The idea of creating a Saint Paul – Changsha sister-city relationship began in early 1985, when Saint Paul Mayor George Latimer welcomed to St. Paul a historic delegation of three Chinese governors, which included Governor Liu Zheng from Hunan Province. Then, in October 1985, Dr. P. Richard Bohr, Executive Director of the Midwest China Center, led the Upper Midwest China Leadership Delegation to China with seven Midwest China Center Board members, with a clear interest in fostering exchange between the Upper Midwest and China. During that China trip, one of the cities visited was Changsha, capital of Hunan Province. The vision for this sister-city relationship began as a glimmer on that trip when two Minnesotans, Dr. Bohr and Jon Gutzmann, were walking along the Xiang River in Changsha, China.

Fast forward to October 1986 when discussions among Mayor Latimer, Dr. Bohr, and Changsha officials directed their attention to the idea of developing a sister-city relationship between the two cities.  Dr. Bohr presented a formal proposal for the creation of the St. Paul-Changsha sister-city relationship to Mayor Latimer in November 1986 and Mayor Latimer proposed the idea to Changsha Mayor Wang Keying the following month.  To this end, Mayor Latimer created the Changsha Sister City Committee in late 1986, chaired by Dr. Bohr, with 15 community leaders, to work with their counterparts – the Changsha Branch of the Chinese Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries – in China.

Over the next year, there was a series of official visits by Minnesota Sister City Committee representatives to Changsha and Changsha officials to Minnesota.  In May 1988, Mayor Latimer took a big step in this friendship journey when he led an official delegation to Changsha for the signing of the St. Paul-Changsha Sister-City Agreement with Changsha Mayor Song.  Mayor Latimer was accompanied by the late Weiming Lu.  Weiming was a long-time Advisor to the Minnesota China Friendship Garden Society and his calligraphy is featured on the art stone here in front of the Pavilion.  The sister-city relationship was formalized in 1988.  This was followed by a Changsha Delegation to St. Paul in December 1990.