友好都市・中国 蘇州市を紹介します。

■交流事業について

1981年に友好都市になって以来、様々な交流を続けてきました。

・青少年派遣事業

毎年市内在住の中学生・高校生を派遣しています。学校を訪問し、現地の授業を体験したり、ホームステイを通して友好都市への理解を深めます。また、池田市の代表として、本市の紹介をしてもらいます。

新型コロナウイルス感染症の影響等で渡航が制限されていた際は、学生同士のオンライン交流会など実施可能な事業を継続してきました。

そんな池田市と友好都市関係にある蘇州市から、市内の学校や街並みを紹介する動画が届きました。

映像を通して、蘇州市の魅力を感じてみてください。

■About Suzhou City, China

Suzhou is located in the southeastern part of Jiangsu Province, facing the Yangtze River to the north, Lake Tai to the west, Zhejiang Province to the south, and Shanghai, China's economic, financial, and trade metropolis, to the east. This region has excellent geographical conditions as the Yangtze River Delta, has convenient water and land transportation, has a relatively developed commodity economy, and is an open region where information can be transmitted relatively quickly.

Suzhou, the city of gardens, has many cultural gardens and temples, and from 1997 to the present, nine sites, including Master of the Nets Garden, have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Suzhou has become a mysterious and attractive city where long history and new developments intertwine.

This place is originally known as “Gangnam of brocade and the land of fish and rice” because it is covered with a network of waterways, is blessed with fertile land, and is full of rich products.

Suzhou has formed friendship cities with Kanazawa and Ikeda in Japan, as well as Venice (Italy), Victoria (Canada), Portland (USA) and so on. Suzhou has a total of 58 friendship cities, including prefecture-level cities and district-level cities under our jurisdiction. (as of 2023)

■Background of the friendship city agreement

The Ikeda Japan-China Friendship Association was established in June 1979, and a visiting delegation was dispatched in October of the same year. When they visited Suzhou, they introduced the historical background of Ikeda in particular, and as they deepened mutual understanding and friendship, the friendship city alliance became a hot topic.

Afterwards, they continued to deepen their relationship through mutual visits, and in June 1981, a signing ceremony for the friendship city agreement was held, and Ikeda and Suzhou became friendship cities.

■About exchange programs

Since becoming friendship cities in 1981, we have continued various exchanges.

・Youth dispatch program

Every year, we send junior high and high school students living in the city to Suzhou. They visit schools, experience local classes, and deepen their understanding of our friend city through homestays. Also, as a representative of Ikeda, they will introduce Ikeda to people in Suzhou.

When travel was restricted due to the effects of the covid-19, we continued to carry out programs that could be implemented, such as online networking events for students.

・Dispatch/Acceptance of groups

We host visiting groups from China for anniversary events and tours of city facilities, and dispatch visiting delegations from Ikeda.

・New Year's Eve Bell Event at Kanzanji Temple

At the end of the year, our staff are dispatched to the New Year's Eve bell event held at Kanzanji Temple in Suzhou, and look around the friendship city.

We received a video introducing the school and the city from Suzhou, our friendship city.

Experience the charm of Suzhou through this video.