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Sister City Relationship Under Examination

Charlie Most (left) is one of two representatives from Door County to have visited Door County’s sister city, Jingdezhen, China, in an official capacity, while the three Chinese delegations, like this one from 2005, have consisted of more people. Photo by Dan Eggert.

Most people can’t choose their siblings, but the same isn’t true for cities.

In May 2004, Door County began the process of entering into a sister city relationship with Jingdezhen, China, a city known as the “Porcelain Capital of the World.” The relationship, which was pushed for initially by Brian Linden of Ellison Bay’s Linden Gallery, was meant to establish commercial and cultural ties between the two areas, especially in the realm of pottery.

But if Door County and Jingdezhen were real sisters, they’d be the kind who only check in on the phone every couple years. Only two official delegations from Door County have gone over to visit Jingdezhen, and each of those consisted of only one person.

Jingdezehen has sent three delegations with a number of people in them to Door County, but their visit this May lasted less than 24 hours.

To begin to figure out if the Jingdezhen relationship is worth continuing, and how to strengthen it if it is, a number of community members and representatives, including County Board Chairman Dan Austad, County Administrator Maureen Murphy, Door County Economic Development Executive Director Bill Chaudoir, and former County Board Chairman Charlie Most, sat down on Nov. 16 to start a discussion of what the program’s mission should be.

Most was the first official delegate from Door County to visit Jingdezhen, with the other being former County Administrator Mike Serpe. Most said he was treated like a rock star while in China.

“By the time I left that city I couldn’t walk anywhere without people pointing me out and knowing I was their esteemed guest from the U.S.,” said Most.

According to Most, he forged a number of strong connections with foreign officials while in the city and even got to visit with peasants in the Chinese countryside.

“Knowing they are our economic rivals and how big they are now, you’re almost obligated to know a bit about them and their culture,” said Most. “I’d rather have them as friends after seeing that country than enemies.”

On their last visit, the delegation from Jingdezhen extended an open invitation for a delegation from Door County to come over and visit the city once again. If the county does send a delegation, said County Conservationist Bill Schuster, it should be composed of more than just one person.

“Certainly from our perspective, if we’re going to have a relationship, that entails more than brief visits and just one person going,” said Schuster. “It should be a delegation that represents the community of Door County.”

Most echoed Schuster’s sentiments, saying if he could do the whole thing over again he would’ve brought representatives from the schools, Door County Economic Development Corporation, and NWTC.

On the economic side of things, attempts to establish relationships between businesses in Door County and Jingdezhen have either petered out or been quashed by red tape.

Diane McNeil and John Dietrich of Ellison Bay Pottery were part of a group of potters who met the 2005 Jingdezhen delegation for dinner at The Clearing. McNeil said the delegation invited all the potters to send pieces over for Jingdezhen’s International Ceramic Fair, and Ellison Bay Pottery sold Jingdezhen pottery out of their studio for several years.

“Then it just stopped,” said McNeil. “I still have a few pieces sitting around.”

Chaudoir said the Jingdezhen delegates expressed strong interest in creating trade opportunities for other Door County businesses, but nothing panned out.

“I was pretty excited when Simon Creek Winery showed very strong interest in exporting to China,” said Chaudoir. “According to [owner Tim Lawrie], he worked hard in trying to foster this relationship, but he said he just threw up his hands with all of the restrictions the government had on importing alcohol into China.”

While almost everyone at the meeting seemed interested in at least examining how to better the business and cultural relationship with Jingdezhen, Chaudoir suggested Door County could look for another sister city to partner with, regardless of whether or not the relationship continues with Jingdezhen.

“If somebody were to ask me at the beginning of the process if this is the city I’d join with, I think there’s a lot of differences. From my perspective, economic development, I would’ve gone a different direction,” said Chaudoir.

While Ann Jinkins of the Door County Historical Museum said she could understand the benefits of partnering with a different city, she appreciated that Door County’s sister was so different and hoped word would spread about the relationship.

“I think it’d be great if every schoolchild in the county knew we were a sister city with Jingdezhen, and the whole community could embrace it in some way,” said Jinkins.

Chaudoir said he’d like to give the pottery community a chance to get together and try to grow the relationship with Jingdezhen, as well as possibly explore ways to tie the two areas together via tourism.

Austad, who first launched the process of reexamining Door County’s ties with Jingdezhen, said whatever happens, the sister city relationship needs to move forward with a new, clear mission.

“You’ve got to justify what the benefit is to Door County and why we’re doing this, besides that it’s just interesting,” said Austad. “If you can spin it off into tourism, that might be the magical connection.”