Montargis, the axis China-France since more than 100 years

The monument of the centenary Work–Studies was inaugurated in Montargis on May 4th in front of the station in the presence of the Mayor of the city, Benoît Digeon, of His Excellence Mr. Zhai Jun, ambassador of China in France, the artist Wu Weishan, creator of the oeuvrede work and many other personalities.

Whereas the year 2019 celebrates the 55ème birthday of the establishment of the diplomatic relations sino–Frenchwomen, the town of Montargis celebrated the 100 years of the movement Work–Studies by inaugurating the monument of the Centenary, places Deng Xiaoping in the presence of 400 to 500 people of which students, representatives of commercial institutions and policies.

This centenary is also that of the nationalist movement of May 4th, 1919 which denounced the 21 conditions presented by Japan to the Chinese government at the conclusion of the First World War and which placed China under Japanese domination. With this occasion, the students and young intellectual refuted the weight of the traditions, the power of the mandarins and the oppression of the women, favorable to modernity and new sciences.

The movement Work–Studies was created in 1912 by Li Shizeng, philanthropist and admiror of the French culture, having studied at the school of Chesnoy with Montargis. This last had persuaded Sun Yat–Sen, president of the Republic Chinoise, that the Occident was a good combined for the development of the country.

Montargis is with Paris and Lyon, one of the cities which accommodated young Chinese intellectuals between 1902 and 1927, which made of it the cradle of Chine Nouvelle. One will note among the 1,600 students, of the executives of the Chinese revolution of which Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai, Cai Hesen and Chen Yi, of the women like Xiang Jinyu or Cai Chang but also of the artists such Xu Beihong and Lin Fengmian and the scientists of which Qiang Sanqiang.

After the First World War, the little silver plated young people, originating in Hunan were sponsored. Mao Zedong will remain however large absent from these stays. Among the 99 students left Shanghai in March 1919 for France, the boys made at Montargis were provided education for with the Gambetta college and the girls at the school of Chinchon. It is at that time that the ideologies are divided into 2: the policy following the Russian revolution around the theorist Cai Hesen, sometimes joined by Zhou Enlai and rather the reformers. Following a letter of Cai and Xiang Jinyu where they made a statement on to Mao their program “to save China and the world” and to create the Chinese Communist party the PCC is born in July 1921 in the French concession from Shanghai, constituting the avant–garde and the command of the revolution. Xiang Jinyu and Cai Hensen return to China to China 1921 and fight against the nationalists with the power. Unfortunately, they are stopped and delivered by the colonial occupant. They will die after atrocious torments in 1928 and 1931.

Deng Xiaoping, as for him is initially accommodated in Bayeux then works with the rolling mills of Creusot in Paris region where it meets Zhou Enlai. They are only 2 years later that it joined Montargis where it is done engaged with the factory Hutchinson in Châlette, recommended by the French Consul and becomes Communist militant; he returns then in Paris region where he works at Renault with Billancourt. At the beginning of January 1926, it turns over to China via Moscow. It will return to France only in 1975 as a leader of China.

In 2001, China–Montargis association organizes new exchanges. In 2014, the place in front of the station was baptized “place Deng Xiaoping” in memory of the former Chinese leader come to study and work in Montargis, city which also shelters since a historical museum of the Franco–Chinese history inaugurated in August 2016 on the initiative of Mrs. Peiwen Wang, president of association China–Montargis Friendship.

On March 29th, a symposium in tribute to members of the movement Work–Studies was taken place in Beijing. The assistant adviser of co–operation and cultural activity to the embassy of France in China recalled to it that “10 000 new Chinese students chose each year France, 3rd host country of the international pupils. The permanent number of the latter being approximately 40,000”.

Benefitting from the celebration of the centenary of the Movement of May 4th and Movement Work–Studies, the monument “Monument of the centenary” which commemorates the 100 years of the movement Work–Studies was inaugurated after the conference “dialogues Franco–Chinese of the centenary” organized and chaired by Mrs. Wang Peiwen and Mr. Alain Labat, President of the Federation of Franco–Chinese associations, with Mr. Hu Zhenrong, president of the institute of studies of history of the PCC of the province of Hunan: Hunan and Montargis; Mr. Jean–Louis Rizzo, aggregate of history and doctor of modern history: The conference of Paris and the movement of May 4th; Mrs. Cai Leiluo, lecturer of the institute of education at the university of Beijing, little girl of Cai Yuanpei, one of the founders of the movement Work–Studies in France; Mrs. Duanmu Mei, historian of the academy of social sciences from China to Beijing, honorary president of the Chinese company of studies of history of France: Transmission of the ideas: 100 years of the movement of May 4th and that of Work–Studies in France; Mr. Alain Labat, president of the federation of Franco–Chinese associations, vice–president of the new Franco–Chinese institute of Lyon, yesterday… and today; Mr. Xu Bo, old diplomatic of China in France, president of the Association of the Friends of Wu Jianmin, ex–carry–word of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and former ambassador from the People‘s Republic of China successively in The Hague, in Geneva, and Paris, deceased in 2016: Montargis, the high place of the Franco–Chinese friendship; Mrs. Nora Wang, sinologist, historian, specialist in the history of the movement Work–Studies in France: French factors of the movement Work Studies in France.

A photographic exposure in commemoration of the 100ème birthday of the movement work studies as well as the launching of the French book “In search of dreamed in Montargis” took place in Tivoli. After the lunch place the unveiling of the Monument of the centenary took, places Deng Xiaoping (in front of SNCF railway station of Montargis) in the presence of his Excellence Mr. Zhai Jun, Ambassador of China in France, Mr. Jean–Marc Falcone, Prefect of the region Center–Valley of the Loire, Mr. Benoit Digeon, Maire de Montargis, Mr. Frank Supplisson, president of the Montargoise urban area, Mr. Tan Buon, president of the group of France–China friendship at the National Assembly as well as many elected officials and personalities, Chinese and of Loiret. This ceremony allowed the mayor, Benoît Digeon to seal the friendship of its city with Hunan and China and to make evolve the co–operation in fields such as education and the trade.

The monument was carried out by Wu Weishan, director of the National museum of the Art schools of China and correspondent of the French Academy of the Art schools. This realization represents the heart of young Chinese being returned to France for their studies there is 100 years, for having dreamed to raise the country thanks to their experiments. For the ambassador of China in France, these young people must” be an example to be followed”, they reflect as pionniers, the Franco–Chinese friendship created there is 1 century”

Just after, an artistic troop of the Chinese province of Hunan and the historical Museum of the Franco–Chinese friendship Montargis signed a cooperation agreement for the creation of the theatrical project “Of Hunan with Montargis.

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VERONIQUE YANG

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