China in Foreigners' Eyes
Interview: Living in China changes a French scholar inside out
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-09-24 06:30
PARIS: When a scholar of the calibre of a former curator of France's national library says two years of living in China has changed him through and through, he is not just being polite.
"For a Frenchman, that experience is really wonderful," said the 72-year-old novelist and essayist during an interview with Xinhua in the lead-up to the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
"When our two countries decided to establish official ties in 1964, the (foreign) ministry asked me whether I would like to work in Beijing," Angremy recalled.
"I said yes at once."
The French academic told Xinhua that his link with China, however, traced back to days before his posting to Beijing.
After graduating from France's national administration school (ENA) in 1963, he landed in Hong Kong with a foreign ministry job.
Hong Kong-based diplomats from other countries told Angremy lots of things about Beijing and China.
"I had already knew something about Beijing before I got there, " recalled Angremy about his train journey from Hong Kong up to Beijing.
He especially thanks French explorer and archeologist Victor Segalen for his knowledge about Beijing and China. He also thanks Xinhua for upgrading his knowledge about the city and country.
"China was no stranger to me either because I usually read Xinhua stories while in Hong Kong," said Angremy in his library-like home, which is filled with books on China and in Chinese, and with handicrafts such as Peking Opera masks.
"I found out that the image of Beijing was identical with my imagination," he said about his first impression after setting foot in the Chinese capital.
Though he had little chance to mingle with ordinary Chinese people at that time, Angremy spent most of his spare time discovering the charms of historic sites in and around Beijing.
After his tenure in Beijing ended in 1966, Angremy wrote a book "The Looting of the Summer Palace (Le Sac du Palais d'Ete)" which won him the laureate of novelist. And his wife, who also lived in Beijing at the time, wrote two books of her own about China.
His links with China did not end with his departure from Beijing in 1966. He said that his son is now living in Chengdu in southwest China while his daughter is living with a Chinese artist in Beijing.
"I was a total Westerner before," Angremy said, "but two years living in Beijing changed my life. And my personal life changed as well."
He has not seen his son for five years now because his son would not leave China for a home-coming reunion.
His son is not a lone China fanatic. Angremy has found more French people infected with a similar frantic enthusiasm about China.
The theme years about China and Chinese culture have helped fan up the enthusiasm in France, admitted the academician who served between 2003 and 2005 as the president of the commission for the theme years of China-France culture.
The theme years have provided Angremy with a "remarkable chance" to make more friends from China and to know more about China, Chinese modern arts in particular.
"I love China and I feel proud to have so many Chinese friends."
