'a Mind Broader Than The Sky': Xi And French Culture

By Xinhua writers Ni Siyi, Shi Xiaomeng, Shang Jun

Every time Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers New Year address, his office bookshelves inside the Zhongnanhai compound have always been studied by curious bookworms across the country and the world.

As the camera pans, careful viewers can find that in Xi's book collections are some quintessential French masterpieces, including The Spirit of Laws, Les Miserables, The Red and The Black, and The Human Comedy.

'I developed a keen interest in French culture and particularly French history, philosophy, literature and art when I was a young man,' Xi once recalled.

Xi has been an avid reader. His extensive reading has helped shape his global perspective. After taking over the helm of China, he has made cultural interaction a trademark of his diplomacy, which empowers a better understanding between China and the wider world.

As China and France celebrate 60 years of diplomatic ties this year, the Chinese president is set to pay his third state visit to the European country. All eyes are on him to see how this enthusiast of French culture will bring the two great civilizations of the East and West even closer.

During his teenage years in the late 1960s, Xi was sent to Liangjiahe, a poor village located on China's Loess Plateau, as an 'educated youth' to 'learn from the peasants.'

Amidst hardships of the country life, reading became Xi's spiritual solace. He read every literary classic he could find in the hamlet, and among them was The Red and The Black.

'Stendhal's The Red and The Black is very influential,' Xi fondly reminisced years later. 'But when it comes to portraying the intricacies of the world, works by Balzac and Maupassant are the best, for example, Balzac's The Human Comedy.'

Classic books by French luminaries have left so profound an impression on the extensive reader that he often quotes them, particularly Victor Hugo, in his speeches. Addressing the landmark 2015 Paris climate change conference to call for a deal, Xi cited a perceptive line from Les Miserables: 'Supreme resources spring from extreme resolutions.'

Xi also has an affection for French artworks. He enjoys French composers Bizet and Debussy. He has visited several cultural sites, from the majestic Arc de Triomphe to the opulent halls of the Chateau de Versailles. Deep in his heart, the timeless collections in the Louvre Museum and the revered sanctuary of the Notre Dame Cathedral are enduring treasures of human civilization.

In fact, Xi is not the first Chinese leader fond of French culture. During what is known as the Diligent Work-Frugal Study Movement in the 1920s, late Chinese leaders Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping both travelled to France for educational sojourns in search of a way out for China, a country then torn by war, poverty and invasions.

Back at that time, many patriotic Chinese youths were inspired by writings on the French Revolution, which is also the backdrop of Hugo's Les Miserables, one of Xi's most quoted French masterpieces. As Xi once recalled, one of the episodes that deeply touched him is when Bishop Myriel helps Jean Valjean and encourages him to be a better man.

'Great works possess great power to move readers,' he said.

Xi's appreciation for French culture explains why cultural exchanges have become increasingly prominent in his interactions with French leaders and in bilateral exchanges between the two countries.

In 2019 in the French city of Nice, French President Emmanuel Macron received Xi at Villa Kerylos, a century-old house overlooking the Mediterranean and seen as a microcosm reflecting European civilization. There Macron presented Xi with an ancient book: a precious copy of the original French version of 'Confucius, or the Science of the Princes.'

Featuring a brownish marbled calf cover, a golden vignettes-imprinted spine and russetish edges, the Confucian work was published in 1688 during the Age of Enlightenment. A few leaves into the book, a line of curly writing in old French reads: 'To readers -- the book serves as the key or introduction to reading Confucius.'

The early translations of Confucian teachings inspired French thinkers Montesquieu and Voltaire, Macron