France launches Franco-Chinese cultural exchange event in southern town

PERNES-LES-FONTAINES, France, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Tour in France's Most Beautiful Villages, an event designed to boost Franco-Chinese cultural exchanges, was launched Tuesday in Pernes-les-Fontaines, a town in southern France.

Six performances, including hand-puppet theater play "Notre-Dame de Paris", dance "Tea Harvesting" and Dacheng theater play "Cymbal Offering," were presented by 20 performers from Fujian Province in southeast China.

"My favorite was Tea Harvesting, it was so elegant ... they made us dream for an hour, and it felt like being somewhere else," Mireille, one of the nearly 200 spectators, told Xinhua.

Marina, who particularly enjoyed theater play "Cymbal Offering," said everything was impressive as the performances were so different from what she had seen before in France.

The event, part of the celebrations marking the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism, was co-organized by the China Opera Research Society, Fujian Vocational College of Art, and the association of France's most beautiful villages.

The initiative brings a selection of traditional Chinese theater pieces, which have been passed down for hundreds of years and remain vibrant in villages across Fujian, to residents in Pernes-les-Fontaines, Lourmarin, Gordes, and Avignon, all renowned for their stunning landscapes and rich cultural heritage.