The Sister City relationship established in 1994 and over the past 20 years, our cities have mutually benefited from a variety of cultural, educational and sports exchanges. We have hosted at least 30 delegations from Fuzhou.
A few of our programs:
- Dragon Boat Race at the Maritime Fest, September 2001 – fierce competition between the Fuzhou and Tacoma government executive teams led by the respective mayors.
- Tacoma Sister Cities International Music Festival, July-August 2006 – eleven (11) young musicians from Fuzhou attended.
- The Tacoma-Fuzhou Trade Office Exchange Program was launched in April 2008. The City and the Port each committed $100,000 for the 18-month pilot project, which is going strong to this date.
- The Fuzhou Ting in the Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park – donated by Fuzhou and constructed by Tacoma crew during September 2010 to April 2011, the traditional Chinese structure has become a unique landmark and cultural attraction in Tacoma.
- Educational Exchanges between the education institutions in Fuzhou and their counterparts in Tacoma (University of Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran University, Bates Technical College, and Lincoln High School).
- Tacomans visited Fuzhou and participated in a dragon boat race in 2000, the International Sister Cities Conference in 2004, friendship visit in Fuzhou APCC and Committee in 2011, etc.
- A Tacoma delegation attended the 2013 Annual China International Fair for Investment and Trade (CIFIT) in September 2013 held in Xiamen, China (approximately 180 miles southwest of Fuzhou). The delegation made a trip to Fuzhou after the CIFIT and was received at a banquet on September 11, 2013, where the delegation presented the Fuzhou Ting Project at the Tacoma Chinese Reconciliation Park, discussed the prospective of economic and cultural exchanges with Fuzhou officials, and responded Fuzhou’s inquiries about the EB5 program, Tacoma’s market conditions and residential development, among other issues.
- Visit of President Xi Jinping’s to Lincoln High School in 2015.