© Mark Chester

While working as a staff photographer at the San Francisco Examiner in 1980, American Photographer Mark Chester was assigned to cover the signing of the San Francisco Sister City Agreement, with then Mayor Dianne Feinstein and Shanghai Vice-Mayor Zhao Xingzhi. Shanghai and San Francisco became sister cities on Jan. 28, 1980, one year after China and the United States established diplomatic relations. San Francisco became the first sister city of Shanghai in the US, this strong relationship became a model for other similar sister cities throughout the United States.

Inspired by the cultural exchange opportunities, in 1986 Mark Chester submitted a proposal to travel to Shanghai to commemorate the historic signing and share with the city of San Francisco the culture of Shanghai. The project was approved both by the San Francisco city government and the Municipality Government of Shanghai. As a self-assigned nonprofit project, Mark raised the necessary funds to spend six weeks immersed in Shanghai’s cultural landscape. At the time, his access to travel freely in Shanghai was unique because of the Sister City Agreement itself, and his proposal to show Shanghai as an important city in development and future of China. 

My six-week documentation of Shanghai, in 1986, shows its foundation of an emerging contemporary future. China’s birth of communism began in Shanghai in 1921. Every day on the street, I became immersed in the Shanghai cultural landscape. I experienced a feeling of camaraderie. Shanghai in 1986 was in an explosive transition of developing a modern way of life – culturally and commercially.
-Mark Chester

A resulting exhibition titled Shanghai in Black and White featured a selection of 30 photographs representing a cross-section of Shanghai life — the arts, industry, education, sports, leisure, medicine, street life and portraiture. This exhibition opened at the Main San Francisco Library in 1989, then traveled to several additional venues across the country, before ending in the Springfield Museums of Art (Massachusetts) permanent collection. This exhibition is now reimagined for a new generation of viewers, to reflect on our shared humanity and celebrate a historic cultural exchange between the two nations.

About the Sister Cities program:

• Sister Cities International was created at President Eisenhower’s 1956 White House summit on citizen diplomacy, where he envisioned a network that would be a champion for peace and prosperity by fostering bonds between people from different communities around the world. 

• A Sister City relationship is formed when the mayor or highest elected official (or, if elections do not take place, highest appointed official) from a U.S. community and a community in another country or territory sign a formal agreement on behalf of their communities endorsing a “sister city/sister cities” relationship. 

• Arts and cultural programs are some of the oldest and most robust in the sister cities network. These exchanges take many different forms such as musical performances, art exhibits, peace parks and gardens, and international cultural festivals. By experiencing and exploring the culture of an international community, citizens may gain insight into the history, values, and aesthetic sensibilities of their partners.      (Source: https://sistercities.org)

Today there are 545 individual sister cities, counties, and states across the U.S. with relationships in 2,100 communities in 145 countries which promote peace and understanding through programs and projects focusing on arts and culture, youth and education, economic and sustainable development, and humanitarian assistance.

Mark Chester is available for artist talks, please inquire.