Sister city since: May 11, 2017

Overview

Chalcis is the capital of Evia, 80 km away from the country’s capital Athens. It has an area of about 30 square kilometers and a population of about 100,000. Its pillar industry is tourism sector, followed by well-developed agriculture, animal husbandry, shipping, mining and manufacturing industries. The city used to be an important trade hub and the largest city in ancient Greece. Its history is longer than that of Athens and Sparta. The first law and the first constitution in history were written in the Chalcis alphabet, the predecessor to the famous Latin alphabet.

Relations with Wuhan

With support of the Embassy of Greece in China, Wuhan and Chalcis tied up as a friendship city on June 4, 2015 by mail.

In May 2017, Wan Yong, then Mayor of Wuhan, led a delegation to Greece, during which he met with Mr. Christos Pagonis, Mayor of Chalcis. They signed the agreement on exchanges and cooperation between Wuhan, People’s Republic of China and Chalcis, Hellenic Republic and the Chalcis-Wuhan Cultural and Art Festival was organized. The event was highly commended by the local government, the Chinese Embassy in Greece and the local people, promoting people-to-people exchanges.

In November 2017, Wang Xiang, then Vice Mayor of Wuhan, led a delegation to Chalcis. During the trip, Wang met with Mr. Christos Pagonis, Mayor of Chalcis and held the Wuhan-Evia Economic and Trade Conference.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic in January 2020, Mayor Christos Pagonis of Chalcis and Mayor Zhou Xianwang have exchanged letters of sympathy, expressing their best wishes to each other amid difficulties times. Wuhan sent to Chalcis theHandbook of Covid-19 Prevention and Treatmentand the website link ofThe Knowledge Center for China’s Experiences in Response to Covid-19, a move to share China’s successful practices in fighting the epidemic.