Anna Zhao

    anna.whizh@yahoo.com

    MORE than 200 French and Chinese nationals joined a celebration of the International Day of La Francophonie on Thursday night at OCT Bay in Nanshan District.

    Organized by French society club Shenzhen Bienvenue, the entire event spanned a week and culminated with several activities Thursday night, which included the participation of Bruno Bisson, the French consul-general in Guangzhou, and representatives of local French enterprises.

    In a speech opening the celebration, Bisson encouraged people to visit the ChiFra art exhibition at Guan Shanyue Art Museum, which is being held in the city to mark this year’s 50th anniversary of relations between China and France.

    Thursday night’s event also recognized six winners of the French Language Challenge writing competition, which asked french-speaking people to write about 10 French words selected by the French Minister of Culture, as part of the French cultural festival.

    Maylis Delplanque, an eighth-grader at the International School of Nanshan, Shenzhen, received an award for her writing. Delplanque has lived in Shenzhen for three years and said she enjoyed Thursday’s party because “it’s original French style and has the participation of many Chinese people, while other activities are mostly attended only by French people.”

    Delplanque said living in China has been an exciting experience, allowing her to learn Chinese and make many friends at school.

    “We have a lot of opportunities here in the city. Of course it’s very different, too. China has an ancient history and many traditional festivals, like the Qingming Festival, that we don’t have in France,” she said.

    Francoise Gourbeyre, vice mayor of Saint-Etienne, France, said she was very happy to visit Shenzhen, which she said is home to many talented young professionals in creative industries. Designers from Saint-Etienne won four design awards last week in this year’s Shenzhen Design Award for Young Talents.

    Gourbeyre said she hoped designers from the two cities could work together on future projects and continue their friendship.

    “I think that the way we think about China is starting to change, because China has great demand for quality. We hope that in the future, more students can go to France, and young French designers and artists can come to China to exchange with their peers,” Gourbeyre said.

    In addition to authentic French food, wine and music, Thursday night’s celebration also featured an exhibition of photographs by prominent French photographers. Themed “Views from France, Views from China,” the photos showed interpretations of life experiences in both countries. French photographers Tanguy de Montesson and Ambroise Touvet displayed photos and said the occasion opened up new opportunities for them to seek cooperation with local artists.