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Overview

Gansu Province donates street lamp to Christchurch City Council

Commitment Year•2015Country of Activity•New ZealandDirect Recipient Country of Incorporation•New ZealandSector•Other Social Infrastructure And ServicesFlow Type•Grant

Status

Project lifecycle

Completion

Pipeline: PledgePipeline: CommitmentImplementationCompletion

Timeline

Key dates

Commitment date
Sep 1, 2015
Start (actual)
Sep 1, 2015
End (actual)
Sep 1, 2015

Stakeholders

Organizations involved in projects and activities supported by financial and in-kind transfers from Chinese government and state-owned entities

Funding agencies

Government Agencies

  • Gansu Provincial Government

Receiving agencies

Government Agencies

  • Christchurch City Council

Implementing agencies

NGO/CSO/Foundations

  • SCAPE Public Art

Loan description

Gansu Province donates street lamp to Christchurch City Council

Narrative

Full Description

Project narrative

In September 2015, the city of Christchurch, New Zealand installed a street lamp donated by the Gansu Province of China. This lamp was the 16th of 21 street lamps from cities around the world installed as part of Mischa Kuball's Solidarity Grid. A dedication ceremony for Solidarity Grid took place during the Opening Weekend of the SCAPE 8 Public Art Christchurch Biennial on October 3, 2015. The Solidarity Grid is based in the act of giving and the positive symbolism of light. Solidarity Grid was commissioned by the Christchurch City Council and project produced by SCAPE Public Art. The lamp was donated as a gesture of solidarity during Christchurch’s recovery/rebuild process and to recognize the 30-year Christchurch-Gansu Sister City relationship. The Sister City relationship between Christchurch and Gansu can be credited to Cantabrian Rewi Alley who dedicated 60 years of his life to helping the Chinese people improve their standard of living after World War One. He became one of the most revered foreigners in China, and in 1984 established a formal relationship between his birth and adopted cities. Gansu Foreign Affairs Office spokesperson Stephen Zhu said ‘The Gansu street light is of traditional Chinese style, [it is] energy-efficient, and should be unique in the South Island. It signifies Gansu’s support to the post-earthquake reconstruction of the Christchurch city centre and our will to join global cultural exchange programs. The light is also a gift to commemorate 30 years of Sister City relations between Gansu and Christchurch’.