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Organizers say the seven-week event is expected to attract 250,000 visitors from across the world to hundreds of events in and around the city, and bring 100 million pounds ($170 million) worth of new investment.

Joe Anderson, the former leader of the city council who recently became its first directly elected mayor, says the festival's Focus on China week, from June 30 to July 4, was a perfect opportunity "to share ideas, thoughts and investments with China".

"It was a way for Chinese investors and Chinese businesses to connect with European and British partners."

Its ties with China are strong.

Liverpool twinned itself with another port city, Shanghai, in 1999, and took a pavilion at the World Expo in 2010, and Liverpool Vision now has an office there.

"I have talked to companies that operate the port of Shanghai, and we have talked about the opportunity of sharing ideas on port logistics," says Anderson. "We want to encourage companies from key Chinese sectors such as financial services and bio-sciences to look at the opportunities that Liverpool offers, and the level of expertise we have here."

There are also opportunities for the two cities in infrastructure cooperation. "China is looking to internationalize its investments, so it was an opportunity for the Beijing company to invest in infrastructure within Liverpool," Anderson says.