Peng Liyuan highlights women's education, cultural exchanges in Paris

Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, has stressed the importance of women's education in Paris.

When visiting the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters on May 6, she said promoting girls' and women's education is a great cause that is closely related to social progress and the shared future for humanity.

Empowering women through education

Peng briefed UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay on China's latest progress in promoting girls' and women's education, especially the achievements of the Spring Bud Project, a Chinese nationwide drive to help dropout girls return to school and to improve teaching conditions in impoverished areas.

The project had raised funds of 2.91 billion yuan ($403 million) and provided 4.09 million services to the girls from across the country by the end of 2022.

Peng said that she has visited many schools in various countries in the past decade while serving as the UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education and is delighted to see more and more women being able to have a better life thanks to education.

According to the Global Gender Gap Report 2023 released by the World Economic Forum, China ranked first among 146 countries in enrollment in tertiary education with a score of 1.00, which indicates no gender gap.

The Chinese side is willing to work with UNESCO to encourage increased global investment in girls' and women's education, help more women obtain equal access to education rights and jointly create a better future, Peng said in Paris.

Promoting cultural exchanges

Peng also visited the Orsay Museum on Monday and appreciated Impressionist classic works by Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and other famous painters.

Noting that both the Chinese and French people love painting very much, Peng expressed her hope that the two sides could carry out more exchanges so that the two peoples could feel the charm of each other's cultures and deepen mutual understanding.

As 2024 marks the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism, the two sides have been alternately hosting a series of cultural events for the general public, covering performing arts, visual arts, cultural heritage and tourism promotion.

The Forbidden City in Beijing and the Palace of Versailles in Paris have joined hands to celebrate cultural exchanges and historical ties by hosting an exhibition at the Palace Museum in Beijing.

A total of 200 exquisite artifacts are on display until June 30, including relics witnessing interactions between the Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722) of China's Qing Dynasty and King Louis XIV of France, as well as bespoke items from the Qing Dynasty's Qianlong period (1736-1795).

Peng on Monday said she hoped that artists from the two countries would strengthen exchanges and mutual learning and inspire each other to create more exquisite works of art.

To facilitate personnel exchange, China has announced to extend visa exemption entry for citizens from 12 countries, including France, on short-term visits to China until the end of 2025.