We are pleased to announce the workshop "Open Skies from China to South Africa -- Sharing Resources and Building Collaborations in Optical and Infrared Astronomy". It will be held in Lijiang, Yunnan province, during Oct 30 - Nov 1, 2017. The goal of the workshop is to bring together astronomers from China and South Africa to focus on astronomical observations in the optical and near-infrared bands. One key objective of the workshop is to determine how to share optical telescope facilities and experience in instrumentation development and telescope technologies in order to maximize the impact of scientific exploration. Furthermore, we hope to foster China-South Africa collaborations in active overlapping science areas, including (but not limited to) galaxy formation and evolution, AGN phenomena and physics, formation of stars & planets,process of interstellar medium, stellar evolution, and time-domain astronomy, as well as a component of astronomy outreach.