French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to China in April this year breathed new life into cultural exchanges between China and France. The two countries have long enjoyed cultural collaborations and they are continuing to grow.

The 2023 Sino-French culture festival – the Croisements Festival, unveiled this year by President Macron during his visit to China, has been carried out in over 20 cities across China. Various forms of artistic activities including music, theater, film, and visual arts led audiences on a journey of heightened senses and discovery. 

Since its founding in 2006, the Croisements Festival has remained a significant cultural exchange project between the two countries. 

In December 2012, renowned Chinese sculptor Wu Weishan's sculpture work "Nature and Humanity in Harmony" won the sole gold award in the sculpture category of the Louvre International Arts Exhibition. He was the first Chinese winner of the honor in over 120 years. 

In 2020, legendary French painter Claude Monet's masterpiece "Impression, Sunrise" made its China debut nearly 150 years after it was first shown at a Paris exhibition. The exhibition showcased a total of 47 French paintings at the Bund One Art Museum in Shanghai, including nine works on loan from Marmottan Monet Museum in Paris. 

Meanwhile, sixty paintings from 15 contemporary French artists of different generations were displayed at the West Bund Art and Design exhibition in Shanghai in 2021, offering visitors an opportunity to check out the latest art pieces from both renowned and emerging stars from France. 

From art to literature, at the National Library of China in Beijing, an exhibition was held in April this year, featuring 15 precious manuscripts translated from French by Fu Lei, a 20th-century Chinese translator, writer, and educator. These manuscripts cover classic works in the fields of French literature, drama, philosophy, and more. 

For many French museum visitors, Chinese art is the main attraction. 

"Asia is a distant continent, a place that makes you dream a little with its culture. It's very refined, very elegant, as we can see in the paintings, in calligraphy, and in a lot of art in general from Asia and especially from China," said Axel, an art enthusiast from France. 

The year 2024 has been designated as the China-France Cultural Tourism Year, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Both sides will engage in a wide range of activities.