On the occasion of annual World Confucius Day, the Confucius Institute at the Université d'Artois hosted the 12th World Confucius Day from 2nd to 4th October 2025. The events comprised an international symposium held at the Université d'Artois and a performance of Dream of the Red Chamber by the Ningbo Yue Opera Troupe at the Louvre-Lens Auditorium.
International Symposium: "From Western Rhetoric to Chinese Poetics: Wenxin Diaolong"
The two-day symposium was held simultaneously in person at Lecture Hall 101 of the Research Centre on the Arras campus of the Université d'Artois and online via Zoom. Chaired by Jin Siyan, Stéphane Valtet, Francis Marcoin, and Michel Espagne, the symposium featured presentations by scholars and experts from universities and research institutions in France, Italy, China, Hong Kong (China), Germany, Greece, and Belgium. A special invitation was extended to Venerable Tampalawela Dhammaratana, Ambassador of the Buddhist Mission to UNESCO.
The symposium delegates engaged in multifaceted discussions, exploring the theme "From Western Rhetoric to Chinese Poetics" from diverse perspectives.
Dream of the Red Chamber Yue Opera Comes to Louvre-Lens
On the evening of 4th October 2025, from 7PM, the Ningbo Yue Opera Troupe performed Dream of the Red Chamber at the Louvre-Lens Auditorium. The performance attracted audience from the Hauts-de-France region ranging in age from three years old to over eighty. Attendees included three successive Presidents of the University of Artois who are Christian Morzewski, Francis Marcoin, Pasquale Mammone, students and staff, local community friends, theatre enthusiasts, and overseas compatriots, all of whom attended with great enjoyment.
The Troupe meticulously adapted this timeless classic for this event. While respecting the original work, the adaptation refined and streamlined the narrative, focusing on the emotional storyline of JIA Baoyu and LIN Daiyu, with the aim of making its classical aesthetics transcend cultural boundaries. This effort resonated profoundly with the French audience, who marvelled at the Yue Opera's distinctive singing style and stage movements, as well as the drama's costumes, props, and makeup. Following the performance, audience queued up to take photographs with the actors and actresses.
After the event, Ms. Régine Brice, Responsible de Pôle privatisations, des événements d'entreprises et des tournages at the Louvre-Lens, remarked, "I had read Dream of the Red Chamber before and liked it very much. This was my first time understanding it through the artistic form of Yue Opera, which was a wonderful experience."
Prior to the performance, the cast members of the Dream of the Red Chamber production, in full makeup, took the opportunity to visit the "Galerie du Temps" (Gallery of Time) and the "Chinese Garden" at the Louvre-Lens. The "Chinese Garden" is a collaborative creation of Nanjing University, the Université d'Artois and the Louvre-Lens, which created a meeting of two cultures across history and geography. The two main actresses from the Yue Opera Troupe performed the excerpt " Out of heaven comes Cousin Lin" in front of the garden's "The Pavillion" .This presented a subtle and refined dialogue between the traditional Chinese performing arts and the art of traditional Chinese architecture.