Qingdao has Sister City or friendly cooperative city guanxi with a host of cities around the world. These two types of designations for city links are close enough to be considered as one big family, though some see the friendly cooperative relationship as less committed. View a list of Qingdao’s sister cities below.

The first sister city tie was in 1979 with Shimonoseki, Japan.

Qingdao’s sister and friendly co-operative city ties include places in Australia (Adeleide, Cairns), United States (Long Beach, Miami), and Russia (Perm, St Petersberg). Sister city relationships are designed to foster trade and cultural exchanges between the 2 cities involved and it seems to be working for Qingdao – check out some more info on a delegation from Qingdao visiting Long Beach, CA to invest, sign business deals, and have a look around the area.

More from Long Beach’s Gazettes.com:

The United States Employment Development Lending Center (USEDLC), along with the Long Beach Qingdao Association, will greet the visitors. “This group and future groups our company will be bringing in will focus more on these aspects of joint ventures with both cities and both countries,” said Leo Zhou, USEDLC president. “It will be more business-oriented.” USEDLC, located at One World Trade Center, has gained the credentials to work within the U.S.’s EB-5 program — which is an employment-based visa preference category. Essentially, USEDLC helps facilitate investments from Chinese entrepreneurs that link to businesses in the U.S. through Small Business Administration 504 loans and commercial loans. If the investment creates (directly or indirectly) 10 sustainable jobs, that entrepreneur could be granted a green card in three years (normal processing could take as long as 10 years). We have this particular group — all from our sister city Qingdao,” Zhou said. “Some of them have already agreed to invest, but mostly all of them are conducting this business trip to get a better understanding of our environment in Long Beach.”

List of Qingdao Sister Cities:

  • Shimonoseki, Japan
  • Long Beach, California, USA
  • Acapulco, Mexico
  • Wilhelmshaven, Germany
  • Odessa, Ukraine
  • Daegu, South Korea
  • Nes Ziyyona, Israel
  • Velsen, the Netherlands
  • Southampton, UK
  • Galway, Ireland
  • Puerto Montt, Chile
  • Paderborn, Germany
  • Perm, Russia
  • Iloilo City, Philippines
  • Montevideo, Uruguay
  • Klaipėda, Lithuania
  • Bilbao, Spain
  • Nantes, France
  • Miami, Florida, USA
  • St Petersburg, Russia
  • Makassar, Indonesia
  • North Shore City, New Zealand
  • Vila Velha, Brazil
  • Pattaya, Thailand

List of Qingdao Friendly Co-operative Cities:

  • Gothenburg, Sweden
  • Mannheim, Germany
  • Incheon, South Korea
  • San Francisco, USA
  • Chisinau, Moldova
  • Port Sudan, Sudan
  • Orlando, Florida, USA
  • Tangier, Morocco
  • Rijeka, Croatia
  • Pyeongtaek, South Korea
  • Naruto, Japan
  • Västergötland, Sweden
  • Adelaide, Australia
  • Da Nang, Vietnam
  • Nicosia, Cyprus
  • Edmonton, Canada
  • Oakland, USA
  • Los Angeles, USA
  • Skagen, Denmark
  • Brest, France
  • Kobe, Japan
  • Fukuoka, Japan
  • Busan, South Korea
  • Gunsan, South Korea
  • Cairns, Australia
  • Iloilo, Philippines
  • Veneto, Italy
  • Braunau, Austria
  • St Louis, USA
  • Vento, Italy
  • Kitakyushu, Japan
  • Houston, USA
  • Saint Petersburg, Russia
  • Rhine-Ruhr, Germany
  • Vila Velha, Brazil
  • Richmond, Canada
  • Regensburg, Germany

Relevant Links:
Long Beach and Qingdao Celebrate 25 Years as Sister Cities
Qingdao on Wikipedia (includes Sister City and Friendly Co-operative City lists)

Photo Credit @ The Australian China Development Company