On October 20, Daniel Rondeau, academician of the Académie Française and writer, along with his wife Noëlle Rondeau and Xu Bo, chairman of the French Association of Friends of Wu Jianmin, visited Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) and held a lecture for the faculty and students. Zhang Jing, vice president of SISU, met the guests at the Museum of World Languages on Songjiang Campus.
Zhang extended her warm welcome to the visit of Rondeau and his delegation and introduced SISU's philosophy of education, talent cultivation goals, and its cooperation and exchanges with French universities. She noted that next year (2024) marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France and hoped that Rondeau’s visit would bolster cooperation between SISU and French universities, promote China-France cultural exchanges, and advance mutual development in the fields of education and culture.
Rondeau and Xu expressed their gratitude for the invitation to visit SISU. They hoped that this lecture would deepen the understanding of French literature among the Chinese people, serving as a bridge for exchanges and cooperation between the people of China and France.
Rondeau then delivered an academic report entitled “Camus: To Live Is to Write,” and exchanged ideas with the faculty and students on topics including “the influence of Camus’ oeuvres in China” and “China-France cultural exchanges”.
The Académie Française is one of the five academies of the Institut de France, and the supreme academic research institution in France. Being the oldest and most prestigious institute of academic authority among the five, it has only 40 academicians.
The faculty and students from the School of French and Francophone Studies and the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange attended this event.
