HANGZHOU – As the 2025 China-U.S. Sister Cities Conference commenced this week, California's Sonoma County representatives discovered unexpected common ground with their Chinese counterparts through animated storytelling and viticultural visions. Peggy Bridget Rubens, chair of the Sonoma-Penglai Sister City Committee, emerged as an unlikely ambassador for cultural fusion after a transformative visit to the China Cartoon and Animation Museum.
"The way animation preserves history while inspiring innovation – it's not so different from winemaking," Rubens told KhabarAsia, drawing parallels between the two art forms. Her committee now plans to integrate anime-themed events into Sonoma's cultural programming while establishing joint wine research initiatives with Penglai, Shandong's coastal "city of fairy tales."
The bilateral proposals come as over 300 delegates from 38 Chinese and American cities explore sustainable partnership models. Hangzhou's conference programming emphasizes cultural diplomacy through shared creative industries – a strategy resonating with business leaders seeking post-pandemic economic bridges.
Local officials note that 68% of current China-U.S. sister city collaborations now include cultural industry components, up from 42% in 2015. This shift reflects growing recognition of soft power's role in maintaining stable international relationships amid geopolitical complexities.
