Mayors and city planners from China and abroad gathered in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province, on Wednesday to share and discuss experiences in green transformation, cultural heritage preservation, and smart governance.

On Wednesday afternoon, they visited Yuhuatai High School in Nanjing to watch a campus soccer match and interact with players and coaches.

The city hosted the highly popular "Suchao" this summer. The 2025 Jiangsu Football City League, or "Suchao", was a phenomenal event that attracted, on average, nearly 30,000 spectators per game.

So far, Nanjing has established 294 national youth campus soccer specialty schools. Over the past five years, the city has built or expanded school sports facilities covering 1.33 million square meters and constructed about 180 new campus soccer fields.

Alessandro Rapinese, mayor of Como, Italy, said on the soccer field that he felt the energy, vitality and competitiveness of Nanjing, which have all played a role in the city's current stature.

On the same day officials also visited the Nanjing City Wall Museum and the Zhonghua Gate Wengcheng to experience Nanjing's meticulous management of historical sites as one of China's most famous ancient cities.

The Nanjing City Wall, built in 1366, is the longest, largest, and best-preserved ancient city wall in the world, with 25.1 kilometers still intact, a testament to Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) engineering. The Zhonghua Gate Wengcheng is the largest existing city gate in China and the world's best preserved and most structurally complex fortress wengcheng.

During their three-day exploration tour, mayors and city planners will also board a research vessel to observe precious finless porpoises, visit a bug studio to collect insect traces, and see the green transformation efforts at Nanjing Iron and Steel Group Company to experience the city's achievements in wildlife and Yangtze River protection firsthand.

The mayors from China and abroad will visit the World Literature Salon in Nanjing to read Chinese and English poetry together, experiencing the cross-cultural resonance between Chinese classical poetry and Shakespearean verse.

Mohamed Higazy, a board member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, said that Nanjing is a city that develops its infrastructure with a focus on youth, sustainability, and inclusivity — key elements of its success. "I view Nanjing as a model city that respects its past and heritage while looking forward," he said.

Thomas Himmler, director of the foreign affairs office of Dietfurt, Germany, said that it was his third time in Nanjing. "One of my goals is to show the German people how China really is and try to open their minds about China.

"Nanjing is a nice city with nice people, and it's really a pleasure for me to be here, trying to exchange cultural things between Germany and China."

cangwei@chinadaily.com.cn