Cultural and people-to-people exchanges are a defining hallmark of relations between China and France. Over the decades, the two countries have made remarkable progress and achieved a series of historic "firsts."

Cultural collaboration between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and France even predates the formal establishment of diplomatic relations in 1964. The co-produced film "The Magic of the Kite," released in 1958, was the first feature film jointly produced by the PRC and a foreign country.

Wang Kun, vice dean of the Faculty of French and Francophone Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said one defining feature of Sino-French cultural cooperation is the pioneering spirit that both nations have consistently demonstrated. France was not only the first major Western country to establish diplomatic relations with the PRC, but also the first to launch reciprocal Culture Year programs and to establish cultural centers with China.

In November 2002, the two governments signed an agreement to set up cultural centers in each other's countries. The China Culture Center in Paris opened that same month, followed by the French Culture Center in Beijing in October 2004. From 2003 to 2005, the two countries jointly hosted large-scale Culture Year events, marking an important step in international cultural exchange.

Wang also noted a second defining characteristic: an "exceptionally" high degree of institutionalization. Since its establishment in 2006, the Croisements Festival – a regular event designed to promote artistic dialogue and collaboration – has grown into an important platform for Sino-French cultural exchange. Longstanding initiatives such as the Chinese Film Festival in France and the French Film Panorama in China, as well as celebrated productions like China's dance drama "Poetic Dance: The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting" and France's musical "Mozart, l'opéra rock," have helped deepen mutual understanding between the two peoples.

Bilateral cultural engagement has further intensified in recent years. The 2024 China-France Year of Culture and Tourism has advanced cooperation in the fields of education, sports, film and television, youth exchanges and local-level partnerships. And growing numbers of French tourists are visiting China, thanks to China's visa-free policy.

This year marks both the beginning of a new 60-year cycle in China-France diplomatic relations and the start of the second decade of their high-level dialogue mechanism on people-to-people exchanges. Looking ahead, Wang sees significant potential for further cultural and tourism cooperation. Industry practitioners in both countries, he said, should explore ways to better unlock their cultural and tourism potential and better serve travelers. Areas such as cultural immersion travel, silver-age tourism and sports-themed tourism, in particular, offer broad prospects for collaboration.

French President Emmanuel Macron's ongoing state visit to China has featured a series of events centered on cultural and people-to-people exchanges. Through diverse and dynamic programs, the two countries are expected to engage in deeper dialogue and bring the hearts of the two peoples even closer.