Chengdu officially commenced its International Sister Cities Sculpture 
Photography Solicitation campaign on December 11, 2020. Initiated by the 
Foreign Affairs Office of Chengdu Municipal People's Government, the program 
aims to invite and encourage citizens to photograph sculptures of the city, 
appreciate the beauty of these works of sculptural art and share with the world 
the brilliant stories of Chengdu's globalization endeavors.

Chengdu formally established its international sister cities relations with 
Montpellier, the French city sitting on the coast of the Mediterranean, in June 
1981, and since then the Sichuan provincial capital has forged ties with 104 
sister cities and friendly cooperation cities in more than 50 countries on six 
continents across the globe. Upon this basis, Chengdu has carried out 
close-knit cooperation with these cities in areas such as culture, education, 
economics and trade, and scientific and technological innovations, having 
accomplished a wide array of impressive feats, including the photographic works 
being solicited for this photography campaign.

Since 2018, Chengdu invited more than 60 renowned sculptors from international 
sister cities to learn about the city's local customs and gather inspirations 
that resulted in around a hundred sculptural designs. At present, over 20 
sculptures from 15 cities across the globe have arrived in Chengdu, becoming 
wonderful embodiments that manifest the friendship between Chengdu and cities 
around the world.

Jeremy Shirley from Hamilton, New Zealand, created a piece of artwork called 
"Wall of Friendship". Speaking about the source of her inspiration for this 
design, he explained: "Chengdu is a city brimming with vitality. I incorporated 
a raft of daily life elements I discovered in Chengdu into my work. I want my 
creation to express a kind of beauty derived from the combination of colors, 
and at the same time depict the friendships between cities and between people."

Tianfu Greenway, the location for these 20 or so sculptures of varying sizes is 
also a fascinating choice. Chengdu started to pick up its pace in developing as 
a beautiful and livable park city beginning in 2018, and the Tianfu Greenway, 
the longest of its kind in the world, was conceived and born under this 
motivation. With a planned total length of 16,930km, the greenway system is 
comprised of greenways at the regional level, district level and community 
level. As of the first half of this year, 3,689km of greenways of various 
levels have been completed, adding 38.85 million square meters of green space 
and boosting the city's greenery coverage rate to 39.93%. 

The sculptures distributed along the greenway symbolize Chengdu's 
accomplishments in foreign liaison and international communication, and 
represent international sister cities' participation in Chengdu's development 
and support in Chengdu's park city endeavor.

For this campaign, the sponsor also created an amusing hand drawn-style 
sculpture sightseeing map for the convenience of citizens and visitors alike. 
If anyone happens to be in Chengdu, don't forget to check out these awesome 
sculptures and send photos to email: GJRphoto@163.com, and exquisite gifts 
await photographers behind the prize-winning pictures.

Source: The Foreign Affairs Office of Chengdu Municipal People's Government