The 4th station of Germany's biggest event series abroad, "Germany and China - Moving Ahead Together", was held from 21 May to 20 June 2009 in the northeast Chinese city of Shenyang. Conferences, performances, exhibitions and a "German-Chinese Promenade" gave politicians, businesses and the local population valuable inspiration for sustainable urban development in Northeast China.

Shenyang, a city of 7 million people, is the capital of Liaoning Province. As a centre for heavy industry with rich iron ore and coal deposits, Liaoning is described as the "rust belt" or "China's Ruhr Region". The current efforts of the province are aimed at evolving into a modern economic region through a structural transformation.

Structural change comes with economic, social and cultural upheavals and represents enormous challenges for the region. How can we prevent mass unemployment as entire branches of industries collapse? What do cities and provinces have to offer their citizens so they can continue to identify with their changing environment? Should defunct factories and industrial plants be demolished or can they be usefully converted and reused instead?

As part of the series of events, Germany offers China solutions for jointly developing and implementing the challenges of sustainable urbanization. Shenyang already relies on German know-how, taking lessons from the experience of structural change in Germany’s Ruhr region, for example. The three-year "Germany and China - Moving Ahead Together" event series with a focus on "Sustainable Urbanization" is designed as a platform to provide inspiration and impetus. The "German-Chinese Promenade" presents a varied programme for this purpose. The approach is interdisciplinary: in addition to German federal ministries, federal states and cities, partners from industry and urban development, culture, education and science are also involved.

"Germany and China - Moving Ahead Together" is the biggest German event series ever held abroad. It began with the official opening in the presence of Chancellor Angela Merkel in Beijing in 2007. The event series will culminate in EXPO 2010 in Shanghai, where "Germany and China - Moving Ahead Together" will have its own presentation.

Federal President Horst Köhler and Chinese President Hu Jintao are joint patrons of the event series. It is under the lead management of the Federal Foreign Office, in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut, the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA) and the initiative “Germany – Land of Ideas”, along with “Official Partners” Allianz, BASF, Daimler, Deutsche Bank, DHL and Siemens. In addition, numerous other companies and institutions are involved. On the Chinese side, provincial and city governments are the partners of "Germany and China - Moving Ahead Together".

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