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Book specifications:
Book Technical Specifications:
Printed on the finest silk matt art papers and varnish sealed, dimensions: (Portrait): 210mm x 242mm. Case bound hardback cover in a red cloth with embossed titling. Colour dust jacket: 170gsm glossy art and laminated
Urban Panorama
Sketches of Life in North West England
CHINA'S dynamic city of Shanghai will host a six month long World Exposition from May 2010, when some 200 countries and international participants, and more than 70 million projected visitors, will explore the potential of urban life in the 21st century.
The theme 'Better Life - Better City' represents the hopes and wishes of all humankind for tolerable and sustained future urban environments. The Chinese government is further encouraging the country's citizens to embrace an interest in foreign cultures, and urging other nations to grasp an understanding of China. This is partly being achieved through the establishment of Confucius Institutes worldwide, with ten already set up in Britain.
The UK government has also published a new 'Framework for Engagement' with China, outlining plans for firmer relations to help realise greater understanding of each other's cultures.
In a joint project to tie in with the Shanghai Expo and to promote bilateral cultural awareness, Cities500, in partnership with the Northwest of England Regional Development Agency (NWDA) and a number of key academic and corporate organisations, intends to publish a high quality, hardback photo-essay book. Titled Urban Panorama: Sketches of Life in North West England, it will be a cultural and social 'travelogue' of the region, as well as portraying various aspects of British culture in general for a Chinese readership.
It has the endorsement of Wu Xun, Cultural Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in London; Ian McCartney MP, the UK government's Shanghai Expo Commissioner; Ben Chapman MP, Chairman of the UK All Party Parliamentary China Group; and Ni Jian, Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Manchester. It also has the support of the UK based Specialist Schools and Academies Trust.
The book (bi-lingual in English and Mandarin) will be available throughout the Shanghai Expo 2010, at the Liverpool and British pavilions, and 'gifted' to academic institutions in Chinese cities that are twinned with the UK, and the North West of England in particular.
It will tell the story of the North West in a narrative form - complemented by profiles and photographs - depicting the lives of people from all walks of life: reflecting the numerous communities, towns and cities and the astonishing diversity of nationalities, customs, languages and traditions that are today an integral part of the fabric of the North West of England.
The book will incorporate a 'potted history' of the North West, particularly taking in the Industrial Revolution to the present day, telling how the region played a pivotal role in the transformation of many of the world's previously agrarian societies into today's widespread city focused conurbations.
It will also put the spotlight on the warm academic, cultural, civic, sporting, commercial and social links that exist throughout the North West of England with China: from the sister city relationships of Wuhan with Manchester and Shanghai with Liverpool, and others ties such as Bury and Datong, Salford and Chengdu, Halton with Tongling, Oldham with Wuxi and Macao and Wirral with Suzhou, through to profiling the long standing Chinese communities. It will also include observations about Britain by Chinese people living and working in the UK.
For further details: email: expo@cities500.com
or telephone: + 44(0) 151 632 3280