French-Chinese or a Chinese Frenchman?
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E-mail Xinhua, December 24, 2014
Despite restored cultural exchanges, 1973 was still during China's Cultural Revolution. "I visited all of my classmates after we finished our exchange program in China," he said. Though many Chinese people at the time thought foreigners were coming to China for political reasons, Bellassen said neither he nor his classmates took part in political movements before, during, or after their China stay.
"We came to China in a politically sensitive period, but we studied here mainly out of curiosity," he said.
Arriving in China after a 22-hour flight, Bellassen caught his first sight of Beijing. A few people were riding bicycles late at night, he recalled. A portrait of Chairman Mao hung on the airport's terminal building.
In the 1970s, Chinese people were still curious about foreigners. "One day I went to Wangfujing, Beijing's commercial district, to buy a pair of shoes," he said. He attracted hundreds of people's attention in the street. "But even my close Chinese friends turned away from me, which really made me puzzled," Bellassen said.
In order to understand China and the Cultural Revolution, Bellassen and his French classmates applied for permission to travel to rural communes and factories and work there, but they could not get permits because they were foreign.
When it came to his second academic year in 1974, he was given a chance to go to Sijiqing People's commune in Beijing's western suburbs and live with local farmers and workers.
"At first, I could not bear the breakfast of cornmeal porridge," he said. "In the first few weeks, I only ate meat three times." Eventually though, he changed. "The ordinary cornmeal porridge made me forget about baguettes and cheese and I came to know the authentic life in China."
Even now living in Paris, he still prefers Chinese breakfast.
"My Chinese improved beyond my expectations when I was staying with those local people. After two years of study in China, Bellassen went back to France in 1975. He took part-time jobs teaching Chinese in primary schools, middle schools, and college in Paris.
Since finishing his Ph.D. dissertation on Chinese philosophical life, he has been involved in Chinese education and cultural diffusion.
Bellassen admires current foreign students studying Chinese. He said it is much more convenient for them to learn due to modern multi-media materials.
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