City Scene - October 2001: Artwork links sister cities

October 2001

Changes coming to Central City

The City's new Council

Four more Living Streets on cards

Christchurch rated worlds best-run city

Check the New recycling guide

Artwork links sister cities

Christchurch-Gansu Friendly Relations Committee chairman Professor Bill Willmott, with pupils from Christchurch’s Rewi Alley Chinese School, attend the launch of the "This Is Me" exhibition at the Centre of Contemporary Art.

Artwork by school pupils from China is now on its way back to their country of origin after being on display at the Centre of Contemporary Art (COCA).

The two-way exhibition involves 100 paintings by Chinese pupils with the theme "This Is Me". Year 7 and 8 pupils from various Christchurch schools also contributed 100 paintings to the display, using the same theme.

The exhibition ran until 20 October in Christchurch and now the paintings will be displayed in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province, a sister-city of Christchurch.

The chairman of the Christchurch-Gansu Friendly Relations Committee, Professor Bill Willmott, says there are many similarities between the paintings, despite the geographical differences. "Many of the paintings used similar ways of illustrating the theme, such as self portraits, drawings of houses, school and scenes from the local environment."

It is the second year an art exchange between school pupils from the sister-cities has been organised. It is just one cultural and educational connection forged between Gansu and Christchurch since the sister-city link was set up in 1984. The relationship arose from the suggestion of Rewi Alley, a Cantabrian who moved to China in 1927. He spent the rest of his life there and is considered one of the five most revered Westerners by the Chinese.

Professor Willmott says one of the most successful links established from the sister-city relationship is the annual student exchange.

Since last year four high school students and a teacher have travelled to Gansu and to Christchurch respectively for a four-week exchange. Two Canterbury primary schools and two local high schools have also formed sister-school relationships with Gansu.

As well as educational links, Professor Willmott says that senior Chinese leaders make regular visits to Christchurch and several exchanges by trade delegations have taken place.

Professor Willmott says the sister-city link has brought understanding between the two cultures. He says it has also given Christchurch a presence in China, opening the way for trade and business contacts to be made and on-going relationships to be established. Located in north-west China, Gansu extends from the Mongolian border in the north to the geographic centre of China in the south.

Information on Gansu and Christchurch’s five other sister cities can be found on www.christchurch.org.nz/SisterCities.