September 8-10, 2016: official delegation from partner city Jining, China headed by Mr. Yin Yunling, Vice-President of the Standing Commission of Jining Municipal People's Congress visited Taganrog. Other cultural delegates from the home city of Confucius were: Mr. He Lei, Vice-Secretary General and Chief of Staff of Jining Municipal Government, Ruan Linjing, Deputy Director of the Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Jining Municipal Government, Ms. Wang Li, Curator of Jining Museum, Mr. Chen Min, Section Director of the Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Jining Municipal Government, Mr. Zhao Chen, Chief of Exhibition Department of Jining Museum.


Guests from Jining participated in the flower-laying ceremony in front of Peter the Great monument together with acting City Managers, aldermen of Taganrog City Council and honorary freemen. The same day, September 8, Chinese delegation attended the formal reception dedicated to 318 years since foundation of Taganrog, which was held in the historic building of Chekhov Drama Theater.

September 9, 2016 a meeting was held at Taganrog City Hall's city manager's office. Delegation from Jining was received by Mr. Alexey Makhov, acting Deputy City Manager for housing and public utilities, Mr. Yuri Stefanov, Chairman of Taganrog City Council, Mrs. Marianna Grigoryan, Deputy director of Taganrog Arts & Culture Council, Mrs. Yelizaveta Lipovenko, director of Taganrog Museum Reserve (group of 7 museums), Mr. Gennadi Borodin, alderman at Taganrog City Council and director of Polymerprom, Mrs. Anna Tsygankova, director of Taganrog Office of Tourism and Information.


Both sides highlighted the importance of continued mutual visits, and exchanged their views on development of mutual cooperation in such areas as trade, tourism and hi-tech. Mrs. Tsygankova, representing Taganrog's tourism industry offered to establish direct contacts between travel agencies of the two cities, bypassing Moscow-based and Beijing-based big companies.

Mr. Yin Yunling thanked city leaders for the opportunity to participate in the celebration of Taganrog City Day, including flower-laying ceremony to Peter the Great monument and a reception at the theater. Delegation members were deeply impressed by visiting memorial Chekhov sites and attending a well-organized concert. Guests from Jining invited city leaders and residents of the city to visit the Confucius Cultural Photo Exhibition to be unveiled to public on September 10 at Chekhov Gymnasium museum. Speaking of cooperation in tourism, Chinese side pointed out that the city of Jining didn't limit to Confucius and Mencius, but also offered highly developed economy and industry, modern transportation infrastructure with airport, high-speed trains and unique natural resources, including Wenshan Lake and Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Its population reached 8.5 million.


Director of Jining Museum officially invited a municipal delegation from Taganrog to reciprocate with a return visit sometime in spring 2017. "We invite you to visit Jining with a Chekhov exhibition by Taganrog Literary Museum. May 18, which is the international museum day, would be the best date to open the Russian exhibit", told Ms. Wang Li. At the end of the meeting deputy city manager Makhov and Mr. Yin Yunling exchanged souvenirs.

Next day, September 10, the official delegation from Jining participated in the opening of the Confucius Cultural Photo Exhibition at "Chekhov Gymnasium".



During the tour of the city, Chinese guests visited the Chekhov Birth House, Taganrog Museum of Art, Taganrog Literary Museum and other historical landmarks.