Rotorua's new Chinese Community of Commerce is the "icing on the cake" for the century old relationship between the city and China, a leading Chinese embassy official says.
Xu Chunman, the embassy's director of the consular section, told a packed council chamber that he looked forward to continuing the relationship between China and Rotorua, which began in the early 1900s when members of the Bow and Kai Fong families established fruit shops and Mong Jook Fong tried market gardening.
"Rotorua is paradise, a haven, such a beautiful setting and a place of harmony," he said.
Eighty per cent of the 300,000 Chinese tourists to New Zealand in the 12 months to the end of June came to Rotorua.
The event, which also included the unveiling of "The Ancient Arts of China" exhibition in the council's galleria, was a wonderful initiative," mayor Steve Chadwick said.