Not a lot of Portlandians (myself included) know that the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu Province is one of the nine sister cities of Portland (as listed by the ever so factful Wikipedia). Heck, why would we? We are, after all, Americans. We quiver at the sight of a map.
Yet, Portlandians would be pleased to know that the city they share some sort of citified sorority with is actually the fastest growing industrial center in the fastest growing province in all of China. Talk about having connections.