Cardiff and Xiamen Twin Cities Photography Exhibition

This event has ended.

This photo exhibition marks the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the twin-city relations between Cardiff and Xiamen. Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian province in China, celebrated the anniversary on 12 October 2023.

This exhibition tells the story of the two cities over the past four decades. It is curated by the Cardiff Confucius Institute and will be exhibited in Cardiff University Main Building, The Grangetown Pavilion and in the Cochrane Building Cardiff University Health Library. They depict the changing landscapes of the two cities, how each has grown and developed. 

Twinning cities are established to promote cultural and commercial ties between cities in different countries and, in 1983, Cardiff was the first city in the UK to twin with a Chinese city. Since then, many other twinning relations with Chinese cities followed suit across the UK. 

Since the 1980s, creating twinning partnerships with Chinese cities has predominantly been a means to develop economic relations. However, for Cardiff and Xiamen, great importance and value have always been given to educational and cultural collaborations. The establishment, in 2008, of the Cardiff Confucius Institute is one example of the dynamism of the twin cities and, of the strong partnership between Cardiff University and Xiamen University. Many students and local communities have benefited from the cultural and educational exchanges, as well as the teaching of Chinese language and culture through the Institute. Partnerships between Xiamen Foreign Language School and Cardiff and Vale College; the Xiamen Music School and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama are other examples of this dynamism. 

This exhibition is produced by Cardiff Confucius Institute in collaboration with our UK and Xiamen based partners and will be showing in the following locations and dates: 

• Cardiff University Main Building Viriamu Jones Gallery - 21-28 November 2023
• Grangetown Pavilion - 28 November - 5 December 2023
• Cardiff University Cochrane Building Health Library Foyer - 5-12 December 2023

Exhibition is accessible only during normal building opening hours.