Kunming-Yunnan

City partnerships are increasingly coming to represent solidarity and a sense of community. Their original purpose goes back to the post-war years when city partnerships were the forerunners of rapprochement between states. Bilateral confederations of cities were the driving force behind European peace efforts and acted as a bulwark against a new outbreak of hostilities. The efforts of these partnerships are thus primarily aimed at cultural exchanges and awareness of other societies and ways of life. The European framework of this venture has of course long been superseded and it is now of global importance. Furthermore, ever closer and more diverse types of collaboration have developed out of these cultural relations, as Zürich's partnerships with Kunming and San Francisco certainly illustrate.