The relationship status might read “It’s complicated,” but Malibu and Lijiang, China, are engaging in cultural exchanges that may one day include sister city status.
By Melonie Magruder / Special to The Malibu Times
When former mayor Jefferson Wagner and his partner Candace Brown visited Lijiang, China, recently, it was ostensibly to celebrate Malibu’s recent designation as an official sister city.
Lijiang is located in the southern Yunnan province, an area in southwest China somewhat near the northern border of Myanmar. Lijiang is surrounded by breathtaking mountains whose rivers feed an orderly system of ancient canals, it houses an old town UNESCO World Heritage site and it is home to an indigenous tribe of people – the Naxi Dongba culture – whose philosophies and lifestyles in many ways mirror that of the local Chumash.
Wagner and Brown were welcomed as royalty, shown the city’s most picturesque attributes and feted as distant relatives. As Wagner said in a speech to Lijiang’s leaders, “Both Malibu and Lijiang share views that attract visitors and beckon the locals to maintain a wonderful environment.”
But, despite the pomp and circumstance of their visit, and the same ceremonial import given to a visit by the Malibu Chamber of Commerce in 2011, Lijiang is not actually really a sister city. Yet. Perhaps a foster sister is more accurate.
“The City Council has never voted on sister city status,” City Councilmember John Sibert said. “It’s been talked about in the past, but we’ve never considered a formal proposal. We’ve been busy with other matters.”
The idea of sister city-hood was first suggested by Luo Lin, a Lijiang developer and city leader. According to Brown, Luo came from an incredibly modest background as a factory worker. She began collecting and refurbishing bus parts, then reselling them at a profit, and is now a major developer.
Her daughter attended Pepperdine, and Luo has been working to cultivate cross-cultural exchanges and strategic partnerships to promote tourism from affluent areas around the world (she recently inked a deal with Cessna Aircraft to provide private jet travel there—a first in China, where roads are poor, the wealthy often travel by jet and aerospace trade with the U.S. is regarded as an emerging market). Malibu seemed a natural.
In February of last year, then-Chamber of Commerce President Rebekah Evans took a chamber delegation to Lijiang, where they solemnly signed an agreement of intent to establish a sister city relationship to “promote regional economy and development,” according to Chinese Press publications at the time.
Sibert said that this year, Luo again invited him to visit Lijiang to further propel the project along. Sibert was a sitting city councilmember and could not accept such an all-expense paid journey, so he suggested Wagner as a former mayor and genially appropriate representative.
“Lijiang is the most-photographed spot in China,” Wagner said. “It has stunning countryside and mountains, with a very busy, cosmopolitan city surrounding this ancient town of indigenous people called the Naxi, whom the government has left alone to live with their temples and their ancient lifestyle. It was fascinating.”
Wagner was struck by the traits the Naxi shared with the Southern California Chumash in their worship of the earth and a lifestyle tied to the rhythms of the land.
They also have surprisingly progressive customs. One offshoot of the Naxi is the Mosuo—the last remaining matriarchal society in China. With no formal marriage, women are free to engage in short-term relationships, children are raised in their mothers’ households and lineage follows the maternal line. Free love is encouraged to avoid social conflict and young girls are courted by suitors who join them in bed for playful chat without physical contact.
Lijiang was home to the Austrian-American explorer and National Geographic correspondent Joseph Rock in the early 20th century. By many accounts, his descriptions of Lijiang inspired author James Hilton to write about Shangri-La, the mythical land of magic and lost beauty.
Lijiang civic leaders are hoping that such regional charm will attract the kind of tourism numbers Malibu has achieved (“We have more tourists in Malibu than the entire state of Hawaii gets,” Wagner said). The letter of intent signed in February of last year speaks of cooperation in economy, trade, science, technology, education, sports, health and, above all, tourism.
Sibert said that he had brought up the idea of a sister city with the City Council several years ago, mostly to promote cultural exchange for students.
“We joined the Sister City Association to check out what was involved in such a relationship,” Sibert said. “It turns out that an application for sister city status is best proposed by a nonprofit entity like the Chamber of Commerce, or another entity set up by the chamber to steward such a proposal.”
Sibert said that he was sure the council would take up a formal proposal, but one has not yet been presented.
Meanwhile, Wagner and Brown waxed rhapsodic about their visit to Lijiang in June. They took invitations to Lijiang civic leaders to visit Malibu for its Arts Festival, learn about the city’s storied history and visit Chumash sites.
“The area is so fertile, it’s like driving up I-5 in the Central Valley,” Wagner said. “The Naxi are in native dress and the irrigation canals run right through the city in straight grids. It’s known as the Land of Eternal Spring.”
Brown admired the strong feminine Naxi traditions.
“It’s an agricultural community that does things the old way, right next to this development-oriented big city,” she said. “I’d go back in an instant.”