
Bound by friendship: The sisterhood of Edinburgh and Shenzhen
'Sometimes you can sign sister-city partnerships, but they don't mean very much because there's nothing behind them. But this is not one of those,' said Donald Wilson, a former Lord Provost of Edinburgh, on the twinning between Shenzhen and Edinburgh.
At first glance, the two cities may seem worlds apart. However, those who know both well echoed that they share similar traits — open, vibrant, inclusive, and innovative — qualities deeply rooted in their respective histories of breaking the mold and bringing in the new.
Along the journey of building this bridge, those who worked tirelessly to turn nothing into something have also forged unbreakable bonds — so close, they now call each other brothers and sisters.
In this episode of City Dance by China Daily, join us as we explore the unique friendship between Shenzhen and Edinburgh, celebrating its sixth anniversary this May.
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Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Bulls power through to semi-finals after Edinburgh threaten to rip up play-off script in Pretoria
Pretoria Bulls 42 Edinburgh 33 RETURNING home to South Africa, Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt enjoyed some dinner on Friday night with his Bulls counterpart Jake White. The pair are close friends and fired up the grill for a Braai, a traditional South African barbecue, at White's house just hours before this quarter-final clash in the United Rugby Championship. But it was Everitt and his Edinburgh players whose goose was cooked in Pretoria as the Bulls feasted on six tries to claim their place in the semi-finals. This was not the hammering that many feared it might be for Edinburgh. On the contrary, this was very much a case of what might have been. Everitt's side led 21-8 after half an hour thanks to two tries from Ross Thompson and one from Wes Goosen. They were in the process of ripping up the script. But the surroundings at Loftus Versfeld can do strange things to visiting teams. Perhaps it was the altitude of the Highveld and the thought of scaling such heights on the field, Edinburgh suffered a collective nose bleed. They collapsed midway through the game, conceding all six tries in the space of little more than half an hour, and three in little more than 10 minutes after half-time, before finding a second wind again near the end. There was a lot to like about their performance, a lot to be proud of away from home in such a testing arena, but the reality is that their season is now over. Knockout rugby offers no second chances and no pats on the back. Having been in such a commanding position after half an hour, the reality is that Edinburgh threw this one away. 'We started the game really well,' said Everitt. 'We looked really dangerous, caused the Bulls a lot of problems, and got ourselves into a lead. 'But then there was a 12-minute blitz from the Bulls where they scored three tries early in the second half to take the game away from us a little bit. 'I am really proud of the guys in terms of how they still fought back towards the end. It's been a long, tough season but we still kept going right until the end. We've improved a lot this year and we should be proud. 'Congratulations to the Bulls. They have got a home semi-final now to look forward to and they are a very hard team to stop when they have momentum.' Playing at such altitude on the Highveld, and with baking-hot sunshine beating down as the match kicked-off, this would be a test of Edinburgh's fitness and mental fortitude as much as anything. The Bulls had finished the regular season in excellent form, with six straight victories ensuring they came into the play-offs as one of the form sides in the competition. But it was Edinburgh who made the perfect start and took the lead on five minutes, just seconds after Bulls winger Sebastian de Klerk had been sin-binned for a high shot on Darcy Graham. Harry Paterson played a key role in the build-up as Edinburgh worked the ball out wide, with Hamish Watson eventually delivering the final pass for Goosen to score in the corner. The sense of shock among the home crowd when a rampant Edinburgh scored a second try on 13 minutes to race further clear. It was a brilliant finish from Thompson, with the fly-half waltzing through a gap and showing great footwork before touching down. The Bulls made a dent on the scoreboard thanks to a penalty from fly-half Keagan Johannes, before they finally clicked into gear and scored their first try on 19 minutes. It was their talismanic No 8 Cameron Hanekom who powered over from close range. Having made his international debut last year, it wasn't hard to see why 23-year-old Hanekom is viewed as the next big thing in the Springboks' back row. Credit to Edinburgh for the way in which they kept asking questions of the Bulls. Their enterprising approach was rewarded with a third try on 29 minutes. After James Lang made a good line-break, the ball was fed to Thompson and he darted over for his second try of the afternoon. Leading 21-8 after half an hour, Edinburgh were threatening a huge shock. But the Bulls came roaring back with two tries in the space of half an hour just before half-time. Veteran full-back Willie Le Roux broke through a gap and fed the prolific centre David Kriel to score, before his midfield partner Harold Vorster went over in the corner. From Edinburgh's point of view, the defending was poor. Ali Price, in particular, should have done far better to make a tackle and get Vorster into touch as he neared the try-line. But the Bulls were profligate with their kicking and another missed conversion ensured that Edinburgh still led 21-18 as the teams went in at half-time. But it was clear that the home side now had the bit between their teeth. Perhaps starting to smell blood, the Bulls took the lead just two minutes after the break when Springbok winger Canan Moodie scored after a lovely offload from Le Roux. Edinburgh were starting to wilt in the searing heat and energy-sapping altitude, with the Bulls making it a quickfire double when Johannes broke through a gap and raced away to score his team's fifth try of the day. Trailing 32-21, Edinburgh knew they really needed to find the next score if they were to claw their way back into the game. But the Bulls put the matter beyond doubt when skipper Ruan Nortje powered over from close range on 53 minutes after a period of sustained pressure. Edinburgh finally got going again when the ball was recycled quickly from a ruck and hooker Ewan Ashman crashed over on 59 minutes, with the Bulls down to 14 men again as lock JF van Heerden was yellow-carded. But Edinburgh's momentum was halted immediately when Magnus Bradbury fumbled the restart and gifted possession back to the home side, with Thompson then sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on shortly after. Another penalty from Johannes stretched the Bulls' lead to 42-28, before Edinburgh replied again when Goosen touched down in the corner after a flowing team move from the visitors. With Thompson off the pitch, it was Mark Bennett who took aim with the conversion but the ball sailed wide of the posts. A chaotic game rather fizzled out in the final 10 minutes, with the Bulls seeing it through for the victory. Having been chewed up and spat out, Edinburgh were left to ponder a missed opportunity.


The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Moment tourist damages 2,000-year-old terracotta warrior statues at Chinese museum
Two Chinese terracotta warrior statues, thought to be around 2,000 years old, were damaged after a tourist climbed over a museum fence. Public security officials say the 30-year-old was visiting the museum housing the terracotta army in the city of Xi'an on Friday when he 'climbed over the guardrail and the protective net and jumped'. The man 'pushed and pulled' the clay warriors and two were 'damaged to varying degrees', the statement said. The man, who was said to 'suffer from mental illness', was detained by security and removed from the museum. The 8,000-strong terracotta army once guarded the tomb of the first emperor and is considered a symbol of ancient Chinese artistic and military sophistication.


BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Bulls 42-33 Edinburgh: What Everitt said
Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt told BBC Scotland: "You've got to deny entries 22. We weren't able to force enough rucks on the ball, and when they kept the ball in alive, - Keaghan Johannes' try is an example of that - they are really hard to stop. They've got a lot of pace up right. "We wanted to stop momentum and force them to play from slow ball, but it wasn't always possible. "We're disappointed in how we executed our kicking game, because they did win the aerial battle today. Some of those scraps that fall on the floor, it's a bounce of the ball, you need a little bit of luck as far as that's concerned. "It was more around the the kicking game in the middle, third of the game that probably led to their win."