to enhance understanding, harvest friendship, and make progress together in mutual learning and exchange.

Over the past 40 years, the exchanges and cooperation between Shenyang and its friendship cities in Japan and South Korea have gradually expanded from friendly exchanges to many fields such as economy and trade, science and technology, culture, education, sports, tourism, and youth. The all-round, wide-ranging, and multi-level “Inclusive Friendship City” cooperation pattern between Shenyang and its friendship city in Japan and South Korea has gradually taken shape, moving towards a new stage of promoting comprehensive and practical cooperation. The new Shenyang, which is accelerating the construction of an international central city in Northeast Asia, will also continue to move forward side by side with its friendship cities in Japan and South Korea and jointly create a more beautiful tomorrow!