Nanjing

Status:

Sister City

Population:

9.4m

Location:

Jiangsu province, China

Industry:

IT, Iron & Steel, Petrochemicals, Power Generation & Education

Background:

Birmingham and Nanjing became partner cities in 2006.
About Nanjing
- In 2017, after 10 years of partnership, the first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed.
- Since then, the cities have exchanged and cooperated in the fields of education, sport, music, culture.
- Key industries in Nanjing include Information Technology, Petrochemicals, iron and steel production, power generation and education; indeed, Nanjing has 41 higher education institutions with over 600,000 students.
  - This gives Nanjing a reputation as a centre of excellence for education and academic research. It also has a well-known automotive industry which is still a key pillar of their economy.

latest activity and Current Projects:

Latest updates:

A group of music students from Nanjing took part in the UK–China Sister Cities Cultural Exchange Programme in July 2025. Learn all about it here: Birmingham hosts inaugural UK–China Sister Cities Cultural Exchange Programme – Distinctly Birmingham

Key initiatives:

Education and research cooperation between Nanjing and Birmingham universities. This comprises exchanges in the fields of:

Life sciences
New energy/transportation
Rail transport
Creative and Innovation Industry
Sci-tech Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Music and culture

Di Xiao, the celebrated Chinese pianist who teaches at the Birmingham Conservatoire, is the Birmingham Cultural Relations Ambassador with Chinese partner cities.
Di Xiao organises an annual Birmingham International Music Academy for music students from China.

Young Women Into Leadership (You WIL) Summit – You WIL is BCC initiative and an empowering programme for the future generations of young women, aspiring to be the leaders of tomorrow.

Nanjing

Background:

latest activity and Current Projects:

Newsletter