Christchurch people will be able to glimpse life in our Korean sister city Songpa at a photographic exhibition which opens this week.
The photo exhibition 'Songpa-gu – Through the Lens' is by members of Songpa-gu's Solbit Photography Club.
It celebrates 15 years of the Sister City relationship between Christchurch and Songpa-gu, Seoul, Korea. The New Brighton Photographic Club, who have mounted the photos for the exhibition, will reciprocate with an exhibition by its members to Songpa for the Hansong Baekje Cultural Festival in September.
Richard Stokes, the Council's Marketing Unit Manager, says Christchurch and Songpa-gu have enjoyed a flourishing exchange of educational visits, cultural events, artistic exhibitions, sports and trade.
"It's all about developing mutually beneficial relationships between the people of Christchurch and the people of Songpa-gu and other sister cities," he says. "These photographs show the calibre of talent in the Solbit Photography Club, and they provide a great insight into life there."
Gu-Hee Jung, coordinator of the External Cooperation Team in the Songpa-gu Office, Seoul Metropolitan Government, says the photos of Songpa-gu scenery, attractions and people were carefully selected by the Solbit club. There are 20 people in the Solbit club.
"Some of the photos were exhibited before and several of them have received prizes at competition level," she says.
Exhibition Details: Gallery O Christchurch Arts Centre Wednesday 11 August to Monday 23 August, 10am-5pm daily
The exhibition is supported by Christchurch and Songpa-gu, the Christchurch Songpa-gu Sister Committee, the New Brighton Photographic Club, New Avonhead Travel and the O Yang Corporation.
Two local young people, Andrew Dean and Paul Rutherford, are currently in Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu, from early September to late December as part of an annual training programme, funded by the Gansu provincial government.
During their time there they are attending university, learning Mandarin and being immersed in the culture and history of China, spending time in the Gansu Provincial Foreign Affairs Office, and visiting various sites of cultural and historical interest in the Province.
They have the opportunity to learn basic Mandarin, be introduced to amazing Chinese history, eat some of the best food in the world and tour sites of interest within Gansu Province. A previous participants said "…it really was a once in a lifetime experience, which has given me a much deeper and broader knowledge of China and its people".
Have a look at their blogs www.ChchToGansu.blogspot.com and www.andrewdeaninchina.blogspot.com. They are both absolutely amazing and fascinating.
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Hawthorndene Choir in Christchurch, October 2008. |
26 11-12 year old children, with several accompanying teachers and parents arrived in Christchurch 28 October, and returned to Adelaide 2 November.
During this time they were home-hosted by South Hornby School. This is part of the biennial exchange of their school choirs, which has occurred each year since 2002.
Amongst the exciting things they did was a trip to QE11, a visit to Merrin and Branston Schools, going to Hanmer, a concert, and also performing in the Councillors' Lounge at Civic offices on 31 October. Elected members and staff, as well as toddlers from the crèche next door, enjoyed a wonderful concert.
Next year it will be the turn of South Hornby School to go to Hawthorndene; a very successful school exchange relationship.
This reciprocal exchange between South Hornby Primary School and Hawthorndene School means that firm friendships have now been forged between the schools, with a lot of the children in regular ongoing contact.
Christchurch citizens are invited to join a Citizen's Delegation to Kurashiki, Japan to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of our special sister city relationship the weekend of 18-19 October in Kurashiki.
Mayor Bob Parker will lead a Civic Delegation from Christchurch to the official celebrations and a Christchurch student exchange delegation will also be in Kurashiki for the weekend celebration.
See full details of the Citizen's Delegation Tour, which has a unique homestay option for 3 nights and will include a day trip to Hiroshima Peace Park and a stop off at Universal Studios in Osaka.
Over the next few weeks Mayor Bob Parker will be leading a delegation of Canterbury business and education leaders to China to strengthen existing ties and form new partnerships in the vast and rapidly growing Chinese market.
Keep up with the Mayor's travels in our sister city Gansu, the home of Rewi Alley, and a friendship city relationship with Wuhan.
Read the media releases.
The University of Canterbury will host a training programme for high ranking Government officials from Gansu province, China, in September.
Gansu Government officials announced the new pilot training programme during a visit to Christchurch's sister province, Gansu this week by Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker and a delegation including representatives of the University of Canterbury.
Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker yesterday (14 April) visited Lanzhou City University, which with a roll of 17,000 students, has evolved from a small school founded in 1942 by Rewi Alley, one of Christchurch's most famous sons and a legend in China.
Mayor Parker and his delegation will now return to Beijing, having been there last week, when NZ became the first developed country to sign a comprehensive FTA with China on Monday, 7 April.
Lincoln University and Canterbury University will give presentations at one of the two Beijing conferences the delegation will attend - one of doing business in China and the second on bringing products from science to market, Later this week the delegation will visit Wuhan, which has a Friendship Relationship with Christchurch. See the full media release and photo.A handful of Christchurch photographers are celebrating life on the other side of the camera, as their entries to the 2007 Kurashiki Sister City Photomural Competition were returned to their home city last week and exhibited at the Christchurch Polytechnic of Information Technology (CPIT).
The local works of art were among the winning 60 out of 700 entries, selected from the 2007 Kurashiki Sister City Photomural Competition in Japan.
Over thirty entries by Christchurch photographers were sent by the Christchurch Kurashiki Sister City Committee, to Japan for the annual competition. Five of these talented photographers submitted winning artwork and are now reaping their rewards, with their work hanging on display in the Rakaia Centre of the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) over the next four months.
A group of 22 Linwood College students and 3 of their teachers are about to leave on the College's fourth exchange visit to Twynham School in Christchurch, Dorset in England, where they will be hosted by the members of Twynham School who visited New Zealand in 2007. There are two major tours planned along with participation in the Christchurch Wine and Food Festival where Canterbury has a stand . There will be over 50,000 visitors to this festival so it will be a good test of the students customer service skills.
Read more of the group's plans.
On Friday February 22, 10 students and two teachers will leave Christchurch bound for Songpa-Gu as the reciprocal sister city homestay exchange. The students will be hosted by families from the Songpa-Gu area in an exchange organised by Songpa-Gu Office, and will spend 10 days soaking in the atmosphere of one of Korea's most exciting cities. This is the first time that this exchange has occurred and follows on from a very successful inaugural visit by children from Songpa-Gu last year.
For all previous News and Events see the news archive