Lyon Sino-French Institute

The history of the Lyon Sino-French Institute (cf. bibliography [in PDF format ] ) is closely linked to the role of Lyon in the history of the political, economic and cultural relationships between France and China. Lyon has always been one of the European capitals with the closest ties to China for various reasons: its historical role in the printing and the editing of the first texts illustrating the Chinese empire as it was related by the first Jesuits missionaries, its role in the missionary renewal of the XIX century especially in China, or the economic exchanges connected with the silk trade. And in the history of the relationship between Lyon and China in the modern period, there is a peculiarity which can not but capture our attention: the presence between the Rhône and Saône rivers from 1921 to 1946 of a Chinese university: the Lyon Sino-French Institute.

The Lyon Sino-French Institute can be seen as the last and successful form of the Chinese presence in France in the first half of the 20th century, - after the arrival of countless Chinese coolies in France in order to supply manpower in factories -, and it is strictly connected to the movement known as the "Study and work movement".

This institute, the unique example of Chinese "university" outside China, was one of the least expected fruits of the Lyon Trade Mission to China in 1895-97. Since the conclusion of this mission, in 1900 a course on Far-Eastern civilization and Chinese language has been held, by Maurice Courant (1865-1935) among others, at the University of Lyon. It was Maurice Courant himself who was associated with the establishment of a Sino-French Institute in this city. In 1919, he took part in a mission which would bring him to the Far East. Some of the objectives of this mission were to examine the conditions for the founding of a French institute in Tokyo and of a "Peking French Institute of Chinese studies", which never materialized. On the other hand, it was just the concurrent visits of Mr. Courant in Beijing, and of his counterpart Li Shizeng (1881-1973) to the authorities of the University of Lyon, which gave rise to the founding of the Sino-French Institute of Lyon.

Besides this aspect, more or less connected to the history of the economic relations between Lyon and China, the choice of Lyon can also be explained by the strong and steady support that this institute (and the ideals of the young Chinese republic at the time) has enjoyed on part of distinguished citizens, such as Edouard Herriot, mayor of Lyon, Paul Joubin, University Dean (1862-?) and Marius Moutet, deputy of the Rhône region.

This institute, which de facto was more a preparatory school than a university, has been open from 1921 up to the years after the World War II, hosting during a quarter of a century 473 male and female Chinese students [in PDF format ]. These Chinese students, chosen on the basis of a selective examination and already holding a certificate of secondary education from China, were taught French language, history, science, etc., to prepare them to enter French universities or specialized schools. Once trained, they would then go back to their country and make up the cadres China lacked. A quarter of them returned to China with a Ph. D. [in PDF format ] from a French university.

If Chinese historiography has not forgotten the Lyon Sino-French Institute, it is indisputably because of the events which marked its foundation, often referred to as "Lyon's Incident". But it is also because many of the students which attended it have had after their return in China an outstanding destiny.

The Chinese department of the Lyon Municipal Library was originated by the transfer of the Lyon Sino-French Institute library collections. The description of its contents echoes the cultural climate in which the Chinese students of Lyon lived, because of theirs studies as well as the cultural and political ties to their country.