Twinning Links
The history of increasing links between Leicestershire and Sichuan Province:
October 1984
Mr. Yang Xizong, Governor of Sichuan Province led a delegation to Leicestershire to discuss cooperation potentials in economy, trade, culture, education, science and technologies.
March 1985
Mr. Gu Jinchi, Vice Governor of Sichuan led a Delegation to Leicestershire, and studied city planning, environmental protection and municipal construction in Leicestershire.
October 1985
Mr. Jiang Zeting, Secretary General of Sichuan Provincial Government led the Sichuan Economy & Trade delegation to Leicestershire.
November 1985
A delegation from Leicestershire Chamber of Commerce visited Sichuan.
1986
A Chinese painting exhibition was held in Leicestershire museums.
1987
A delegation led by the Chairman of Leicestershire County Council visited Sichuan.
1988
A university delegation from Leicestershire visited Chengdu Academy of Science & Technologies to discuss molecule science researches.
Oct. 26, 1988
The twinning relationship was officially established.
April 1989
Sichuan Twinning City Workshop visited Leicestershire.
September 1990
A 30-member hovercraft team from Leicestershire visited Sichuan to conduct science explorations.
May 1991
Tai Chi coaches visited Leicestershire to teach playing Tai Chi for six months.
May 1992
The steering group of scientific research team was sent from Leicestershire to visit Sichuan.
March 1993
British Shoe Corporation visited Sichuan to discuss potentials for cooperation.
Oct. 1993
A good-will delegation from Leicestershire visited Sichuan and donated sun-powered ovens, medical facilities and teaching and learning aids to the people in the poverty-stricken areas of Sichuan with total value of RMB190,000 Yuan, which was approximately equivalent to £19,000 then.
April 1994
Bridgeport Engineering set up a joint venture with Zigong Long March Machinery to manufacture advanced digital-controlled machine tools.
June 1994
Prof. David from Loughborough University visited Sichuan.
May 1995
Councillor of Leicestershire County Council Prof. Bernard visited Sichuan to research the machinery industry for the project of utilising British funds for the transfer technology within the machine tool industry.
Sept. 1995
Chairman of Leicestershire County Council led a trade mission to Sichuan.
Oct. 1995
A goodwill delegation was sent from Leicestershire to visit Dengke and donated medical facilities, computers worth RMB550,000 Yuan, which was then approximately equivalent to £55,000.
June 1998
Mr. She Shijie, Chairman of Sichuan Provincial Congress, led Sichuan Economic Technology Cooperation mission to Leicestershire. A memorandum was signed between Mr. She and Mrs. Brock, Chairman of Leicestershire County Council to promote the exchange and cooperation in agriculture and scientific researchers.
April 11th to 16th 1999
At the invitation of Mr. She, Mrs. Brock, Chairman of Leicestershire County Council led a mission to visit Sichuan. The memorandum of promoting the friendly cooperation between Sichuan Province and Leicester Shire was signed. A friendship tree was co-planted by Mrs. Brock and Mr. She.
Oct. 5th to 7th 1999
Mrs. Qin Yuqin, Vice Chairman of Sichuan Provincial Party Committee, led Sichuan trade mission to Leicestershire, and signed the memorandum to promote the cooperation between Sichuan and Leicester Shire.
Sept 2000
Mr. Huang Yinkui, Vice Chairman of Sichuan Provincial Party Committee, led a trade mission to Leicestershire and a trade seminar was held at Hilton Hotel.
Oct. 2000
At the invitation of Mr. Huang, Mr. John Howard, Chairman of Leicestershire County Council visited China to attend the 1st West China Forum in Chengdu.
Feb. 2001
Denise Outen led a delegation of 8 head teachers from Leicestershire to visit the partner schools in Sichuan.
April 2001
Prof. Preston, Deputy Leader of Leicestershire County Council, led a trade mission to Sichuan.
Sept. 2001
A trade mission composed of Loughborough Innovation Centre and Cross Electrical accompanied by Andy Rose visited Sichuan and Chongqing.
Sept. 2002
Mr. Jiang Jufeng, Chief Vice Governor of Sichuan Provincial Government led a strong 60-member delegation to Leicestershire and held a ‘Sichuan Culture and Business Week’. The performances of Sichuan arts and acrobatics were shown for a week, a business meeting was arranged and the Sichuan head teachers visited their partner schools in Leicestershire. See below
March 2003
Sichuan Provincial Chief Commander of Firemen led a delegation of senior fire and police officers to visit Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service and Leicestershire Constabulary.
August 2003
An education mission from Sichuan visited the University of Leicester to discuss higher education and the potentials for cooperation.
Sept 2003
Mr. Li Hongren, Secretary-General of Sichuan Provincial Government led a civic delegation to study logistics., including a visit to East Midland Airport.
Dec 2003
A trade mission led by Mr. David Knaggs, Chairman of Leicestershire County Council and Mr. David Parsons, Leader of Leicestershire County Council, visited Guangzhou and Chengdu. During the visit, an offer of free space by Guangzhou International Business Incubator was made, and the memorandum was signed between Mr. Knaggs and Mr. Huang Yinkui, Vice Chairman of Sichuan Provincial Congress to set trade bureaus on both sides to provide support to the companies to trade and invest.
March 7th 2004
Leicester Shire-Sichuan Trade Bureau was launched at Leicester and in operation.
April 30th 2004
Mr. Knaggs and Mr. Parsons hosted a reception for the visiting President of Jialing Group from Chongqing to help Vepro Ltd to win the business from Jialing.
May 28th 2004
Mr. Parsons, Leader of Leicestershire County Council, hosted a reception for China Aviation Industry Corporation No. 1. The purpose of the visit is to discuss the potentials of Alstom Power Turbo System Technology Centre as an International supplier of power generation services and equipments.
June 1st 2004
Mr. Parsons, Leader of Leicestershire County Council, met with Mr. Huang Mingquan, Mayor of Leshan City and the official from Leshan city planning department. The purpose of the visit is to learn of local government links with businesses.
May 22nd to June 2nd 2004
Min He, Co-ordinator for Leicester Shire-Sichuan Trade Bureau visited Chengdu and Chongqing and attended the 5th West China International Trade Fair.
July 2004
Mr. Guo Yongxiang, Secretary General of Sichuan Provincial Party Committee, led a mission to visit Leicestershire County Council to be met by Mr. Parsons. The delegation visited Loughborough University and Leicester University to discuss potential of cooperation between high schools in Sichuan and the universities.
Leicestershire - China School Links
Sichuan Week in Leicestershire, Sept 2002
Took place during the 'Sichuan Week' in Leicester, Sept. 2002.
Performance given by the Sichuan National Art Ensemble, originally set up many years ago to enhance artistic communication between the people of Sichuan, China and the people of Leicestershire by the Sichuan Provincial Peoples' Government.
Sichuan delegation led by Mr. Jufeng Jiang, Deputy Governor of Sichuan
