Culture and Economy at the International Conference on the City of Guangzhou

The Salons of the Eiffel Tower hosted an international conference on January 19 on promoting the image of the city of Guangzhou (Canton).

This evening was the occasion for an exchange on relations between France and China with the arrival of a delegation from the city of Guangzhou. The theme of the conference was « The city in bloom, a door to universal beauty.

We know the city of Guangzhou as « the city of flowers » which gave birth to the Guangzhou Flower Fair constituting a unique traditional folklore thanks to the presence of flowers in large quantities.

Guangzhou is a port city in the northeast of Hong Kong, on the Pearl River. Many buildings have avant-garde architecture, including the Canton opera house (designed by Zaha Hadid), which is reminiscent of two superimposed pebbles; the Guangdong Museum, in the shape of a carved box or the emblematic Canton TV and tourism tower, skyscraper resembling an hourglass, with a hyperboloid structure inspired by the Russian architect Vladimir Choukhov, the first in the world to have achieved this type of construction in 1896 in Polibino. The Guangdong Folk Art Museum is part of the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, a temple complex dating from 1894.

Every year, shortly before the Spring Festival, flowers and pots of oranges take over the streets and all the parks of the city to organize the exhibition of flowers for the New Year, especially 3 days before Christmas Eve. In each of the 11 districts, the Cantonese decorate their house in honor of the Spring Festival; the streets are decorated with a different theme with colorful buildings and flower frames. Peasants come from all over to sell flowers and oranges. The crowd gathers along the flowered streets and does not disperse until the morning of the first day of Chinese New Year.

Guangzhou will host this year the 3 phases of the spring session of the 127th edition of the Canton International Fair from April 15 to May 5, 2020.

In order to highlight the Franco-Chinese friendship, many speakers followed one another during the evening at the Eiffel Tower, starting with Mr. Bao Wei, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Civilizations in Guangzhou, who presented and promoted culture. He pointed out that « the Overseas Flower Market » from Guangzhou was coming to Paris for the third time. He recalled that on February 14, 2018, the Grand Palais organized the event « When Guangzhou meets Paris » – « Flower City-Charm Night », a romantic meeting of the 2 cities for Valentine’s Day, the flower market and the food of Guangzhou transported to Paris. He also spoke about the second international conference of February 25, 2019 at the Xinhua gallery in Paris concerning the dialogue between the Eiffel Tower and the Canton Tower.

It was then the turn of Mrs. Valérie Terranova, Special Advisor to President Chirac from 1999 to 2007. She occupied an important role in economic, intercultural and political exchanges between France and Asia in particular with China and Japan but also with France and the French-speaking world. She is also the founder and CEO of the Jacques Chirac Foundation.

In his speech, Mr Jean-François Collignon, of the Academy of Fine Arts and the Institut de France, President of the Europe-Asia Exchange Center believes that Guangzhou is an innovative city with its technology and economic development without forget his creation. The architect Ieoh Ming Pei, creator of the Louvre Pyramid in Paris was originally from Guangzhou. « China and France can learn more about each other in architecture; I hope that more modern buildings in France will be familiar to Chinese tourists, » he said.

The first musical interlude was provided by the singer Wang Cong, lecturer at the conservatory of music and by the pianist member of the council of the Cultural Institute of the province of Guangzhou. She was accompanied by pianist Liang Huagang from Gungzhou Zhongfu Culture Communication Co., Ltd.

Ms. Cao Chi, ceramist and director of the School of Technical Arts of Ceramics of the college of Paris presented her creations and offered one to the director of the Eiffel Tower, Branco Ruivo.

Ms. Sai Juan Ni presented one of the specialties produced by her company, Guangzhou Wines, a bottle of white alcohol representing the Guangzhou Television Tower with a tasting after the conference.

The second artistic and cultural intervention was a representation of the Cantonese Opera performed by artists from the Yue Opera Theater in Guangzhou.

Mr Luo Jin, President of Tourism and Cultural Development of the Guangzhou Tower intervened on screen to wish a happy new year of the rat to the audience and to hope for the continuity of good exchanges between the 2 countries.

Clément Himbert, the first saxophone doctor in Europe, saxophone teacher at the Xinghai Conservatory, performed a piece of traditional Chinese music. Coming to Guangzhou for a performance, he met his wife there and now they work to promote artistic exchanges between China and France.

This evening highlighted Chinese cuisine in the presence of the only Michelin-starred Chinese chef in France Li Sen, Cantonese chef of Shangri-La. Each year, he returns to Guangzhou to discover young Chinese chefs to join the kitchens of the palace, bringing Cantonese cuisine to France and bringing the Western skills learned in Paris home.

To close the evening, 3 Chinese and French couples were invited on stage to tell their love stories and send their guests their Spring Festival blessings.

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VERONIQUE YANG

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