“International Breakfast”
by Jian Ping
Chicago Sister Cities International (CSCI) hosted its third annual “International Breakfast” yesterday at the Cultural Center. All attendees were members of CSCI or the Chicago Consular Corps (CCC), including representatives of all General Consulates located in Chicago. The large Yates Gallery on the 4th floor of the
Me with Mayor Daley
Cultural Center was completely full. Samuel Scott, Chairman of CSCI made the introduction and Patricia Maza-Pittsford, Dean, CCC and Consul General of El Salvador, gave a keynote address.
The highlight of the event, however, was Mayor Richard Daley’s welcome remarks. Since this was his last speech to this assembly as Chicago Mayor, the audience gave him a standing ovation as he walked to the podium and another standing ovation when he finished speaking. Mayor Daley played a key role in developing CSCI. In 1960, Mayor Richard J. Daley, his father, signed the first Sister Cities agreement with Warsaw, Poland. Since then, Chicago has established relationships with 28 cities all over the world, including Shenyang and Shanghai, Paris, Athens, Moscow and Delhi. Among them, the agreements with more than 20 cities were signed by the current Mayor who had recently announced he would not run for re-election this month.
The 3rd Annual Int'l Breakfast, CSCI
CSCI has many committees working on issues related to education, business, healthcare, and cultural exchange programs. I’ve been a member of the China Committee for about ten years and enjoyed working on business and cultural exchange programs. I was thrilled to hear Mayor Daley announced that Chicago would be “the most China-friendly city” during the recent visit of President Hu Jintao to Chicago. Having experienced many political movements during my growing up years in China, I had never been a fan to politicians or government officials. But yesterday, feeling nostalgic even before Mayor Daley steps down, I stood by his side and took a photo with him!
Hope CSCI will continue to flourish.
Jian Ping, author of Mulberry Child: A Memoir of China. For more information, visit www.mulberrychild.com, www.moraquest.com. Mulberry Child is being developed into a feature-length documentary film by director Susan Morgan Cooper and will be released in 2011.
Tags: Chicago, China Committee, Cultural Center, Hu Jintao, Mayor, Richard J. Daley, Richard M. Daley, Samuel Scott, Shanghai, Shenyang, Sister Cities International
