In France the river Loire meanders through the small town of Montargis two hours south of Paris giving rise to the town being called little venice. Few people know it also has a strong link with China. In the early decades of the 20th century thousands of Chinese students went to France to work and study including Deng Xiaoping who would go on to lead China. Our correspondent Ross Cullan reports.
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00:00 A quiet corner of central France where the river Luang runs through town.
00:07 Montagis is known for the network of canals which earned it the nickname of Little Venice.
00:14 But it is also where some of the sparks of the Chinese Communist Revolution were lit.
00:20 There is a museum to French-Chinese friendship here,
00:24 explaining how and why thousands of young Chinese people came to France and hundreds came specifically to Montagis.
00:33 Amongst the people that came to France, some went back to China in 1923.
00:40 There they led the Chinese Revolution with a long march and in 1949 created the new China.
00:46 The most famous of those young students and workers who came here in the early 1900s was Deng Xiaoping.
00:54 After four years in France and two in the USSR, he returned to China,
00:59 rose through the ranks of the Communist Party and became China's leader.
01:04 It was a political journey to the top of the party that began in Montagis.
01:09 By boat and train, the young people came to work and study as this sculpture commemorates
01:15 and in doing so laid the foundations for what is now one of the world's biggest political parties.
01:22 One historian thinks that these deep ties between Chinese and French people should be celebrated.
01:29 This difference of regimes should not make us forget that history, tradition and our culture can lead us to get along
01:38 and that exchange of dialogue is always preferable to confrontation.
01:42 One hundred years ago, life was different and this is a place of special significance for China.
01:49 It may be a small town, but it comes with a big history.
01:54 Ross Cullen, CGTN, Montagis, Central France.