St. Louis-Nanjing: flourished with flora

The monumental reference work Flora of China, published by Missouri Botanical Garden Press in St. Louis and Science Press in Beijing, consists of 25 volumes of text and 24 volumes of illustrations documenting 31,362 species of China’s wild plants.

Beginning in 1988, this project lasted 25 years and involved multiple institutes in the US, China and Europe.

It also came about in part thanks to the St. Louis-Nanjing sister-cities relationship. Both the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis and Jiangsu Institute of Botany in Nanjing were involved in the project as two of the four important botanical gardens for the project, according to Joel Glassman, a retired professor from the University of Missouri in St. Louis (UMSL), who was also academic director of international studies and programs at the university.

Glassman has been involved in the St. Louis-Nanjing Sister-Cities Committee since the beginning and served as committee president for almost 20 years.

In 1979, St. Louis became the first US city to form a sister-cities relationship with a Chinese city after China and the US officially established diplomatic ties.

“St. Louis’ mayor at the time, James Conway, had the vision of the importance of sister-cities ties in general. He had a clear vision of the future. China has more than lived up to that role of being a very important global player,” said Glassman.

Mayor Conway led a small delegation to Nanjing in November 1979 to sign the sister-cities agreement.

“We were very lucky to be the first to establish the first sister-cities relationship with such an important city as Nanjing. It has given us many opportunities. We have gotten a lot of benefits from partnering up with such an important city,” Glassman said.

Glassman himself had visited China as early as 1978 as a member of an engineering education delegation from the US.

“That was our first contact with China,” he recalled. “In six weeks we visited many cities, including Nanjing. One thing that was clear — and disturbing — was how far behind China was in engineering education compared to the rest of the world. Today you would be impressed with the progress. China has caught up with the world.”

Glassman, an expert on US relations with eastern Asia, was teaching Chinese and Japanese politics at the time. He also got deeply involved in the sister-cities program.

“I am interested in not only educating college-level students about China, I am also interested in educating the St. Louis community about China. China was pretty much a mystery to most Americans in 1978. Over the 40 years since, we have contributed to a better public understanding of what’s happened and what’s happening in China,” Glassman said of the sistercities partnership.

Through the committee for educational exchanges, Glassman made great efforts to develop collaborations between UMSL and Nanjing University.

“We have student exchanges, faculty exchanges, collaborative research projects, jointly sponsored conferences,” he said.

In addition, Nanjing University and UMSL has had a joint MBA program for about 15 years now.

“The students study one year in Nanjing University and another year at UMSL, then do an internship in the US to get an MBA degree from both universities. It requires a lot of work on both sides and has been very successful,” Glassman said.

Educational exchanges also extend to secondary education. Multiple high schools from both cities have become friendship schools. Students visit each other and stay at each other’s homes to get to know them better. Since 1999, St. Louis has sent scores of teachers to Nanjing every year for educational exchanges.

In 1994, St. Louis gave a complete playground to the children of Nanjing and Nanjing built a classic Chinese garden in the Missouri Botanical Garden for the people of St. Louis to enjoy.

Every five years of the relationship, both cities hold various cultural events such as art exhibitions and performances to celebrate the special bond.

The most notable example in business was when Emerson Electric Co of St. Louis first invested $900 million to set up an R&D center in Nanjing and then established a procurement center there.

In April, Nanjing gave a bronze chair sculpture to St. Louis and sent a delegation of more than 50 people to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the sister-cities bond. Cultural events such as lantern and Chinese cuisine festivals were staged in St. Louis. In addition, St. Louis Zoo and Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo signed a cooperation agreement.

A photo exhibit titled 40th Year Anniversary: Nanjing-St. Louis Sister City: Retrospective at the International Photography Hall of Fame and Museum took stock of the sister-cities relationship. It also depicted the changing landscape and emergence of modern Nanjing.

In June, Glassman presented a lecture at the photo exhibit and shared his insights into Nanjing and China.

In return, Glassman said St. Louis is currently planning a visit to Nanjing led by Mayor Lyda Krewson in the fall. Students from UMSL will preform at Nanjing’s Jazz Festival in October.

Staying engaged over all the years has been the key to such a vibrant relationship, said Glassman.

“Every St. Louis mayor since Conway has visited China,” he said. “We’ve stayed on friendly terms throughout the good times and the bad times. In 1989, some US cities canceled the sister-cities relationships with China. I fought very hard against that. You can disagree with what your sister has done, but the relationship is for life,” he said.