In 1961, the Consul General of the Republic of China in Houston, Raymond Hoo, initiated the relationship between Houston and Taipei during the Mayor Lewis Cutrer administration. Mayor Chi-Jui Huang of Taipei, Taiwan, approved the linking of the two cities in the first sister city relationship of each metropolis. Mayor Cutrer asked Mr. A.D. Bruce, Jr to represent the Mayor and take the Sister City relationship resolution to Taipei on May 18, 1961. Mayor Chi-Jui Huang of Taipei City received Houston’s Sister City Resolution from Mr. A.D. Bruce, Jr. on June 15, 1961. Mayor Cutrer received Taipei Mayor Huang’s proclamation 1961. Houston Taipei Sister City Committee joined 126 other U.S. cities in establishing a relationship with a city in a foreign country.

Subsequently the Houston-Taipei Sister City Committee was incorporated into the Houston-Taipei Society in 1970. The Society’s charter authorizes it to conduct exchange activities with Taipei on behalf of the citizens and the people of Houston. In March 1964, Mayor Louis Welch called upon the Society to initiate a broad range of exchanges of music, artifacts, knowledge development in the fields of business and education, cultural missions, and delegations.

In 1976 the Houston-Taipei Society, on behalf of the City of Houston, accepted the Houston-Taipei Friendship Pavilion situated in Hermann Park as the Bicentennial year gift from the City of Taipei. Mayor Lee Teng Hui of Taipei and Mayor Jim McConn of Houston dedicated the pavilion on May 20, 1979.

On December 1st 2017, the Houston-Taipei Society officially established the Houston-Taipei Friendship Pavilion Maintenance Fund with the Hermann Park Conservancy. You may make a donation to this fund here.

Be sure to select “Friendship Pavilion” from the drop down menu.

 

Houston Taipei Society 50th Anniversary Presentation
Video courtesy of Jackson Chang