Nashville welcomed special visitors from its sister city of Taiyuan, the capital of China’s Shanxi Province, on May 7-8, 2010.  The delegation included Taiyuan Vice Mayor Rong Tong, Vice Secretary General Pan Baohuan, and Foreign Affairs Vice Director Wei Tao.  Despite the cancellation of many of the group's planned activities because of flooding and recovery work, the delegates were able to meet with representatives of the business community, learn about Nashville’s history at the Downtown Public Library and the Hermitage, enjoy the city's natural beauty at Cheekwood, and meet a diverse spectrum of Nashville's community. Vice Mayor Rong Tong told Nashville business leaders that Taiyuan and Nashville shared many decades of goodwill and that he expected the delegation's visit to produce many areas exchange between the cities including education, culture, and medical manufacturing and know-how.  During the delegation's tour of the Downtown Public Library, they were able to see the library's Wishing Chair puppet show of Mark Twain's story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County."  The delegates were familiar with Twain and his many writings and enjoyed the puppet show as Taiyuan has a tradition of a form of puppetry known as shadow puppetry; Vice Mayor Rong expressed an interest in sending a shadow-puppet troupe to Nashville in the future.  The delegation was particularly impressed with the special areas set aside for children and youth as well as the state-of-the-art technical services available at the public library.

Vice Mayor explained that Taiyuan is experiencing a high level of growth as well as an increasing standard of living amongst its citizens.  With the city building over 5 million square meters of residential buildings annually and plans for new stadiums, museums and other public buildings in the near future, Vice Mayor Rong believes Nashville and Taiyuan will have many ways in which to collaborate as our sister city partnership grows in coming decades.  Sister Cities of Nashville would like to thank all who helped arrange these activities as well as those who participated and made the delegation feel welcome. For photos, please click here.

Sister Cities of Nashville recently partnered with the Alliance Française de Nashville and Vanderbilt University's Department of French and Italian to host a reception honoring Senator Douglas Henry, a long-time supporter of the organizations and a leader in the establishment of the Tennessee Foreign Language Institute in 1986, the only agency of its kind in any state government in the United States.  M. Pascal Le Deunff, the newly appointed French Consul Général from Atlanta, traveled to Nashville to present the Senator with the award.  The event, which was held at the magnificent Cohen Memorial Hall on the Peabody Campus of Vanderbilt University, attracted over 150 guests.  Highlights of the evening included a surprise announcement by Consul General Le Deunff that his country would establish a consular presence in Nashville.  "This consular agency in Nashville is a sign of the growing number of French citizens living here and a growing interest in Tennessee among French companies," Le Deunff said. Another crowd pleaser at the event was the musical presentation given by twenty French students from University School of Nashville and Belmont Weekday School.  The students sang an assortment of French classics, including Joe Dassin’s “Les Champs-Elysées” and Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien.”   Click here to view more event photos.

During a two-week exchange which brought ten high school students from Gwangjin-Gu, Metropolitan Seoul, South Korea to Nashville, Mayor Karl Dean signed a “friendship city” agreement furthering the partnership between our two cities.  The intent is for Gwangjin-Gu to become an official sister city to Nashville later this year.  The students packed a lot of educational and cultural activities into their stay, as well as official visits to Mayor Dean and a presentation of books on Korea to Donna Nicely, director of the Nashville Public Library.  The students also did varying activities with their host families, attending school sporting and theatre events, and shopping at local malls.  Area public and private schools hosted the students for some of the days during their stay. Students attended six schools in all: Martin Luther King, Hume Fogg, University School of Nashville, Harpeth Hall, Lipscomb and Vanderbilt.  The trip culminated in a farewell dinner hosted by SCN’s Korean Committee Chair Kim Lilly, in which all students and their host families enjoyed a final meal together of Korean and Southern favorites, and shared favorite experiences in Nashville. Click here for more photos.

A delegation from Sister Cities of Nashville visited Taiyuan, China in November.  There, they presented artwork created by students in Davidson and Williamson County public schools under the direction of Ms. Joy Xu, who teaches art class in her home for youth in the area.  Sister Cities of Nashville board members Barbara Cobb and Jackie Shrago presented the artwork to the school principal, Ms. Suzhen Yang, when they visited the Affiliated High School of Shanxi University in Taiyuan, which has 3,500 students in the middle and high school grades.  Additionally, the group discussed the opportunity for exchanges with schools in Nashville.  Currently, the Taiyuan committee for Sister Cities of Nashville will pursue an email “penpal” program, focusing primarily on schools in Nashville that teach Chinese before pursuing an actual student exchange between schools.   Schools that are interested in participating in this exciting pilot program with Taiyuan should contact director@scnashville.org.

Our delegation began the official visit with a wonderful dinner in Paris.  The following day, the group traveled to Caen and were greeted by their French hosts, who then took them to the Bar Office for a welcome reception.  The participants had the opportunity to stay with French families or at a local hotel.

In addition to countless receptions and exceptional French dining, the delegates enjoyed seeing the sites and meeting the people in the area.  They listened to an informative talk by the mayor of Cabourg where Marcel Proust lived and wrote; met with officials of the City of Deauville, the Paris beach town, and heard about Nashville’s ties with that city.  They also met with a vice mayor of Caen after touring the abbey founded by William the Conqueror which now serves as city hall.   Additionally, they visited the museum that houses the Bayeux Tapestry, which was created 900 years ago and recounts the history of William’s conquest of England. A visit to the splendid Memorial Museum in Caen completed the tour of the museums.  This facility tells the story of the events leading up to World War II and the landings on the beaches of Normandy just north of Caen.

The high point of the trip was a visit to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach where 9,387 American service men and women are buried.  The group toured the new welcome center, which featured many memorable exhibits, and were fortunate to be able to participate in a wreath-laying ceremony before touring the cemetery.

In 2010, the French will pay Nashvillians a return visit, and we look forward to reciprocating their hospitality.  If you would like to be on the email list for the French committee and would like to participate in the future, either helping us welcome the French in 2010 or becoming a member of the delegation to France in 2011, please email Steve Cobb at s.a.cobb@comcast.net.