Recently, Liyang has received approval from the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries to establish friendship-city relationship with Columbia, Maryland, USA.

Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland, United States, and is one of the principal cities of the Baltimore metropolitan area. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages. It began with the idea that a city could enhance its residents' quality of life. Creator and developer James W. Rouse saw the new community in terms of human values, rather than merely economics and engineering. Columbia has consistently ranked in the top ten of CNN Money's Best Places to Live in the United States.