First Chinese 'Immortal' in France Receives Academician Sword

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, June 12, 2003

First Chinese 'Immortal' in France Receives Academician Sword

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Francois Cheng, 72, a Chinese-born poet, writer, translator, calligrapher and painter, received on Tuesday a sword as part of the solemn ceremony of his joining L'Academie Francaise, the official arbiter of French language and culture.

For a cultured Chinese, "the sword is rich in signification. It reminds me of the precept of Confucianism -- 'Ren', which is generally translated as 'human love' or 'virtue of humanity'," said Cheng, applauded by hundreds of people attending the ceremony at the city hall of Paris.

Landing in France half a century ago without being able to speak a word of French, Cheng was elected into the Academie Francaise last June, becoming the first-ever Asian among "the 40 immortals" (often called so in France because of their former motto) since the elite body was founded in 1635.

As a tradition, the academicians wear a suit of green dress with a sword at grand official ceremonies. The sword is designed by the academician himself and handed to him by the academy.

As to his sword, Cheng chose to have a handle in form of bamboo, a typical Chinese plant, which he said "expresses the impetus towards the high through the rigor of its stem and the grace of its foliage."

He also had a white lily sculpted on the bamboo, which symbolizes France, Cheng's adopted country.

Into the handle, it is engraved the famous line of a poem by Wen Tianxiang (1236-1283), a Chinese poet in Song Dynasty: "Between sky and earth circulates the integral breath."

"Starting from the idea of breath, the ancient Chinese thinkershave proposed a unitary and organic conception of the universe in which all are linked and one supports the another," said Cheng.

Also carved into the sword is the Chinese character "He", whichin Cheng's words, means "understanding" or "agreement".

"It is to say that the dialogue between cultures is not only necessary but also possible," he told reporters after receiving the sword.

"We used to take the dialogue between cultures as an activity demanding hundreds of years to be achieved. It is not true. The fact is, as I myself have proved, each man can go somewhere in his lifetime," he said.

Born into an academic family in the Chinese city of Nanchang in August 1929, Cheng attended high school in Chongqing and entered Nanjing University in 1945.

He won a scholarship to study in France in 1948. After one decade of hardship, Cheng obtained a doctorate in literature and became a renowned academic, lecturing at several prestigious French institutions.

Starting to write in French in 1977, Cheng published dozens of poems and books on Chinese art, including "Chinese Poetic Writing", "The Capital of Heaven" and "Empty and Full: The Language of Chinese Painting".

In 1998, Cheng was awarded the Prix Femina, one of France's most prestigious literary prizes, for "The River Below", his semi-autobiographical tale of a young artist who leaves China for France.

In the same year, he won the Prix Andre Malraux for "Shitao: The Savor of the World", an illustrated study of the revered Chinese painter.

In 2001, the Academie Francaise acknowledged Cheng as a true master of French by awarding him the Grande Prix de la Francophonie for his novel "Eternity is not too much".

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