OFFICIALS from a mega wealthy Chinese suburb have offered to twin with Kendal after being 'blown away' on a recent visit.

Delegates from Nanshan district in Shenzhen - the most successful of China's 'special economic zones' - are hoping to develop close relations with the gateway to the Lakes as they seek to expand the area's rapidly growing outdoor leisure industry.

It was officially announced that an approach to twin had been made at a meeting of Kendal Town Council's Mayoralty and Arts Committee.

The district is home to 1.1million people and its local GDP output alone is worth $55billion.

With 44 per cent of the 185kmsq district covered with forestry, Nanshan has the highest population of outdoor sports lovers anywhere in China as well as being a base for 100 of the world's top 500 businesses.

Kendal Town Council is due to decide whether or not to take the Chinese up on their offer at a meeting in September.

But delegates from Nanshan are not shy about their desire to foster close relations with South Lakeland after officials attended the Kendal Mountain Festival and liked what they saw.

Amanda Lu, of Runsifang, a branch of Shenzhen's regional government, said: "Kendal is a beautiful town which has many outdoor sports and travel resources. The world famous Kendal Mountain Festival was a real attraction to us as we wish to grow the adventure sport and tourism industry in China. We needed to make contact with the team who are so well respected in this industry.

"On visiting the town we were amazed by the many different types of people who travel to the event and impressed by the warm welcome. We hope the potential twinning will help the development of outdoor sports, culture and international tourism in Nanshan and, at the same time, it can help Kendal and the Lake District National Park to be promoted in China."

Word of the delegates' experience in Kendal spread fast and films aired at the Mountain Festival are now shown on every China Southern Airlines flight.

It is hoped the possible twinning will give a massive boost to the local economy by increasing tourism and opening up a lucrative channel for workers in the outdoor leisure industry to ply their trade in China.

Steve Scott, Director of the Kendal Mountain Festival, said: "The Chinese economy has changed hugely over the last ten years - it's now a very capitalist model. Outdoor and leisure activities is a huge growth area as more people there have disposable time.

"It's a great opportunity to go there and help them grow that. I'm sure there will be thousands of people from there wanting to come here. As a cultural destination, we shouldn't underestimate the value of this."

FACT FILE:

Nanshan District is one of the ten districts comprising Shenzhen

Shenzhen is China's fourth largest city and its economy grew by 8.5 per cent last year

Nanshan has 55.8km of coastline

It has 610,600 permanent residents and 1.1million floating residents

It has a theme park called Nanshan Happy Valley

Its 39,600sqm sports centre took five years to build and includes a large theatre with 1,325 seats

Nanshan's annual gross domestic produce for 2014 was $55billion, roughly £35billion