The third edition of the "Goncourt choice of China" to encourage French and its teaching

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For the third year, Chinese students learning French chose their Prix Goncourt and their choice fell on "Vivre vite" by Brigitte Giraud, winner of the 2022 Prix Goncourt. AFP - EMMANUEL DUNAND

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In China, for the third year, Chinese students learning French have chosen their Prix Goncourt. The same as the academy, since the students' choice fell on "Vivre vite" by Brigitte Giraud, winner of the 2022 Goncourt Prize.

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With our correspondent in Beijing, Stéphane Lagarde

Brigitte Giraud's book is "easy to read". "A moving writing", "a novel of the intimate that opens on the universal", this is what say the hundred students of the French departments of the ten universities who participated in this third edition of the Goncourt choice of China. An event designed to promote French and its teaching.

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Thirteen years ago, 10,000 people were learning French, now they are 150,000, so it is fifteen times more and the number of French departments has tripled. " says Dong Qiang, head of the French department at Peking University.

And why French? Because "France has always had a romantic image with Chinese readers," says Li Nuo, a third-year doctoral student and representative of China's Goncourt Choice students for her faculty. "Romanticism conveys a good image. We now have high school students learning French in China and it is a language to travel and discover the world," she says.

A language that allows you to work in French-speaking African countries

If it is a language to change horizons, it is also a language to work: "I am the dean of the faculty of French and Francophone studies at the University of Foreign Languages in Beijing," explains Ms. Mei. The French language concerns the Francophonie in general. There are more and more of our students working in French-speaking African countries thanks to the growing economic ties between China and Africa.

And to celebrate contemporary French literary creation, four winners of the Prix Goncourt are participating this Wednesday, March 29 in a round table at the French Institute in Beijing, three of whom made the trip to China.

► Read also: Francophonie: in China, young people increasingly attracted by the French language

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• China
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