In 1978, China began her period of Reform and Opening Up (găigé kāifàng; 改革开放). One of the ways China opened up to the world was through the official forming of city and province “sister partnerships”. Today, Nanjing boasts 20 formal Sister City relationships, of which St. Louis of Mississippi, USA, became the second in 1979. This year, Nanjing therefore celebrates 40 years of formal diplomatic relations with the USA and the city of St. Louis.
1978年，中国开始了改革开放时期。 中国向世界开放的方式之一是通过正式组建市省“姐妹伙伴关系”。 今天，南京拥有20个正式的姐妹城市关系，其中St. 美国密西西比州的路易斯在1979年成为第二位。 因此，今年南京庆祝与美国和圣城建立正式外交关系40周年。 路易斯。
In January, 1978, St. Louis established a community of prospective friendship cities. At the beginning of 1979, then Mayor of St. Louis, James Conway, wrote a letter to the then Head of Nanjing, Chu Jiang, detailing similarities between the two cities, which included geography, industry, culture and economy (both cities are major inland ports that lie on the banks of a vast river and were, at the time, highly industrialised, while each is regarded as a gateway to their respective country’s western region). The letter was sent to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the system in place at the time required central approval for all foreign contact. In June of the same year, a delegation from St. Louis flew to Nanjing for the first time. They returned in November, whereupon the document which solidified a formal Sister City relationship was signed in the Nanjing Great Hall of the People.
1978年1月，St. 路易斯建立了一个未来友谊城市社区。 1979年初，当时的圣市长。 路易斯，詹姆斯·康威，给当时的南京元首楚江写了一封信，详细介绍了这两个城市之间的相似之处，包括地理、工业、文化和经济（这两个城市都是主要的内陆港口，位于一条大河岸上，当时高度工业化，而每个城市都被视为通往各自国家西部地区的门户）。 这封信被寄给了中国外交部，因为当时的制度要求所有外国联系都得到中央批准。 同年6月，一个来自圣的代表团 路易斯第一次飞往南京。 他们于11月返回，随后在南京人民大会堂签署了巩固正式姐妹城市关系的文件。
“Generally speaking, we have three categories that we use to establish contact with international cities”, said Li Aijun, head of the Nanjing Foreign Affairs Office, speaking with The Nanjinger in an exclusive interview.
南京外交事务办公室主任李爱军在接受《南京人》独家采访时说：“一般来说，我们有三类人用来与国际城市建立联系。”
“The first category is when an overseas city initially contacts us. The second is where we look for and choose cities from our side. And the third is related to history; at the beginning of the reform and opening up, the Foreign Affairs Ministry helped us to make the contacts.
“第一类是海外城市最初与我们联系时。 第二个是我们从我们这边寻找和选择城市的地方。 第三个与历史有关；在改革开放之初，外交部帮助我们建立了联系。
“This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relationships between China and the United States. So our story and friendship with the city of St Louis also goes with the communication and exchanges between the two countries and people”, said Li. In Xuanwu Lake park, the St. Louis delegation planted four trees around which were colourful ribbons. The tree chosen for the occasion was the Liriodendron that is now only found in China and the USA.
“今年是中美建交40周年。 因此，我们与圣路易斯市的故事和友谊也与两国和人民之间的沟通和交流相联系，”李说。 在玄武湖公园，圣。 路易斯代表团种植了四棵树，周围是五颜六色的丝带。 為這個場合選擇的樹是Liriodendron，目前只在中國和美國發現。
In 1980, Chief of The People’s Liberation Army, Deng Xiaoping, gave permission for a small (six people) delegation from Nanjing to visit St. Louis. Due to limited funds at the time, China only permitted small groups to travel abroad, a tradition that lasts to this day. The first group to visit St. Louis left Nanjing in May 1980 and included the Vice Head of Nanjing, Wang Chubin; it was the very first time the local Nanjing government had visited America. The group were picked up from the airport by St. Louis officials in San Francisco, who then accompanied them on the entire trip to various cities.
1980年，中国人民解放军司令邓小平允许一个来自南京的小型（六人）代表团访问圣。 路易斯。 由于当时资金有限，中国只允许小团体出国旅行，这一传统一直延续到今天。 第一个参观圣的团体。 路易斯于1980年5月离开南京，包括南京副省长王楚斌；这是南京当地政府首次访问美国。 这群人被St.从机场接走了。 路易斯在旧金山的官员，然后陪同他们前往各个城市。
Official Nanjing memoirs that were given to The Nanjinger by local government document how the tour group was treated by the Americans. On the second day, they were treated to a feast, with 500 people from all walks of life. In the 9 days that they were in St. Louis, they visited more than 30 places, including six large corporations, nine factories, some universities, farms, hospitals, museums and shopping malls. They were left with a deep impression of the development of the city, the education, industrialisation and agriculture, calling it, “striking modernisation”.
当地政府送给《南京人》的官方南京回忆录记录了美国人如何对待这个旅游团。 第二天，他们享用了一场盛宴，有来自各行各业的500人。 在他们在St的9天里。 路易斯，他们参观了30多个地方，包括六家大公司、九家工厂、一些大学、农场、医院、博物馆和购物中心。 他们对城市、教育、工业化和农业的发展留下了深刻的印象，称其为“引人注目的现代化”。
An attendee said of the conference that took place in Nanjing upon their return, “This report is based on fact, the content is detailed and vivid, down to earth and about daily life. The people said this is the very first time to hear such a kind of report of a visit overseas, from a representative in the community after the opening up and reform of China. Although we had 3 hours to listen to the report, it just was not long enough. And even though we sat there for 3 hours, we didn’t even feel tired”.
一位与会者在谈论他们回来后在南京举行的会议时说：“这份报告以事实为基础，内容详细而生动，脚踏实地，是关于日常生活的。 人们说，这是第一次听到中国改革开放后社区代表的海外访问报告。 虽然我们有3个小时的时间来听报告，但时间还不够长。 尽管我们在那里坐了3个小时，但我们甚至没有感到累。”
Li told The Nanjinger, “When we get to work on relationships with all the friendly cities, including friendship and sister cities, we do not make any difference between them. Just in terms of the official documents and some official procedures, this makes the only difference”. Understanding why the Chinese refer to Sister Cities as Friendship Cities is important, as it differs from the international process in regard to Friendship and Sister City terminology. “From the beginning the term Sister City originated from the United States, but the Premier at the time, Zhou Enlai, who was the forefather of Chinese diplomacy, noted that in Chinese we call sister ‘jiemei’ (姐妹), which means bigger sister and younger sister; you have a difference in terms of the ages, so that will make it unequal. … So, Premier Zhou suggested that we call it ‘youhao chengshi’ (友好城市), which will be very equal.”
李告诉《南京人》：“当我们与所有友好城市（包括友谊和姐妹城市）建立关系时，我们之间没有任何区别。 仅就官方文件和一些官方程序而言，这是唯一的区别。” 了解为什么中国人把姐妹城市称为友谊城市很重要，因为在友谊和姐妹城市术语方面，它与国际进程不同。 “从一开始，“姐妹城市”一词就起源于美国，但当时的总理周恩来是中国外交的始祖，他指出，在中文中，我们称之为’姐妹’，意思是大姐和妹妹；你们在年龄上有差异，所以这会使它不平等。 …所以，周总理建议我们称它为“友好城市”，这将是非常平等的。”
One of the purposes for China to make such relationships was to enhance the understanding and friendship between two cultures. In the late 70s, China did not have any convenient ways of accessing information. Local people only to knew about overseas activity through outdated newspapers, TVs and films. Thus the Nanjing-St. Louis exchanges made big news at that time.
中国建立这种关系的目的之一是增进两种文化之间的理解和友谊。 在70年代末，中国没有任何便捷的获取信息的方式。 当地人只通过过时的报纸、电视和电影了解海外活动。 因此，南京街 路易斯交易所在当时成为大新闻。
Looking back, Li said, “At that time many Chinese people did not think of the States as a very friendly country, but when the Nanjing delegation got to the States they found it was totally different from what they had thought. They found the States was very developed. Furthermore, the Nanjing people found that we had a very large gap between Nanjing and the States. We needed to work hard to reform, to build our city. … Through contact with other cities we’ve learnt the concept of building a city. For example, environment protection, how to build a city, how to do urban planning of a city and so on, we have learned a lot from our friendly cities”.
回想起来，李说：“当时，许多中国人并不认为美国是一个非常友好的国家，但当南京代表团到达美国时，他们发现这与他们想象的完全不同。 他们发现这些州非常发达。 此外，南京人民发现，南京和美国之间存在着非常大的差距。 我们需要努力进行改革，建设我们的城市。 …通过与其他城市的接触，我们了解了建设城市的概念。 例如，环境保护、如何建设城市、如何进行城市规划等等，我们从友好的城市中学到了很多。”