This is an outline of one of the many tours the Christchurch China Sister Cities Committee has led over the years.
This tour was led by Mr Bernard Duncan Chair of the Christchurch China Sister Cities Committee (2008-2019) to mark the 30th Anniversary of the Gansu Province relationship and the 10 years anniversary of the Wuhan Relationship.
Proposed Christchurch Gansu 30th Anniversary Goodwill Tour
March 2015
Introduction
The Christchurch – China Sister Cities Committee is organising a tour to China to mark the 30th anniversary of the sister city relationship signed in 1984 between Gansu Province and the City of Christchurch. The relationship, suggested by Rewi Alley in the 1970’s, has evolved into a warm and lasting friendship between Christchurch and Gansu. In more recent years Christchurch has also established a relationship with the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province. The tenth anniversary of this relationship is in 2015. The proposed tour therefore takes in both Gansu Province and Wuhan.
The tour will be led by Bernard Duncan, Chairman of the Christchurch China Sister City Committee and will be escorted by a Chinese English speaker. The tour is ‘semi official’ in that we will be recognised and welcomed as representatives of the city of Christchurch and the province of Canterbury. Hence there will be a number of official functions where we will be welcomed and hosted by local Government officials, in particular the local Foreign Affairs office. The Chinese often extend hospitality through formal banquets and there will be a number of these. There will also be visits to schools and universities where our Sister City Committee has strong connections.
The tour proposed is planned to take 22 days and take in the most well known historical sights and landmarks. The time spent in Gansu Province will be a major highlight both because of the long term relationship Christchurch has with Gansu and because of the provinces’ archaeological significance to China’s history. The historical Silk Road passes through Gansu and our Tour will follow some of this route, starting in fact in the north west of the province and travelling through to Xian which is close to the south eastern part of Gansu province. A detailed description of this section of the tour is included as an attachment to the Memo.
Aside from Gansu other highlights of the tour include the following:
- Viewing the highlights of Shanghai, understanding its history and its importance as a commercial hub for central China and viewing the famous Bund skyline,
- A chance to see the countryside of eastern China via a hi-speed train trip from Shanghai to Beijing (1,500kms in 5hrs!),
- In Beijing, visits to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and the Emperor’s Summer Palace,
- A walk along the Great Wall north of Beijing,
- A visit to the buried terra cotta warriors at Xian.
- A visit to Wuhan where Christchurch has strong links. Wuhan sits in the geographical centre of China on the Yangtze River. As such it is sometimes call the ‘Chicago of the East’ or the ‘Venice of the East”.
This tour provides the opportunity to travel with people who are experienced Chinese travellers and to meet with Chinese who know us well. A number of those we will meet have been to New Zealand. So we will be among friends! The tour is for those who a keen to learn of Chinese life, culture and history, who are happy represent Christchurch and Canterbury and who want to contribute to the work of the Christchurch sister city committee to build people to people friendships with the people of China.
Summary of the Programme
| Day | Location | by | ||
| 1 | Christchurch | Air | ||
| 2 | Shanghai | Air | ||
| 3 | Shanghai | |||
| 4 | Shanghai to Beijing | Fast train | ||
| 5 | Beijing | |||
| 6 | Beijing | |||
| 7 | Beijing to Dunhuang | Air | ||
| 8 | Dunhuang | |||
| 9 | Jiayuguan | Coach | ||
| 10 | Zhangye | Coach | ||
| 11 | Shandan | Coach | ||
| 12 | Jinchang | Coach | ||
| 13 | Lanzhou | Coach | ||
| 14 | Lanzhou | Coach | ||
| 15 | Lanzhou | |||
| 16 | Tianshui | Coach | ||
| 17 | Tianshui to Xian | Train | ||
| 18 | Xian | |||
| 19 | Xian to Wuhan | Air | ||
| 20 | Wuhan | |||
| 21 | Wuhan | |||
| 22 | Wuhan to Christchurch | Air |
The Gansu section of the tour
As mentioned above the Gansu section of the tour is organised by the Gansu Foreign Affairs office (GSFAO) in recognition of the Christchurch Gansu Sister City relationship.
Highlights include
- Dunhuang, a world famous tourist city covering 31,200 square kilometres and has 180,000 people.
- Jiayuguan, a strategically important town in ancient China, home to JISCO, the iron and steel giant in western China, was named after the Jiayuguan Pass and founded because of JISCO. It is the smallest city with the highest GDP per capita in Gansu, covers 2,935 square kilometres and has 210,000 people
- Zhangye, covering 42,000 square kilometres and with 1.3 million, is a charming city to live and tour.
- Shandan is a county under Zhangye government, home to Bailie School which was founded by Rewi Alley, a New Zealander highly regarded by Chinese government and its people due to his contributions to Chinese revolution and construction from 1920’ to 1980’.
- Jinchang is a 33 years old city strong in mining and short of water, covering 9,600 square kilometres and accommodating 480,000, home to Jinchuan Group, a large and significant SOE in Gansu to produce most nickel and cobalt mines in China.
- Wuwei, 33,000 square kilometres, 1.8 million people, 2,000 years history, China Wine City, home to China Tourism hallmark the Bronze Galloping Horse.
- From Wuwei to Lanzhou, it takes four hours to drive, through five tunnels with a total length of 20 km, climbing over highland at 3000 meters above sea level.
- Despite a capital city, Lanzhou has not much to offer but hand-pulled beef noodles, cold beer and delicious food. The Gansu Museum, Iron Bridge, the White Pagoda Mountain to have a bird view on city will be very interesting. Most important, many kiwi lovers live here.
- Tianshui is the 2nd largest city in Gansu, rich in agriculture and tourism
Interested in finding more out about our tours?
Our tours are worked in collaboration with the respective Foreign Affairs Offices of Our Sister City relationship and China Travel Service, our tours cannot be compared to a typical tourist tour of China. We limit the number of Attendees to between 12 and 18 participants.
