A delegation from Guangzhou’s Nansha district opened a China-Greece sports and cultural exchange week in Athens on Nov. 3, presenting the coastal city in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to Greek officials, sports bodies and businesses as a hub for international tennis, sailing and marine industry, China National Radio reported.
The event, titled “Sacred Flame Illuminating, Co-Creating the Future,” brought together officials from Nansha’s publicity, commerce and culture, tourism and sports departments, who used sports culture and the marine economy as the bridge for closer ties and issued an invitation to deepen exchanges and expand cooperation.
Nansha draws a line from Piraeus to its own port
Speaking at the city promotion, the head of the Nansha delegation began with the Port of Piraeus, the Athens metropolitan area’s main maritime gateway to the world. In southern China, the source noted, Guangzhou Port’s Nansha area likewise connects to global markets through more than 180 international shipping routes.
Beyond the port, the delegation described a different side of the city: wetlands and mangroves set against a modern urban district, driverless taxis on city roads, and a steady calendar of international concerts and sporting events drawing visitors from other cities.
Nansha sits at the geographic center of the Greater Bay Area and is a state-level new area, the largest片区 of the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone and a demonstration zone for comprehensive Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao cooperation, the report said. Its port hub and location, officials argued, are steadily tightening the district’s connections with the world.
Sport becomes the showcase in the birthplace of the Olympics
Coming to Greece, the birthplace of the modern Olympic movement, the delegation made sport the centerpiece of its pitch for the city’s vitality.
In recent years, Nansha has hosted international professional tennis events at the WTA, ATP and ITF levels, and sailing, kayaking, football and basketball have all grown there, according to the report.
Two days before the Athens event, the 2026 Guangzhou International Women’s Tennis Open concluded at the Nansha International Tennis Center, with players from around the world gathering in the district and competing amid the city’s energy, the report noted.
Officials framed each tournament as more than an event: an opportunity for the city and the world to meet. Nansha said it wants closer ties with sports organizations, event operators and cultural-tourism businesses worldwide, with practical cooperation in event exchanges, youth sports training, marine culture, coastal tourism and related industries.
At the exchange week’s opening ceremony, Chinese and Greek guests shared views on sports交流 and urban development and cultural resonance, and a roundtable on the prospects for China-Greece cooperation in water sports focused on youth development and linking events to industry, building a platform for further exchanges between the two countries.
Marine economy opens a second lane of cooperation
The delegation also visited the Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni municipal government and the Voula sailing club (NAOB) in Athens, with talks covering the business environment and cooperation potential.
Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni, on Athens’ coast, has 28 kilometers of coastline and is known for tourism, resorts, high-end hotels, boutique retail and coastal consumption. Nansha, meanwhile, has an international cruise home port and a coastal shoreline, and is advancing a “beautiful coastline” project to develop international consumption destinations. The two sides see room to cooperate further in coastal commerce and marine tourism.
Nansha invited Greek commercial projects and cultural-tourism brands to take part in the coastline development, said it would use its advantages to bring Greek specialty products into the Greater Bay Area market, and proposed exploring cooperation in cruise routes, ship repair and maritime services.
The two places already have concrete industrial links: Longxue Island in Nansha is one of China’s important bases for shipbuilding and marine engineering equipment, and Nansha shipyards have previously built liquefied petroleum gas carriers for Greek shipowners — one vessel, the report said, connecting companies in both places and pointing to further cooperation in shipping and shipbuilding.
Nansha’s economic weight backs the pitch
Nansha has continued to improve its business environment and build a comprehensive service base for Chinese companies going abroad, pushing cross-border trade and investment facilitation, according to the report. In 2025, the district’s GDP reached 2402.26 billion yuan and its foreign trade imports and exports totaled 2959.9 billion yuan.
From the Silk Road to today’s shipping lanes
More than 2,000 years ago, the Maritime Silk Road linked China with the Mediterranean region where Greece lies. Today, port routes, shipbuilding, sporting events and cultural exchanges continue to serve as new carriers of exchange between the two places. Nansha said it looks forward to deepening ties with Greek counterparts and jointly exploring cooperation opportunities, the report concluded.
