Sino-French Cultural Year Finally Ends

On the evening of September 17, to the accompaniment of moonlight, music and a water-curtain fountain, the Sino-French Cultural Year ended at the Summer Palace.

"Sino-French Cultural Year is the largest scale and most influential cultural exchanges in China's history between China and another country," said Hu Jintao, the president of China summarized this unprecedented event.

Beginning with spring festival in 2003 at Paris, the Sino-French Cultural Year created many "firsts": for the first time, the Eiffel Tower turned red at Chinese spring festival; for the first time, people at the Champs-Elyseés enjoyed the parade performed by Chinese in traditional costumes; for the first time, China held more than 300 cultural activities including the Chinese original ballet Raise the Red Lantern; for the first time, an Impressionism exhibition was held in China; and for the first time, Jean Michel Jarre held his electronic concert at the gates of the Forbidden City.

This September, the best season of the oriental capital, this event concluded with three major events: the performance by Paris Opera Ballet, the evening gala in the Summer Palace and the great get-together on the Great Wall.

With the lead of French Minister for Culture and Communications Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres, 344-year-old Paris Opera Ballet, one of the top four ballets in the world, brought three performances­­ - Suite En Blanc, L'Arlésienne and Bolero - signifying the three colours of the French national flag.

From the morning of September 17, French artists, handicraftsmen and chefs gave performances, exhibitions and served delicious food on the Great Wall. And the Chinese audience saw pictures of French scenic spots on a 1,200-metre canvas stretched along the Great Wall. In the evening, around 2,000 Chinese and French guests were invited to attend the gala at the Summer Palace, considered a generous gift to the French by French Senate President Christian Poncelet.

Other celebration activities include French movie star Sophie Marceau's appearance as the ambassador for the closing ceremony of Sino-French Cultural Year, and the Lanvin fashion show participated in by both French and Chinese supermodels, held at the square in front of the National Art Museum of China.

Jean-Pierre Angremy, chairman of the joint commission for Sino-French Culture Year on the French side, said there would be no ending to the Sino-French Culture Year, since the exchanges between the two peoples will never end.