Why Do I Want to Learn Chinese.docVIP

Why Do I Want to Learn Chinese I was born in France. I am French. My first name is Jeanne， the same name as French heroine Jeanne d’Arc. But my surname is Wang， because my parents are Chinese. With this name of dual nature， my story begins. Since I was a child， my parents always wanted me to become more French than the French. So， when I was small， I didn’t feel that there was any difference between me and other French children. But when I went to school， my teacher told other pupils in the class in my presence that I was“Asian”， though I didn’t even know the meaning of this word. What I did know was that I liked words， phrases and literature and loved reading all kinds of books from fairy tales to the works written by Moliere， Jean Racine， Voltaire， Denis Diderot， Honore de Balzac， Victor Hugo， Albert Camus， and many others. When I was at high school， I took the preparatory class for the teachers’ qualification examination. After graduation， naturally I became a French teacher. I taught in Paris and at the same time worked on my treatise. Everything went on following the prescribed order. Then， fate knocked at my door. An Auvergne man took me to FrancheComte Region where I came into contact with China， the place of my ancestry. When I lived there， the University of Auvergne and later the Confucius Institute invited me to teach Chinese. But then， things happened： I was caught in an explosion， and later I was pregnant and gave birth to a child. All this left me little time to study Chinese and I was not yet ready to open this door. I spent my childhood in a Chinese atmosphere. Both my father and mother were sinologists. My father taught Chinese language and culture in university， and my mother worked with French sinologists. Such renowned sinologists as Jacques Gernet and Pierre Dieny were often invited to our home. They talked about Chinese literature while enjoying the delicious Chinese food prepared by my parents. I often heard such names as Confucius， Du Fu， Wang