Athletes from international sister cities strive on the marathon field. [Photo/2025 C&D Xiamen Marathon]
Delegates from 38 international sister and friendly exchange cities, including Penang, Malaysia; Mokpo, Pyeongtaek, and Jeollanam-do, Republic of Korea; Trier, Germany; Durban, South Africa; and Kumamoto, Japan, visited Xiamen to participate in the 2025 C&D Xiamen Marathon. The group comprised representatives from friendship associations, government officials, and athletes.
The Xiamen Marathon has become a major platform for sports exchanges between Xiamen and foreign cities. The Foreign Affairs Office of the Xiamen Municipal People's Government leveraged its foreign resources to actively coordinate and ensure the participation of foreign athletes and delegates from sister cities in the event.
The 2025 Xiamen Marathon witnessed the active participation of delegations from sister cities. Thanks to excellent race conditions, participants from sister cities were able to achieve impressive results, with 8 out of 26 runners finishing under three hours.
The delegates offered high praise for this year's event. They expressed admiration for the impressive achievements of the Xiamen Marathon athletes, describing the Xiamen Marathon course as the most beautiful marathon route. They also commended the thoughtful and considerate event support services, the enthusiastic spectators along the route, the inclusive and vibrant city atmosphere, and the clean and picturesque coastal scenery.
In addition to participating in the marathon and cultural exchanges, the foreign guests also visited the Marathon Expo, inspected the sports facilities at the Xiamen Olympic Sports Center, and toured Gulangyu Island, Xiamen Art Museum and the Xiamen Mountains-to-Sea Trail to gain a better understanding of Xiamen.
The National Immigration Administration announced on Dec 17 that it will fully relax and optimize the visa-free transit policy, which is effective immediately. Xiamen is involved.
China has rolled out multiple new policies to optimize payment services for foreigners, allowing convenient use of international bank cards on platforms like Alipay and WeChat Pay.
