Nadhim said: “I was delighted to attend the opening of the Peony Pavilion on Friday. This is a wonderful gift from the Municipality of Fuzhou in China, with whom Stratford-on-Avon District Council has been working closely given the shared heritage of our areas as the home of playwrights Tang Xianzu and Shakespeare respectively. We were treated to performances by both bards who uncannily died in the same year, 1616. A big thank you to all involved in the project!”

Later, Nadhim attended and spoke at a Friendship Dinner at Ragley Hall with members of the delegations from Fuzhou and Stratford. You can read his speech here.