Yichang City and Valenciennes, France

On April 23, 1998, Yichang City and Valenciennes in France established a sister city relationship.

Valenciennes is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. Located on the bank of the Escaut River, it is one of the key industrial and commercial cities in northern France, with a population of about 430,000 (2019) and an area of 13.8 square kilometers.

Valenciennes is a famous cultural city full of unique architectural styles. It has historical buildings such as the Notre-Dame du Saint-Cordon and the La Maison Espagnole, as well as many museums, libraries and opera houses.

Valenciennes is historically renowned for its lace weaving industry, but now its leading industries are metallurgy, steel rolling, and machinery.

The most prominent school in Valenciennes is the Polytechnic University of Hauts-de-France (previously known as University of Valenciennes and Hainaut-Cambrésis).

Yichang and Valenciennes officially established their sister city relationship in April 1998.

The governments of the two cities have made 14 exchanging visits. This has allowed the young people to meet one another as well as worked to promote the exchange and cooperation in fields of art, medical cooperation, urban construction, taxation, transportation, etc. During 2003 when SARS broke out, Valenciennes donated 100,000 yuan to Yichang.

Yichang attended Les Années Valenciennes several times before and has also participated in the Cow Parade Valenciennes in 2013.