Marceau's appearance on Chinese TV highlights ties

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Experts said that the two internationally known artists from China and France together on stage in front of a large Chinese audience will show the close cultural bonds between the two countries.

"Marceau's reinterpretation of famous French folk song during the gala is a way of sending the country's best wishes to China," said Xu Jun, a senior professor of French studies at Nanjing University in Jiangsu province.

Xu, deputy director of the Chinese Association of French Literature, is a prolific translator and cultural researcher. In his academic career, he has put more than 30 French literary works into Chinese, including In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust and The Interrogation by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio.

Xu was the first to introduce Le Clezio to Chinese readers and has been friends with him for more than 30 years. After Le Clezio was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2008, he has made several academic visits to Nanjing University at Xu's invitation.

Last semester, Le Clezio opened a two-month public undergraduate course called The Pluralistic Interpretation of Art and Culture.

"Le Clezio's arrival caused a buzz among students. The opportunity to communicate with a Noble Prize-winner had more than 1,000 students to apply for the course, but in the end only about 150 of them were lucky enough to be admitted," Xu said.

In December, the university hired the French writer as an adjunct professor. He will open a new course on film studies in the coming spring semester.

The cases of Marceau and Le Clezio are only the tip of the iceberg in thriving Sino-French ties.

More than 400 cultural events, and academic and research activities in various areas will be organized in both countries throughout this year to celebrate the deep friendship between the French and Chinese peoples, French Ambassador Sylvie Bermann said at a news conference in mid-January.