Birmingham hosted its biggest China-UK Cultural Exchange Programme yet this August, welcoming over 200 young performers from China, Vietnam and the UK for a week of concerts, civic exchange and cultural celebration.
More than 200 young musicians, educators and cultural leaders from China, Vietnam and the UK spent a week in Birmingham and beyond this August, as the programme marked 20 years of the city’s sister-city partnership with Guangzhou.
The 2026 China-UK Cultural Exchange Programme ran from 2 to 9 August, delivered in collaboration with Birmingham City Council and BCU Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. It was the second edition of a programme that started in Birmingham last year with around 150 participants, this time it grew to over 200, with delegations from China and, for the first time, Vietnam joining schools and orchestras from across the UK.
A milestone year
2026 marks two decades since Birmingham and Guangzhou formalised their sister-city relationship, and that anniversary shaped much of the week. Delegations included the Xi’an No.1 Railway High School Symphony Orchestra, the Guangzhou Panyu Xinghai Children’s Choir, the Liwan Youth Arts Delegation and a Nanjing educators’ delegation, alongside Vietnam’s Youth Ambassadors and UK representation from Hallfield School and King Edward’s School, Birmingham.
Six days, six cities
The programme opened at Birmingham Council House with a civic reception hosted by the Lord Mayor, Councillor Zaker Choudhry. The opening ceremony brought together children’s choir performances, Cantonese Opera, a string quartet, brass ensemble, traditional dance and a Vietnamese performance celebrating national identity, six very different traditions sharing one afternoon. From there, the programme moved to St Laurence’s Church in Ludlow for a cultural concert. Hallfield School and King Edward’s School hosted an Asia-UK Friendship Day at The Ruddock Performing Arts Centre, bringing school communities together across languages and disciplines. The week’s centrepiece came at Bradshaw Hall, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, where a Celebration Gala featured the world premiere of a youth chorus version of the Yellow River Cantata, alongside an awards ceremony recognising participants’ contributions. The programme then travelled to St Martin-in-the-Fields in London for a lunchtime concert, before closing with an academic exchange visit to Cambridge.
Why it matters here
For Birmingham, hosting a programme of this scale does more than fill concert halls for a week. It reinforces two decades of civic relationships with Nanjing and Guangzhou at a moment when those ties are being actively renewed, and it gives Birmingham’s own schools (several now part of the newly formed Asia-UK Schools Alliance) a direct stake in a growing international network rather than a one-off cultural visit.
“It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the 2026 China-UK Cultural Exchange Programme and to Birmingham, a city proud of its diversity, international partnerships and commitment to cultural understanding,” said Councillor Zaker Choudhry, Lord Mayor of Birmingham. “This year is particularly special as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Sister City partnership between Birmingham and Guangzhou.”
“Birmingham has a remarkable ability to bring people and cultures together,” said Di Xiao, the programme’s founder and Artistic Director. “Through this programme, we are creating opportunities for young people from the UK and Asia not only to perform and learn together, but to build friendships and connections that we hope will last for many years to come.”
The programme also paid tribute to Maestro Bian Zushan, who took part in the very first exchange and returned this year, aged ninety, to receive a Lifetime Award for his contribution to China-UK cultural exchange.
What’s next
Organisers have set out ambitions to keep growing the programme year on year, with plans already taking shape for an education leaders’ network in 2027 and a wider Asia-UK cultural ecosystem by the end of the decade. For Birmingham, a city that has spent twenty years building relationships with Nanjing and Guangzhou, this year’s programme suggests those foundations are being built on rather than simply marked.
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