10 August 2007: China Visit
An official delegation from Bury has just returned from Datong in China after a very successful visit. Bury entered into a Friendship City Agreement with Datong in Shanxi province in August 2003. Since then the links between the two local governments and other organisations in the towns have flourished.
This trip had a much broader focus than previous ones with delegates from education , public health, sport and local business. Councillor Bob Bibby, the Leader of Bury Council, and the Chief Executive, Mark Sanders, led the delegation.
The Bury delegation was greeted at a morning reception hosted by Mr Ji Mingde, Deputy Mayor who visited Bury in June. He summarised the successes achieved to date and was enthusiastic about the agenda for the visit . Mr Ji also reported that the Bury Datong agreement had been declared as the most productive by the Consul General in Manchester.
The sports delegation were finalising arrangements for the 2008 International Youth Sports Festival in Datong which will take place at the same time as the Olympics Games in Beijing about 200 miles away. Already around 150 people are signed up to make the trip and this could grow to 200. Delegates looked at the sports venues, accommodation and meals arrangements at Datong University and spent a long time detailing the rules and formats of competitions to make sure that every young person making the trip next year will have the best possible time.
One particular sport was the focus of the delegate from Bury Martial Arts Association, he wants to run training camps with martial arts experts in Datong for students of the sport from Bury and other parts of the UK. The group watched an exhibition of Martial Arts by some of the world champions and gold medal winners that train in Datong.
Young people were at the heart of negotiations for four delegates representing Bury College, Bury Education Service and All Saints Language College in Rawtenstall. The college discussed arrangements for student and teacher exchanges, teacher training programmes and provision for Chinese students to join full time programmes of study at Bury College. Three two-hour demonstration lessons were delivered to 120 English teachers from schools in Datong City to introduce different ways of English Language teaching.
With Chinese likely to be introduced as a foreign language into the school curriculum, the exchange of teaching staff between Bury schools and Datong No. 3 Middle School to further develop their English and Chinese language skills was an interesting prospect, but a lot of work remains to be done to develop this theme. A visit by Bury Head teachers and Bury College Principal to Datong to further discuss specific projects and links is the next step.
All Saints Language College in Rawtenstall already has close ties to Datong No 3 Middle School (Chinese Middle Schools are roughly equivalent to English High Schools). The school ran a successful China Week towards the end of last term with the help of a teacher from Datong who will return for the whole of next school year to teach Chinese language and culture.
The newest area for links to China was public health and an exciting project with Bury doctors and nurses learning acupuncture and their equivalents in China learning how we run our stop smoking campaigns is being worked on. Chinese traditional medicine sits alongside new western techniques and drugs in China and the Director of Public Health in Bury is keen to see some proper scientific trials conducted in collaboration with Datong University conducted on the effectiveness of these treatments. The delegation also looked at differences in the treatment of stroke victims in Datong and Bury.
Rosemount Developments representative had meetings with a number of businesses in Datong and expects to develop import and export opportunities as well as exploring the openings for developing in China.
At the end of a busy two full days of intensive meetings and negotiations the delegation signed a total of 11 memoranda of understanding and letters of intent. Councillor Bibby signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mayor Feng Lixiang setting out an agenda for future co-operation.
After his first visit to China, Councillor Bibby said that he had been most impressed by the exciting changes being worked in Datong especially modernisation of an old industrial city and creation of a new city on the outskirts to avoid damaging the historic core. Regeneration and attracting new modern employment to replace older industry is as important in Datong as it is in Bury. Eduvcation is playing a key role in this modernisation. Both Bury and Datong have much to learn from each other and we can look forward to a long lasting and fruitful relationship.
Datong sits on huge reserves of coal and China is increasing its generating capacity by more than the whole UK grid every year. This growth is making Datong a rich city. Bury wants to be in the best position possible when Datong business starts to look at the UK for investment opportunities.
