On May 20th, the "Hello Shenyang" Friendship Football Tournament for Foreign Nationals in Shenyang kicked off at the Shenyang Olympic Sports Center. Foreign friends in Shenyang from different nationalities and skin tones gathered on the green field  and said "Hello, Shenyang " in different languages.

The "Hello Shenyang" Friendship Football Tournament for Foreign Nationals in Shenyang is one of the important events held by Shenyang city to strengthen" Foreign Affairs Plus" and build “International Shenyang” and brands of the “Hello Shenyang” promotional campaign. It aims to build an exchange platform for friends from various countries who work and live in Shenyang to communicate with each other, deepen friendship and strengthen cooperation, to fully show the world an open, friendly, dynamic and modern image of“International Shenyang”. This event is hosted by Shenyang Municipal People's Government and jointly organized by the Foreign Affairs Office of Shenyang Municipal People’s Government, the Municipal People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the Municipal Sports Bureau and the Youth League of Municipal Committee.More than 300 representatives from the Consulates General of Japan, South Korea, and Germany in Shenyang, as well as foreign nationals from all walks of life in Shenyang, attended the opening ceremony of the event.

The four teams representing China, Japan, South Korea, and German are Shenyang Youth Union, Japan Simi Technology team, South Korea Arirang Team, and Germany's Shenyang Friends of Football Team. The competition will adopt a cross placement system, with a duration of 3 days.

Chen Shuangwei, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shenyang Municipal People’s Government and Secretary General of Shenyang People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, said in his speech that at present, Shenyang is focusing on improving the level of opening up and building a new pattern of opening up in an all-round way, anchoring the general goal of building a national central city, a world-class central city in Northeast Asia, and a new highland for opening up to Northeast Asia, constantly enriching the quality and connotation of the city's internationalization, and creating a favorable international business environment  for foreign nationals in Shenyang to start businesses, work and live, leading the all-round revitalization of Northeast China to make new breakthroughs with the practice of Chinese path to modernization in Shenyang. He hopes that more international friends can take root in Shenyang, deeply cultivate Shenyang, and realize their dreams in the high-quality development process of Shenyang in the new era to jointly draw a new picture of Shenyang's development and create a new chapter of friendly exchanges.

At the opening ceremony, Chinese and foreign audiences jointly enjoyed sports and cultural performances such as Chinese martial arts, Japanese karate, Korean taekwondo, German fancy fencing and cheerleading performance, experiencing the integration and mutual appreciation of diverse cultures between China and foreign countries.

Officials from the Provincial People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the Foreign Affairs Office of the Municipal People’s Government, the Municipal people’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the Municipal Sports Bureau and the Youth League of Municipal Committee attended the opening ceremony.