Ties That Bind - Bay Area Council Economic Institute

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Ties That Bind
was established in 1965 to promote understanding and appreciation of Chinese and Chinese-
American culture in the U.S. The center has staged Chinese opera, offered Chinese language
classes, led Chinatown walking tours, held Chinese chess workshops, and hosted lectures and art
exhibitions. Each year the center organizes an “In Search of Roots” program that sends young
Chinese-Americans to their ancestral villages and cities in Guangzhou Province.
Food is another bridge. Just as leading San Francisco chefs have staked claims to the restaurant
scene in growing urban centers like Las Vegas, Bay Area restauranteurs are eyeing the burgeoning
restaurant scene in China. One of the most visible is George Chen, proprietor of Shanghai
1930 and Betelnut in San Francisco, who in 2006 opened Shikumen Bistro in Shanghai’s fashionable
Xintiandi district, with a move planned shortly to a new restaurant, the Hamilton Club,
in a 1931 art deco landmark on Shanghai’s famous Bund. In Southern China, Bill Lee, owner of
Chinatown’s Far East Café, opened in 2005 a 1000 seat restaurant and 700 seat employee cafeteria
at Guangzhou’s international airport. There are formidable challenges to operating enterprises
such as restaurants in China’s complex environment, but Bay Area food entrepreneurs are
seizing the opportunity.
Sister Cities: Thinking Globally, Acting Locally
President Dwight D. Eisenhower established a national sister city initiative in 1956, as a way for
U.S. citizens and foreign nationals to meet and learn firsthand about each others’ cultures and
traditions at a local, more personal level. Administered by a global organization, Sister Cities International
(SCI), the program was until recently exclusively cultural and educational, although
sister city ties have often been initiated by business interests in one or both cities.
Cities are allowed only one sister city relationship with a given country, but multiple “friendship
cities,” which are afforded many of the same benefits. Visitors entering the U.S. for a sister city
visit have an easier time obtaining visas.
Ten Bay Area localities have sister city relationships with cities in greater China:
Berkeley — Haidian District, Beijing
Davis — Wuxi, China
Los Altos — Shin Lin District, Taiwan
Milpitas — Huizhou, China
Oakland — Dalian, China
Redwood City — Zhuhai, China
Richmond — Zhoushan, China
San Francisco — Shanghai, China; Taipei, Taiwan
San Jose — Tainan, Taiwan
Watsonville — Pinghu, China