How a rural French town became the cradle of Chinese communism

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:00]Close your eyes and picture a small town in the French countryside. It probably looks something like this.

[00:00:14]But, Montargis is more than a quaint historical town. [music] It's at the center of a story that forever changed China and the world.

[00:00:32]In the 1910s, [music] this school hosted Chinese students who would go on to play a central role in the formation of the Communist Party of China.

[00:00:40]Among [music] them were Cai Heshen, an important pioneer for Marxist theory in China.

[00:00:46]Chen Yi, a future People's Liberation Army Marshal and Minister of Foreign Affairs. And Deng Xiaoping, the future leader of China [music] ushered in the nation we know today. So, how did Montargis become a hotbed for Chinese Communism?

[00:01:02]The story began in the 1910s. [music] Li Shizeng, a Chinese biologist and anarchist, was among the many intellectuals seeking to modernize China.

[00:01:13]His goal was to bring young Chinese students [music] to France to study Western ways and after they gain knowledge, have them return home to modernize China.

[00:01:25]>> [music] [music] >> With the support [music] of Sun Yat-sen, the founding father of modern China who led the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, Li established a work-study [music] program in the city. Li himself studied in Montargis, making the city a natural [music] entry point for hundreds of Chinese students.

[00:02:03]Life was hard for these foreign students who felt culturally disoriented, but had to work in factories to pay for their studies.

[00:02:12]Deng himself worked in several factories.

[00:02:20]>> [music] >> But between the time spent in class and the factory, Deng and others like him developed a radical political consciousness influenced by the prevailing political climate.

[00:02:43]France itself was undergoing profound political changes. With the success of the socialist revolution in Russia, worker-based movements and parties sought to emulate the Bolsheviks, the communist faction led by Lenin.

[00:02:57]It was the sociopolitical climate that prompted the Chinese students to reflect on China's past and future.

[00:03:05]They connected with other students based in Paris, such as Zhou Enlai, China's future prime minister, to organize reflection groups and political meetings.

[00:03:15]In 1920, Cai Hesen wrote to his friend Mao [music] Zedong, who could not come to France, stressing the importance of establishing a communist party in China.

[00:03:26]The following year, Mao and 12 others founded the Communist Party of China in Shanghai's French Concession. Mao later became chairman of the party.

[00:03:38]This shared history is fondly remembered by some local residents. C'est sont des jeunes chinois qui étaient venus surtout pour réfléchir en collectivité pour pour étudier le le comportement la réflexion du prolétariat français.

[00:04:09]>> To this day, although Montargis is no longer the focus of Sino-French relations, the town continues to cultivate cultural relationships with China.

[00:04:19]With several reminders of its past, a small tourism industry has developed.

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