Christchurch has formal sister city links with five cities and a province in China and recently added a friendship city to its formalised international relationships.
On 4 April 2006 the strategic partnership with Wuhan, China was formalised when Mayor Garry Moore signed a Friendship City Agreement with Mr Li Xiansheng, Mayor of Wuhan.
These relationships reflect both New Zealand's traditional ties to England and Australia, and the growing importance of the Pacific Rim region to the future of Christchurch and New Zealand.
The idea of pairing up cities in different countries began as a way of promoting greater understanding between nations after the Second World War. The hope was that Sister City relationships would help people from different countries understand each other better. As President Eisenhower said when the programme began in 1956:
"Through Sister Cities, the people of the world can reach out to grasp new challenges and solve some of the world's problems."
As such, the Sister Cities programme has been very successful. City-to-city contact happens at a more 'human' level than at the politically-charged level of country-to-country communication.
Sister Cities exchange education and cultural groups, sports teams and develop trade and tourism with each other. Importantly they help ordinary people from different countries meet and learn from each other, and provide the key to the door for many new development opportunities.
The world has changed a lot since Sister City relationships began 50 years ago and nature of the relationships has also changed. While the commitment to international peace and understanding is as strong as ever, Sister Cities are now also benefiting economically from the friendly relationships they have developed.
Each of Christchurch's Sister City relationships is co-ordinated by a committee.
These committees are made up of dedicated volunteers who give their talents - school teachers, university people, media and sports people, City Councillors, people involved with business, tourism and the arts, youth representatives and representatives of the local ethnic communities.
The Christchurch City Council also has three International Relations Co-ordinators, who advise and support the committees.
See the Sister Cities New Zealand website to link to all the sister cities in New Zealand, background and information; along with reports and resource material.