Cultural links

Sheffield is another English city seeking a closer relationship with Chinese counterparts. Sheffield has had a twinning arrangement with Anshan, in northeast China's Liaoning province, since 1983, but in 2010 it signed a second friendship sister-city agreement with Chengdu, capital of the southwestern province of Sichuan.

"The Chengdu link came out of a piece of work we did in Sheffield a few years ago where we decided we could gain most economic advantage out of a more international approach," says Edward Highfield, director of Creative Sheffield, an organization that promotes the economic development.

"That put China toward the top of our list. Then we looked at more opportunistic things that would set Sheffield apart. At the time, there was a strong link emerging between Sheffield United football club and Chengdu Blades football club. When we put the analysis together with the practical concerns, Chengdu was our first pick for a Chinese sister city. Luckily they were very receptive as they were actively looking for a UK sister city."

Official sister or twinning agreements tend to follow on from periods of increased engagement between two cities. As well as the burgeoning link between football clubs in Sheffield and Chengdu, economic ties between the cities have also progressed. Highfield gives the example of one European IT company, headquartered in Sheffield, which has just opened its first China office in Chengdu.

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Chengdu prefers cities that have complementary industries, and also those from which it can learn. Sheffield, renowned as a "green" city, became the first in the UK to establish a sister city relationship with Chengdu.

In 2011, the two cities agreed to have the "Town of Sheffield" built in Chengdu, focusing cooperation on sustainable development, low-carbon technology and the concept of building a garden city.

Sister city links are convenient and efficient ways for the inland city to become international, says Ge Honglin, the mayor of Chengdu.

The cultural element is important too. Artefacts from Sheffield's museums have been exhibited in Chengdu. In return, Chengdu has sent performing artists to Sheffield.

"We were explicit about our economic focus but it is reinforced and supported by more civic and cultural links," says Highfield. "A lot of companies in Sheffield trading in Europe simply don't need the sort of civic support that they need if they are trying to get into a Chinese market.

"To be able to ever so slightly differentiate a Sheffield company in Chengdu is a huge help. There's no doubt about it, there's an enormous amount of affection and good will for Sheffield in Chengdu. For a company to be able to take advantage of that can really help."

Nick Clarke of the University of Southampton, who has conducted research into British town twinning in conjunction with the Nuffield Foundation, says that British localities are likely to continue to seek partnerships in the world's fast-growing economies, such as China.

And he notes that despite a recent spate of UK-China friendship agreements, many British cities have been linked to Chinese counterparts since the 1980s. Cardiff's 1983 twinning agreement with Xiamen in East China was the first such arrangement between the two countries.

"China opened up to the outside world and was clearly becoming a major economic player," says Clarke. "British towns and cities were struggling to reinvent themselves in a globalizing economy. Town twinning became increasingly led not by British local authorities, suffering reduced budgets, but by local groups of various kinds, including business associations."