May 2021 City of the Month: Denver, CO
2021年5月的城市分享：科罗拉多州丹佛市
丹佛与昆明缔结的姐妹城市的关系
The Denver-Kunming Sister-City Relationship
自1986年以来，丹佛与昆明缔结为正式的姐妹城市已经有34年。这34年的历史主要可以分为三个部分，建立关系（1999年之前）；关系的中期（2000-2005年）；以及关系的近代（2006年至今）。
Denver and Kunming have been official sister cities for thirty-four years, since 1986. The thirty-four years of history can be separated into three parts, the establishment of the relationship (before to 1999), middle-age of the relationship (2000-2005), and recent age of the relationship (2006-today).
在成为姐妹城市之前
Before They Were Sister-city
1984年，在国际友好城市组织的年会上，丹佛首次表现出对与昆明建立友好城市关系的兴趣。同年晚些时候，昆明市所在的云南省政府以及昆明市政府同意与丹佛建立友好城市关系。在1985年这一整年中，这两个城市不断地派人互相来访，以加强了解彼此的社会和文化。易岳汉先生当时积极的参与了昆明和丹佛的姐妹关系建立，并以他强大的中美背景帮助两市更好地交流沟通。 这项工作的结果是，中华人民共和国外交部（MFA）在1985年年末同意将这一关系推进为姐妹城市协议。
In 1984, Denver first showed interest in building up a relationship with Kunming during the annual meeting of the Sister-Cities International organization. Later that year, the government of Yunnan Province, where Kunming is located, and the government of Kunming City agreed to form a Friendship City relationship with Denver. Throughout 1985, the two cities consistently sent groups to visit each other in order to gain knowledge about their respective societies and cultures. Mr. John H Yee (易岳汉）was heavily involved in establishing the relationship at the time, and helped the two cities communicate better with his strong Chinese and American background. This work resulted in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) agreeing by the end of that year to advance the relationship to a Sister City agreement.
关系的早期阶段(1986-1999年)
Early Stage of the Relationship (1986-1999)
1986年初，丹佛市市长Federico Peña邀请昆明市市长到丹佛市正式建立新的丹佛与昆明姐妹城市关系。同年的5月，姐妹城市协议正式签署并生效。同一年，位于丹佛的国际姐妹城市组织成立了昆明委员会，以保持和维护两个城市之间的关系。从那时起，两个城市之间组织了多次旅行以实现交流的目的，包括商业、教育和旅游。
At the beginning of 1986, the Mayor of Denver, Federico Peña, invited the Mayor of Kunming to Denver to formalize the new Denver-Kunming Sister City relationship. The Sister City agreement was officially signed and formalized in May of the same year. The same year, The Kunming Committee was created by the Sister City International in Denver to keep up and maintain the relationship between two cities. Since then, the two cities have organized multiple trips for various exchange purposes including businesses, education, and tourism.
在姐妹城市中历史最悠久的项目是丹佛和昆明的学生交流项目，它成立于1995年。首次交流项目是在丹佛的樱桃溪中学和昆明的外国语中学这两所学校之间进行的，在项目进行的前一年丹佛的官方代表团就曾访问过昆明的外国语中学。
One of the longest standing programs is the Denver-Kunming student exchange program, established in 1995. The first exchange was between Cherry Creek High School and Kunming Foreign Language High School, which had been visited by an official Denver delegation in a previous year.
两年后，昆明公园在丹佛市建成。昆明市从他们著名的石林中为该公园送来了富含自然之美的石头。这些石头是世界上最有特色的石头之一，在视觉上以艺术的方式标志着中国的景观，经常在传统和现代艺术形式中被复制，特别是在绘画中。昆明市的官方代表团也应邀参加了丹佛市昆明公园举行的开园仪式。
Two years later, the City of Kunming Park was built in Denver. Kunming sent stones from their famous Stone Forest for the park. These stones are among some of the most distinctive in the world, visually marking the Chinese landscape in artistic fashion, often replicated in both traditional and modern art forms, particularly in painting. The official Kunming delegation was invited to attend the ceremony and installation in Kunming Park.
关系的中间阶段(2000-2005年)
Middle Stage of the Relationship (2000-2005)
在2000年，作为对昆明市赠与石林石头的回礼，丹佛将红岩的石头赠给昆明。 这些石头对丹佛的落基山东坡来说同样具有独特的意义，就像石林对云南的意义一样，这两份礼物都在其物理性质上反映了一种长期的承诺。一年后，为了纪念两个城市之间15年姐妹城市关系，昆明决定赠送丹佛市另一份礼物，中国艺术家袁晓岑的铜质孔雀雕塑——“福泽将停留在这”。
In the year 2000, as a reciprocal gift for the stones from Stone Forest sent by Kunming, Denver gifted rocks from Red Rocks to Kunming. These rocks are likewise as distinctive to the Eastern Slope of the Rocky Mountains as the Stone Forest is to Yunnan; both gifts reflect in their physical nature a long-lasting commitment. A year later, to honor the 15 years of the relationship between two cities, Kunming decided to gift Denver a Bronze Peacock Sculpture — “Good Fortune is Here to Stay” by the artist Yuan Xiaocen (袁晓岑).
在2002年，丹佛市派市长及助理一行四人来到昆明，讨论在昆明建设丹佛公园的计划。根据昆明信息港的说法，这个过程非常的顺利，双方都对这个想法抱有信心。但是，没有关于昆明丹佛公园的其他信息，或者这个项目突然停止的原因。
In the year of 2002, Denver sent the Assistant to the Mayor with a group of four people to Kunming to discuss building a Denver park in Kunming. According to Kunming Information Port, the process went smoothly and both parties felt confident about the idea; however, there is no additional information about the Denver park in Kunming or the reason why this project stopped suddenly.
同年晚些时候，国际姐妹城市组织的昆明市委员会帮助昆明外国语学校和丹佛西区高中进行了第二次的学校交流项目。昆明外国语学校是中国仅有的七所被选为参加美国国务院 “美中发现青年倡议”的学校之一。
Later that year, the Kunming Committee of Sister-City International helped the second wave of exchange students between Kunming Foreign Language School and Denver’s West High School. Kunming Foreign Language School was one of only seven schools in the PRC chosen to participate in the US State Department “US-China Discovery Youth initiative.”
关系的当前阶段（2006年–现在）
Current Stage of the Relationship (2006-Now)
丹佛和昆明在最近的一段关系中所取得的成就表明，他们的合作已经延伸到它们城市的多个方面。2006年，丹佛邀请昆明市少年儿童艺术团到丹佛访问并演出。伴随着这次访问，在后来的几年里，他们还访问了更多的城市。
The achievements accomplished by Denver and Kunming during the latest period of their relationship demonstrates that their cooperation extends into multiple aspects of their cities. In 2006, Denver invited Kunming Youth and Children’s Art Ensemble to visit and perform in Denver. Along with this visit came multiple visits from each city in later years.
在2011年，丹佛和昆明庆祝了他们姐妹城市关系的25周年。同年，丹佛和昆明的贸易会谈由昆明委员会组织，昆明和丹佛的企业代表参加了这场会议。该会议的成立目的是为了帮助昆明和丹佛的企业讨论他们的想法，帮助他们之间建立联系，并最终促进成为伙伴关系。
In 2011, Denver and Kunming celebrated the 25th Anniversary of their Sister City relationship. That same year, the Denver-Kunming Trade Talks conference was organized by the Kunming Committee, with Kunming and Denver business representatives attending. The Conference was founded to help businesses in Kunming and Denver discuss their ideas, help create connections between them, and eventually promote partnerships.
第二年，丹佛邀请昆明市在内罗毕共同制定一个中非倡议（SAI）赠款提案。根据中非倡议网站，“资助的目的是研究和确定可行的城市扶贫计划和企业社会责任项目的最佳做法，通过姐妹城市的活动利用中国、非洲和美国的人民、企业和地方政府”（中非倡议中常见的问题）。这是一个由比尔和梅林达盖茨基金会资助的为期两年的项目，成功地为内罗毕的公立学校提供清洁饮用水。两年后，这个SAI项目为丹佛和昆明赢得了国际友好城市颁发的最具创新奖。由于SAI项目的成功，第二个国际姐妹城市资助项目得到了资金，致力于改善非洲社区的卫生和垃圾收集。
In the next year, Denver asked Kunming to work together in Nairobi to develop a Sino-African Initiative (SAI) Grant proposal. According to the Sino-Afrrican Initiative website, “The purpose of the grant is to research and determine feasible urban poverty alleviation and corporate social responsibility projects and best practices that utilize people, businesses, and local governments from China, Africa, and the United States through sister cities activities” (Sino-African Initiative FAQs). It was a two-year program funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and successfully provided clean drinking water to public schools in Nairobi. Two years later, this SAI project won the Most Innovative Award from Sister Cities International for both Denver and Kunming. Due to the success of the SAI project, a second Sister Cities International grant program was funded to work on improving sanitation and waste collection in African communities.
同样在2012年，昆明委员会为大都会州立大学与云南广播电视大学的交流项目提供了物资。 昆明委员会在前一年帮助两所大学成为了姐妹学校。这是两个城市之间建立的第一个姐妹大学关系。
Also in the year of 2012, the Kunming committee provided supplies to Metropolitan State University for their exchange program with Yunan Television and Radio University. The Kunming Committee had helped two universities become sister-schools in the previous year. This is the first University relationship between two cities.
昆明和丹佛还在体育领域进行了互动。在2015年，昆明体育代表团在丹佛会见了国际友好城市昆明委员会和市政府官员。应昆明市的邀请，昆明市委员会派出选手代表丹佛市参加了著名的昆明半程马拉松比赛。
Kunming and Denver also interacted with each other in the sports field. The Kunming Sports Delegation met with Kunming Committee of Sister Cities International and City officials in Denver in 2015. The Kunming Committee sent runners representing Denver to run in the famous Kunming Half-Marathon in response to the invitation from the City of Kunming.
由于Covid-19的原因，近几年的活动比以前少了很多。但是，两个城市仍然设法保持交换学生的关系，并计划在未来开展更多的活动。
Due to the Covid-19, there are less activities than before in recent years. But however, they manage to maintain the relationship of exchanging students, and plan on more future events.
结语
Conclusion
丹佛市和昆明市的姐妹城市关系所展示的历史和实际成果表明，位于不同大陆和来自不同文化的城市如何实现前所未有的合作，例如他们在内罗毕的合作，以帮助改善世界的环境和人类的生活条件，彼此的公园改善，以及两城市之间的学生交流项目。丹佛和昆明关系的成功激励着更多城市成为姐妹城市，并相信次国家组织有能力对整个人类社会产生良性影响。
The history and practical outcomes of the Denver and Kunming relationship demonstrate how cities located on different continents and from different cultures can achieve unprecedented cooperation, such as their collaboration in Nairobi to help the environment of the world and living conditions for human beings, their park improvements, and the student exchange programs. The success of Denver and Kunming relationship is an inspiration driving more cities to become sister cities, and to believe in the ability of sub-national organizations to make impacts on the entire human society.
by Duan Ye
