Three-year-old Yu Shuya from Hangzhou — capital of East China's Zhejiang province — proudly donned his Brazil jersey to greet 42-year-old Brazilian lawyer and rising political star, Renato de Almeida Freitas Junior recently.

The excited boy quickly formed a rapport with the first-time visitor over a mutual love of soccer. Deeply touched by this genuine warmth, Renato declared: "Hangzhou residents are just as hospitable as Brazilians!"

Young Yu Shuya turns on the charm as he welcomes Renato de Almeida Freitas Junior. [Photo by Xu Yaqi]

Talking about Hangzhou's sister-city ties since 2001 with the southern Brazilian metropolis of Curitiba, Renato expressed his full confidence that soccer could bring them closer together. He envisioned joint grassroots training programs for coaches, players or youth teams.

A splendid night view of Hangzhou. [Photo by Xia Yang]

Hangzhou's global network continues to thrive — as of July, it was maintaining 31 sister-city relationships and exchanging communications with 46 friendship cities across five continents.

On golden pond: West Lake in Hangzhou never fails to charm visitors in the morning. [Photo by Xia Yang]

The Hangzhou International Communication Center or HZICC has been leveraging these ties to foster people-to-people exchanges.

Its A Tale of Two Cities series features in-depth dialogues between Hangzhou residents and their counterparts from sister cities worldwide.

Participants include Boston marathoners sharing their sports stories, Bangkok conductors discussing music's global dimensions and tourism experts from New Zealand's Queenstown exploring collaborative travel models.

Verona resident Leonardo Cinieri Lombroso, an Italian documentary maker, has a friendly chat with Hangzhou-based producer Gu Jiafeng. [Photo by Yang Yi]

When Italian documentary filmmaker Leonardo Cinieri Lombroso met Hangzhou-based producer Gu Jiafeng, their conversation ranged from careers to connections — revealing just how many traits are shared by the two culturally rich cities of Verona and Hangzhou.

A roundtable dialogue takes place between people from Hangzhou and the Irish city of Cork. [Photo by Xu Jianbo]

Elsewhere, teachers and students from Rockwell College and Hangzhou High School Qiantang had some fun when they joined Neil Charles Clarke, CEO of the Ireland China Culture and Education Center. They had a dialogue which touched on educational innovation and cultural exchanges in the digital age between Hangzhou and the city of Cork in Ireland.

Young people from Hangzhou and the UK city of Leeds have a chat.

Four British young men discussed future cities and entrepreneurship as the ties between Hangzhou and the city of Leeds in the UK continue to get closer.

Max Wheatley, student at SOAS University of London, said at the end of the roundtable dialogue: "A similarity between two people might be enough to cause initial connection and then the difference might be what actually become the enjoyable thing that solidifies the friendship."

Red Star Belgrade Museum curator Predrag Trkulja shows HZICC representatives around the soccer stadium.

In April, the historic city of Nis in southern Serbia and Hangzhou signed a memorandum of friendly cooperation.

The Hangzhou International Communication Center brought its city's promotional materials and its citizens' greetings to Serbia in central Europe, where locals eagerly shared their China connections.

They included the curator of the Red Star Belgrade Museum, which is dedicated to iconic local soccer team and an elderly lotus enthusiast, who left a heartfelt message reading: "Friendship lasts forever".

In Turkiye, an exchange of promotional videos takes place between archaeologists and media representatives.

Ahead of the 10th anniversary of the city's friendship with Istanbul, HZICC representatives engaged with prominent Turkish archaeologists including Nezih Basgelen and Murat Sav. They showed keen interest in Hangzhou's Liangzhu Civilization and offered the gift of a commemorative Gobekli Tepe pottery carving. Gobekli Tepe is a prehistoric archaeological site located in southeastern Turkiye.