Changsha pavilion to be placed in US city for sister-city ties

The unveiling ceremony of the Xiangjiang Pavilion is held in Changsha on May 3. [Photo by Liu Jialu/changsha.cn]

The Changsha Yanghu Wetland Park presented the Xiangjiang Pavilion to Saint Paul, Minnesota, US, on May 3, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of Changsha and Saint Paul becoming sister cities.

The Xiangjiang Pavilion [Photo by Liu Jialu/changsha.cn] 

The pavilion was modeled after Aiwan Pavilion, one of the four most famous pavilions in China, which was built on Yuelu Mountain during the Qing Dynasty (AD 1644-1911) in 1792. The new pavilion will become part of the Phalen Regional Park in Saint Paul this August.

The Aiwan Pavilion [Photo/changsha.cn]　 

On April 20, St. Paul sent five statues of Peanuts characters to Changsha's Yanghu Wetland Park, the sister park to St. Paul's Phalen Regional. Peanuts, a comic strip and later cartoon, was created by St. Paul native Charles Schulz. 

The sister-city project between Saint Paul and Changsha, Hunan province began in May 1988, while the sister-city park partnership between Phalen Regional Park and Yanghu Wetland Park began in 2015. 

Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city in the US state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the north bank of the Mississippi River, downstream from the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city. Known as the "Twin Cities", these two cities form the core of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, the 13th largest metropolitan area in the United States, with about 3.5 million residents. The city's population in the 2000 census was 287,151. 

Since 1982, Changsha has established sister-city ties with 48 cities in 29 countries, with 13 being official sister-city relationships.