Commentary: Culture Has Long Been Key in the Sino-French Relationship

On the evening of Jan. 25, as a Chinese scholar who has spent decades involved in the cultural dialogue between China and France, I held a gala diner called the Jiazi dinner at the Eiffel Tower in Paris to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-French diplomatic relations. Present were 100 people from both French and Chinese civil society, among them famous French movie director Jean Jacques Annaud, movie star Juliette Binoch, Melanie Laurent, Lucas Bravo, leading Chinese artists Liu Huan, Guo Gan, former French Premier Jean Pierre Raffarin, Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye, L’Oreal Group President Jean Paul Agon, LVMH Group General Secretary Marc Antoine Jamet and Club Med SAS President Henri Giscard d’Estaing.