On 23rd February, Ambassador Gao Yanping was invited to attend and deliver speech in the Opening Ceremony of the Exhibition of "Jewish refugees in Shanghai" and celebrating the 20th anniversary establishment of Sino-Israeli diplomatic relations in the city of Haifa. The exhibition was jointly organized by the Shanghai and Haifa Municipal Government, more than 200 people including Mr. Liu Yungeng, Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee, Mr. Dai Yuming, Counselor of the embassy, Mrs. Hedva Almog, Acting Mayor of Haifa and representatives from the Israel-China Friendship Association and Association of Former Residents of China in Israel attended the opening ceremony.

Ambassador Gao Yanping

Ambassador Gao stressed in her speech that the friendly exchanges between Chinese and Jewish people traced back thousands of years, especially during World War II, Chinese people extended their helping hands with warm heart towards the Jewish survivors from the Holocaust, when Shanghai accepted more than 23,000 Jewish refugees. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations established between the two countries 20 years ago, fruitful and pragmatic cooperation has been achieved by both countries in various fields, bringing tangible benefits to both peoples. It's hoped that Shanghai and Haifa would continue to play the role of bridge to promote the friendship between the peoples and the mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation between the two countries. May the friendship between the two peoples last forever!

Mr. Liu Yungeng

Mr. Liu Yungeng, Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee and Mrs. Hedva Almog, Acting Mayor of Haifa said in their speech that Chinese and Jewish people forged a profound friendship in the history, and as sister cities, Shanghai and Haifa will continue to promote friendly and cooperative friendship between the peoples and make new contributions to the friendship and co-operation between the two countries.

Mr. Yanovitch

Mr. Yanovitch, representative of Jewish lived in Shanghai and Mr. Haim Dotan, architect of the Israeli Pavilion of the Shanghai Expo and also descent of Jewish lived in Shanghai made their touching speeches, praising the broad mind of the Chinese people and the selfless rescue of Jewish refugees, stressing that the Jewish people will always bear in mind that the Chinese People have saved Jewish lives during World War II. They choked several times while coming to the touching parts of the stories.

A short documentary named "Shanghai, I want to say 'thank you'" was broadcasted at the opening ceremony of the exhibition and reacted with a strong response from the audience, many of whom were moved to tears.

After the ceremony, some of the audiences took the hands of Ambassador Gao, and repeatedly expressed their most sincere gratitude and respect to the Chinese people and the people of Shanghai.