Henan Province (People’s Republic of China)

Agreement between the Lubelskie Voivodeship and the Province of Henan of 27 May 2018

Area: 167,000 km²
Population: approx.108 million
Capital: Zhengzhou (9 million inhabitants)

Henan (meaning “South of the river”) is located in the centre of the country, south of the Yellow River, and has been the political, economic and cultural centre of China for more than 3000 years. It is considered the heart and artery of China due to its geographical location. It is one of the most important Chinese transport hubs and material distribution centres. Henan’s economy is mainly based on agriculture, food and the machine industry as well as logistics.

The Province of Henan, as a place strongly connected with the beginnings of civilisation and the Chinese nation, is considered a “Natural museum of the history of China”. It is the birthplace of kung-fu, developed by the monks from the famous Shaolin monastery. Henan can boast 5 sites inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List: Longmen Grottes in Luoyang, the Historic Monuments of Dengfeng in “The Centre of Heaven and Earth, the ruins of Yin Xu near the Anyang town and sections of the Silk Road and the Grand Canal.

The area of current cooperation includes logistics, economy, promotion, culture, education and tourism. Introducing products from Lubelskie into the Chinese market is one of the priorities, support from the authorities from both sides offers new opportunities to our entrepreneurs. The Zhengzhou-Hamburg railway cargo connection, running through Małaszewicze in the Lubelskie Region, creates great potential for cooperation. The dry reload port in Małaszewicze is the first station for trains of the so called north route, for example Zhengzhou – Małaszewicze/Hamburg and Chongqing – Małaszewicze/Duisburg. It has created a great deal of opportunities not only for the local logistic sector but also for the development of export of products from our region.

An important element of contacts is the cyclical participation of the Lubelskie Region in the Polish-Chinese Forum of Economic and Trade Cooperation in Warsaw organised by the Polish-Chinese Trade Chamber and Trade Department of the Henan Province under the patronage of the Chinese Embassy in Poland, where the Lubelskie Voivodeship is the only Polish self-government invited to the debate on economic cooperation between Poland and China.

Administration contacts between Lubelskie and Henan have resulted also in other initiatives, among others, cooperation between culture institutions, for instance transfer of the unique exhibition of “Tricolour ceramics of the Tang dynasty (7-9th century) from China to Lublin. This event, organised in cooperation with the Marshal Office of the Lubelskie Voivodeship, the H. Łopaciński Voivodeship Public Library in Lublin and the Luoyanf Museum, was an exceptional occasion to admire remarkable works of art that an art lover will find hard to see in our country as grave ceramics from the Tang dynasty are almost completely absent in the collections of Polish museums.

The cooperation agreement between our regions was signed in Zhengzhou in May 2019. It was negotiated by the Chinese side, and then agreed on with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland. The agreement includes the following areas of cooperation:

– economic cooperation and promotion of entrepreneurship

– logistics

– tourism and culture

– education and academic cooperation

– agriculture