Cultural exchanges, especially among students is something China has engaged in for over a century. In the early 1900s, many former Chinese leaders lived and studied in France. Today, those exchanges have grown tremendously. Over the past 50 years, the number of Chinese students in France surged more than 10 fold and a growing number of French students are coming to China.
French student Loic Carer enjoys singing Chinese songs. He is the only foreigner to qualify for the final round of this year's singing competition at Tongji University - where he has studied for the past year. But Carer says his ultimate goal is not to become a performer, but to do business here.
Currently, there are 266 French students at Tongji and most of them are studying business management. Tongji officials say the number of French students at the school has jumped significantly over the last five years.
And a growing number of Chinese students are going to school in France. Suburban Paris is home to one of the country's top engineering schools - Ecole des Ponts or ENPC. Tongji student Huang Shun is studying there for a second degree in civil engineering. He is studying new construction materials and methods.
A Chinese professor who has been working in France for 25 years tells ICS that more and more Chinese students are learning about finance and fashion design in France. And engineering students are also choosing different majors.
The head of Ecole des Pont's archive center says Chinese students and scholars have studied at the school for more than a century, mostly majoring in civil engineering. The school has kept all of their academic records. And the school's director says it is ready to receive more students from China. A former Chinese diplomat in France who is now an official at the United Nations says education exchanges between students from the two countries have a long history.
In 1998, China and France launched a project called "150 Chinese architects in France." Participants included designers from Tongji and other Chinese universities and institutes. After they finished their training in France and returned to China, they worked on architectural projects ranging from skyscrapers to museums and office buildings… including the 2004 facelift of this neo-classical bank building on the Bund.