French town trumpets Chinese revolution link

Date published: 11/25/2006

By JOHN LEICESTER

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

MONTARGIS, France--Long before he reshaped world history by setting communist China on a capitalist course, Deng Xiaoping made shoes, as a teenage worker at a rubber plant here in picturesque provincial France.

It was during his formative French years that the Chinese leader who died in 1997 first dabbled in revolution and developed a taste for croissants.

More than 80 years on, Montargis--one of Deng's many stops as he meandered from job to job and town to town, growing into a communist radical along the way--is working to capitalize on its unique place in his and China's colorful history by luring Chinese tourists looking for a French experience beyond Paris, onion soup and the Eiffel Tower.

Some 500,000 mainland Chinese visited France in 2005, the Tourism Ministry said. But for the moment, Chinese visitors to Montargis are more of a trickle than a flood, mostly civil servants on official trips who, while in France, make a pilgrimage to retrace the footsteps of Deng and other Chinese luminaries who temporarily settled here in the early 20th century.

But the potential for growth is there, and Montargis authorities feel that the town's link to China's past--which Chinese schools teach in history class--positions it to tap into the boom in Chinese tourism.

Millions enriched by the economic reforms that Deng set in motion as China's paramount leader in the 1980s are venturing beyond their borders, hungry for foreign experiences, digital cameras in hand.

"Montargis is unique in France with the particular historical link it has with China," said Stephane Poisson, chief of staff at City Hall. Although the town now gets only 1,000 visitors from China a year, "it's the start of something important," he said.

Some 60 miles south of Paris, Montargis in the 1920s was home to several hundred Chinese who came to work and study and, for the most socially and politically conscious, to explore ways to modernize China by learning from the West. The movement was called "Qingong jianxue"--'diligent work, thrifty study.'

Many Chinese first learned of and converted to Marxism while in France, and the list of those who went on to play lead roles in the 1949 communist takeover of China reads like a revolutionary's who's who.

If You Go GETTING THERE: Montargis is easily accessible by train from Paris, with many daily departures and arrivals. The trip generally takes 60-90 minutes. WHAT TO SEE: The Hutchinson plant, now a research center, is just outside Montargis, at Chalette-sur-Loing. Taxi is easiest. There are buses from the town center, too. Other sites of Chinese interest are dotted around town. Montargis offers a map and a brief history in English, French and Chinese on its Web site at agglo-montargoise.fr/chine/ index.htm

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Date published: 11/25/2006