2022 "Meet Our Friendship Cities in Taoyuan" Exhibition: Dallas County, Texas, USA

Over the past seven years, Taoyuan City has continued to strengthen its international exchanges, raise its international visibility, and gradually enhance the international perspective of the public and private sectors to create business opportunities. To date, it has forged alliances with 33 cities around the world, laying a solid foundation for city diplomacy. In addition to sharing governance expertise, it also maintains ties through various exchange activities.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, international cities have only been able to communicate with each other online through video conferencing. The "Meet Our Friendship Cities in Taoyuan" Exhibition had participation from 14 sister cities and friendly cities from five countries in Asia, the Americas and Europe. Commemorative gifts and wonderful products from various countries were on display, enabling visitors to the Taoyuan exhibition to enjoy a taste of cities overseas and feel the glow of warmth and friendship from afar.

Located in northeastern Texas, Dallas County contains 26 towns and cities, including major municipalities such as Addison, Dallas, Garland, Irving, and Richardson. With more than 2.6 million residents, Dallas County is the second most populous county in Texas and the ninth most populous in the United States. In the 18th and 19th centuries, a western pioneering movement began in the United States, and the cowboy became a feature of Texan culture. The spirit of adventure, overcoming adversity, independence and freedom continue to this day.

On July 8, 2019, Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan visited the United States and took a photo with Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. The two cities signed a sister-city agreement on January 12, 2007. The airports of the two cities are sister airports, and the mass transit companies of the two cities are sister companies. The two cities are also air freight hubs. It is hoped that the two cities will in the future have more exchanges in aviation, industry, culture, and education.

The gavel is engraved with the name of County Judge Jenkins. Judge Jenkins was nominated by the US Democratic Party in 2010, defeated his Republican opponent in November of the same year, and has been in office as county judge since January 2011.

County judge is an elected position in the American administrative system. Each US state has its own regulations and powers for county judges. In addition to being responsible for legal affairs in the county, many county judges undertake some administrative responsibilities.

Dallas is the third largest city in Texas, with 36 high-rise buildings over 107 meters tall. The buildings in the snow globe are all well-known Dallas attractions, including Bank of America Plaza, Renaissance Tower, Union Bank Building, AMLI Fountain Place, Fountain Place, Reunion Tower, and Grand Hyatt DFW.

The metal belt buckle in the photograph is engraved with an outline map of Texas and the state flag. The shiny buckle is a very eye-catching part of a cowboy’s outfit. In fact, cowboys who worked in the western grasslands in the early years may not have worn belts, but in the 20th century Hollywood movies started to depict cowboys in westerns as wearing belts with richly decorative buckles or made of animal bone, giving off a real sense of the “Wild West.”

The T-shirt has an outline map of Texas and the state flag. Texas is the second largest state in the US. Owing to its flat terrain, early immigrants tended to move westward. Its majestic open plains, abundant rainfall, and lush vegetation provided the necessary conditions for the “Cattle Kingdom” of the 1860s. In terms of geographical and climatic conditions, it could be said that ranching first emerged in Texas.

Following the American Civil War in the 1860s, a large number of people poured into the western United States, and animal husbandry in Texas developed rapidly. The Westward Expansion movement was launched to open up territory, and livestock from the west was sold throughout the United States. At that time, cowboys were indispensable for driving cattle long distances, and Texas became the cowboy base camp. Fiercely independent, adventurous, unafraid of hardship, cowboys have become a symbol of the American spirit.

The Dallas Cowboys are an NFL team in the Dallas–Fort Worth Texas metropolitan area. The blanket on display is team memorabilia.