CGTN Europe spoke to Christine Cayol, Co-founder of the Sino-French Cultural Forum and Founder of Yishu 8
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00:00 Welcome back and let's return to our top story, President Xi Jinping's visit to France.
00:13 Christine Cahill is the Vice President of Sino-French Cultural Forum and founder of
00:19 Yishu 8, an art space in Beijing.
00:22 She attended the state dinner hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron last night, where
00:27 she met Chinese President.
00:30 The highlights of this Sino-French relationship is based on friendship.
00:36 I think, you know, my feeling is that China and France have a lot of common points based
00:44 on culture, based on the way of communicating, the way of living.
00:50 And you know, I've been living in China for more than 20 years.
00:54 And I feel every day in my daily life in Beijing that Chinese and French, they have a, they
01:01 share this love of life, the way of appreciating life that is very unique in our countries.
01:11 Yesterday you attended a state dinner which was hosted by the French President Emmanuel
01:16 Macron.
01:17 You met the Chinese President Xi Jinping.
01:20 I wonder if you're able to share any insights or impressions from that meeting.
01:24 I've been so impressed by this meeting and I feel so honored and so lucky to have had
01:33 the possibility to have, you know, some sharing and some communication with President Xi.
01:40 Actually, he paid a lot of attention to what we are doing in terms of exchanges with young
01:48 artists.
01:49 And he said to me, we need to rely, we need to focus on young people because this is only
01:56 through culture and through young people that we will be able to promote a more peaceful
02:03 world.
02:04 You know, those words touched me a lot.
02:10 What impact could his visit specifically have on cultural ties between France and China?
02:19 It will reduce all the prejudices, all the fear that we can feel in Europe sometime regarding
02:29 Chinese development.
02:32 Culture is a bridge.
02:35 Culture is the only way to open up to the world in a peaceful attitude.
02:41 So I think that this time President Xi come to France, not only to talk about business
02:48 and political affairs, but also to focus on culture means that it will open some new fields,
02:58 new cooperation in the field of culture, which is good because artists cultivate people.
03:05 They don't want to make the war.
03:07 They want peace.
03:08 They want creation.
03:09 They don't want destruction.
03:12 The first lady, Chinese lady with Madame Macron, they came together for a visit to
03:20 Arce Museum to pay a lot of attention to a lot of paintings, impressionism, and to meet
03:28 also some young students.
03:30 So it means that, you know, those people pay a lot of attention to what does mean art and
03:38 culture to civilization.