When the pandemic began in Poland, we asked together with the President of the City Council for help to our friends from the partner city of Chengdu in China - said Hanna Zdanowska, Mayor of the City of Lodz.

- This year we are celebrating the fifth anniversary of partner relations between Łódź and Chengdu. From our friend we received 12 thousand certified masks and we would like to thank you with all our heart. We will give them to social welfare homes because they are currently most needed there. We should protect those who are most at risk of infection. We thank our partners from China, the mayor and vice-mayor of Chengdu, for the gift we received. Protective measures will definitely be used effectively. Unfortunately, pandemic is developing in Poland. The scale of needs is very large. 12 thousand masks will be used in five nursing homes in Łódź within a month. Once again, thank you with all our hearts - underlined the Mayor of the City Hanna Zdanowska.

- Thousands of kilometers divide us, but we are connected by closeness of hearts - said Marcin Gołaszewski, President of the City Council.

- These are the first words of the letter that we sent on 23 March to the mayors of our three partner cities. The response was immediate and we thank you for it. It is hard to imagine a more beautiful gesture than friends. "Friends are known in poverty," and they just reached out to us. One Chinese proverb reads: "The darker the night, the closer to dawn." The Chinese saw this dawn in March, we were in a deep night, not knowing what else to come. A gesture from the city of Chengdu shows that local governments always stick together. They are close to the inhabitants and help each other. Partnership is not only economic and cultural cooperation, it is above all closeness to people. I would like to say only one word: 谢谢 which in Chinese means: thank you - added Marcin Gołaszewski.