Suzhou Calligraphy Exhibition 2013

United States Exhibition of Wu School Calligraphy

On the occasion of the 25^th anniversary of the two cities, in order to further promote the cultural exchanges and increase the friendship between Chinese and US people, calligraphers from Suzhou visited Portland with sincerity to display 30 newly created pieces.  Suzhou hereby wishes the friendship between US and China everlasting. Suzhou is a noted historical and cultural city in China and the calligraphy in Suzhou is richly endowed by nature. “Wu School Calligraphy” in Ming Dynasty enjoys high reputation at home and abroad and forms the flourishing scene of “all the calligraphy schools in China regard Suzhou as forefather”.

      

Now Suzhou Calligraphy school has inherited the good traditions, carried forward the urban spirits of “cherishing literacy and wisdom, being open-minded and tolerant, seeking for excellence creation and accomplishing everlasting harmony” to dive into the innovation of calligraphy.  The calligraphy creation keeps harmonious development with the academic and educational activities. In December, 2007, Suzhou was honorably selected as the first “Noted Calligraphy City” in China, which unveils the new historical chapter of Wu School calligraphy.

Portland and Suzhou signed the sister-city agreement in June 1988 and for the past 25 years, both cities have achieved outstanding achievements in culture, education, garden and economic cooperation and exchanges.

August 2013

Model Sister Award 2012

Portland-Suzhou Sister City Association (PSSCA), at the invitation of the Suzhou Foreign Affairs Office, participated in the 2012 China International Friendship Cities Conference in Chengdu, China on September 11 to 14, 2012. Robert Fraser, President of PSSCA was invited to accept the ”Certificate of Honor” awarded to Portland for being a Model Sister City for “Communication and Cooperation with China”. The two-day conference with the theme, “Green Life, Happy Cities” was one of China's highest-level sister city exchanges, attracting delegations from 49 countries. More than 700 representatives from 95 foreign cities and 90 domestic cities attended the conference.

Delegates discussed their understanding on hot issues concerning cosmopolitan development, city transformation, emergencies and disaster relief, the aging of urban populations and investment. Robert Fraser made a presentation entitled “The benefits of developing and managing an urban growth boundary in Portland”, with emphasis on Portland’s plan for sustainable growth.

Delegates attended a seminar on city development as well as a forum on regional cooperation. Also discussed was a tourism alliance with its twin cities to try to reach a final agreement on the Chengdu Declaration that promotes tourism cooperation among the sister cities.

Established in 2008 and co-sponsored by Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the China International Friendship Cities Association, the CIFCC provides a multilateral venue for local governments, their sister cities, and other international organizations to work together.

Suzhou Traditional Painting Exhibition 2012

PORTLAND,OREGON May 2013-  The Portland-Suzhou Sister City Association (PSSCA) in cooperation with the  Suzhou Academy of Traditional Chinese Painting, the Suzhou Foreign Affairs Office and the Portland Center for the Performing Arts provided for a wonderful exhibition of 58  ink-and-wash paintings by 17 renowned artists from Suzhou at the Portland Center for the  Performing Arts June 4 through Saturday June 9, 2012.  The exhibition was open to the public..

Mr. Jumin Zhou, President of Suzhou Academy of Traditional Chinese Painting  shared with us the following thoughts on this exquisite exhibit. “Dating back to the age of 1460, four distinguished Suzhou artists named Shen Zhou, Weng Zhengming, Tang Yin and Qiu Ying enjoyed a reputation as the greatest masters of Chinese ink-and-wash painting. They portrayed landscape, animals, plants and people, expressing their grand ideology in a way of combining images with poetic literature. These masterpieces, the inspiration of city Suzhou, are valued as the highest level of wash painting in the Ming Dynasty as well as the immortal symbol overtime.

550 years later, their successors created a group of excellent programs and works in which discuss modern aesthetics at an extension of classic antiquity. These works are introduced as the fruits of new Suzhou style: inheriting from the Ming but in advance of traditional contents and old methods.

The seventeen artists on exhibition range from young artits of 30 to 85-year-old senior. Their ways of emphasizing emotion and philosophy give primacy to the individuality of different artists and their ideal states, which differs from the Western aesthetic value of depicting subjects with the act of seeing as its primary factor. As one of the best pathways to contact the world, painting is in every aspect to make the world of different cultures more communicative, more comprehensive, more respective and more intimate. This exhibition shared our appreciation of aesthetic value and being the connection between the east and west - this is the ultimate purpose why this exhibition came to Portland.

PSSCA wishes to express it appreciation to the Portland Center for the Performing Arts and the Mark Spencer Hotel for co-sponsoring this wonderful art exhibition from Suzhou China.