Yangzhou, Jiangsu (China), Kitakyushu, Fukuoka (Japan), and Suncheon City, South Jeolla Province (Korea) are all sustainable cities possessing close ties with nature. angzhou is a garden city with a Slender West Lake Scenic Area, a place designated as the national model cultural tourism district, while Kitakyushu was selected as the model city for rban green growth by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2011, with its success in overcoming pollution caused by rapid development as an industrial city. As for Suncheon, it is one of the first cities to be accredited as the Ramsar Wetland City, with its Suncheon Bay Wetland.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Suncheon and Kitakyushu decided to postpone the CCEA to be held in 2021. On the other hand, Yangzhou has been hosting a separate exchange program with Karatsu, Saga (Japan) and Yeosu, South Jeolla (Korea), called CJK Sister/Friendship Cities Go Exchange Tournament since 1999. Kitakyushu has also been running the East Asia Friendship Museum Exchange Program with Dalian, Liaoning (China) and Incheon (Korea) since 2010.
- Representatives of CCEA Being Awarded Plaques
by CJK Culture Ministers at the Selection Ceremony for 2020 CCEA
(Left to right, Mayor of Kitakyushu City, Mayor of Suncheon City,
and Deputy Mayor of Yangzhou City, Source: TCS)
- April - October 2021: Yangzhou International Horticultural Exposition 2021 Participated by Suncheon
- The Yangzhou International Horticultural Exposition 2021 took place from April to October of 2021 in Yangzhou. At the expo, Yangzhou designed and constructed a Suncheon Garden based on Suncheon’s natural scenery utilizing characteristic materials provided by Suncheon. The Suncheon Garden incorporates the healing effects characteristic of the Suncheon Bay wetlands, using traditional materials and style of a traditional Korean home.
- View of ‘Suncheon Garden’ in Yangzhou International Horticultural Exposition 2021
by CJK Culture Ministers at the Selection Ceremony for 2020 CCEA
(Source: Yangzhou City)