Bakersfield’s Sister City of Cixi, pronounced “Tsuh-Shee,” is located in Zhejiang Province, China, on the shores of Hangzhou Bay, northwest of Ningbo. The Bakersfield Sister City history page describes Cixi as part of the Yangtze River Delta coastal economic zone, within the triangle of Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Ningbo.

The idea of forming a Sister City relationship with a city in China began in 1993 during the tenure of Bakersfield Mayor Bob Price. Bakersfield initially considered 3 different cities before finding a true fit - Cixi Chine. In 1994, representatives from Zhejiang Province visited Bakersfield. In July, Mayor Price and Dave Urner visited Cixi. Finally in February, a Cixi delegation visited Bakersfield, to sign an interim agreement.

The formal Sister City affiliation agreement was signed Mayor Bob Price and Mayor Gao Yu-chang in April 1996, when Bakersfield hosted the first All-California Sister Cities Conference. One year later, Mayor Price and Cixi Chair Dave Urner led a group of 32 civic and Sister City representatives on a visit to both Wakayama, Japan and Cixi, China. Highlights of this trip included a visit to Cixi Experimental Primary School, where art by Bakersfield students was exchanged for art from Cixi students. Some of this art was later exhibited in the lobby of the Bakersfield Museum of Art

Since these initial visits, most exchanges between Bakersfield and Cixi thus far have involved civic and business leaders. A group of students from Bakersfield did visit Cixi in June 2004, where they stayed in Chinese homes. In 2008, Mayor Harvey L. Hall led a delegation to participate in a ceremony for the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, but the catastrophic Sichuan Earthquake caused that event to be cancelled.