From 1964 to 2014, witnesses tell stories of China-France ties

Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the third President of France, could still vividly recount the historic moment 50 years ago, when then French President Charles de Gaulle explained to hundreds of journalists his decision to establish diplomatic ties with China.

The great Chinese people, the largest population on earth, inhabit a country of vast areas, he said.

China is not only a nation or a nation-state, but fundamentally a civilization, a "very unique and very deep civilization," he said, adding that long-lasting solutions to any serious problems in Asia or even in the world depend on the active and constructive participation of China.

The speech, recalled the 88-year-old d'Estaing, aroused strong repercussions in the international community, with the United States expressing its dissatisfaction immediately.

In quite a long period of time since then, France had been the only major Western country that had given recognition to the People's Republic of China and had been playing a leading role in developing ties between China and the West.

Wang Hua, who is now 77 years old, is a former Chinese diplomat to France. Back in the 1960s, he was a teacher of the French language at Peking University.

One day in 1964, officials from the Chinese Foreign Ministry went to the university for consultation with him about some French grammar questions. Wang's excellent proficiency in French impressed the foreign ministry officials, who asked if Wang was interested in joining the ministry's team tasked with preparing for the establishment of the Chinese embassy in France. Wang nodded without any hesitation, a decision that had significantly changed his life.

On Feb 23, 1964, Wang arrived in Paris with a Chinese working group to prepare for the embassy's establishment. They received warm welcome from local Chinese living in France and the French media.

In just three months, Wang and his colleagues completed their task, and the first Chinese embassador to France, Huang Zhen, took office on June 2 in that year. On the same day in Beijing, the first French ambassador to China, Lucien Paye, presented his credentials to then Chinese leader Liu Shaoqi.

But by that time, the French people had little knowledge of what China was really like. Wang recalled that he was repeatedly asked if Chinese men still wore their hair in long braids.

The establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries helped to boost exchanges between the two countries, said Wang.

Ten years after China and France established their diplomatic ties, d'Estaing took office as the French president, and he paid his first visit to China in 1980.

"China at that time was completely different from what it is now," said d'Estaing. "When I first came to China, we could still see farmers working in the fields on the sides of the curving narrow paths we passed from the airport to downtown Beijing."

"In Shanghai, when we took a walk at the Bund, what we saw across the Huangpu River were vast cultivated fields, where there was not a single trace of construction," he said.

But in the latter years of his administration, also when Wang Hua was posted again to France as a diplomat, China had already embarked on a new phase of development.

The former French leader gave a high evaluation to Chinese development in the past few decades, and thought that China is completing its return to the international stage after the introduction of the policy of reform and opening up more than 35 years ago.

"The Chinese dream proposed by President Xi Jinping means a China enjoying happiness and justice, a state that deserves the respect from the world, and a country that is more closely linked with us," he said.

Now, in retirement, d'Estaing almost visit China every year. In his eyes, China now is a country full of vigor and vitality.

He is also a fan of the Chinese culture. He could speak simple Chinese words and read some 1,000 Chinese characters.

After Wang retired from his diplomatic career, his efforts to boost China-France cultural exchanges continued. In 2004, He was awarded the Legion of Honor by then French President Jacques Chirac for his contribution to China-France ties.

The endeavor of d'Estaing and Wang also influenced their second generations: d'Estaing's son, Henri d'Estaing, is a business figure who has built successful business models of collaboration between Chinese and French enterprises.

Meanwhile, Wang's son, Wang Yan, one of the leading founders of the Chinese Internet portal Sina, also participates actively in the exchanges between China and France.