As the General Inspector of National Education for Chinese Language, Ministry of Education, France, Deputy Chairman of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching and a famous expert in teaching Chinese to foreigners, Prof. Joel Bellassen visited Confucius Lecture at Confucius Institute of Artois on February 10, 2012 where he provided his insights into the beauty of classical Chinese garden and architecture.

lecture poster

Prof. Joel Bellassen isn't a real "guest"; more importantly, he is an intimate friend of Artois University and Confucius Institute of Artois. People can often see Prof. Joel Bellassen on the campus of Artois University. On the one hand, the master program of teaching Chinese as a foreign language has been added to the Department of Sinology at Artois University and at the sincere invitation of Prof. Jin Siyan, Director of the Department of Sinology, Prof. Joel Bellassen taught the methodology of Chinese language teaching there; on the other hand, Prof. Joel Bellassen served as the Academic Adviser to Artois Pedagogical Training Center for Chinese Language Teachers set up by Artois University and Confucius Institute of Artois in 2009, which couldn't be made possible without the strong support of Prof. Joel Bellassen and the excellent work done by the inspection team he works for. Each session of the annual training for Chinese language teachers held in Northern France and training for Chinese language teachers held by Confucius Institutes in Europe is presided over by Prof. Joel Bellassen and other inspectors of National Education for Chinese Language; finally, when it comes to Confucius Lecture, as a rule, Prof. Joel Bellassen lectures at Confucius Institute of Artois at least twice each year.

Prof. Joel Bellassen

The lecture themed by "Classical Chinese Garden and Architecture" attracted a host of audience. With a view to appreciate arts and under the guidance of Prof. Joel Bellassen, the audience members appreciated the beauty of Chinese traditional garden and architecture defined by elegant, reserved, vigorous and magnificent features. For Prof. Joel Bellassen's part, the art of classical Chinese garden and architecture firstly reflects on the perspectives used by Chinese people in looking at the world and their understanding about the world. Different from western architectures, Chinese traditional garden and architecture favor scenery over symmetry. Green hills encircle trees and still water surrounds pavilions - proper distribution perfectly manifests the fresh and elegant features of Chinese people and the philosophy that man is an integral part of nature. Secondly, the layout of Chinese traditional garden and architecture focuses on fengshui (geomancy), namely, blue dragon faces the west, red phoenix faces the south, white tiger occupies the west, black tortoise protects the north and yellow snake settles in the centre. Furthermore, handwriting is the superior ornament in classical Chinese garden and architecture, which not only shows auspiciousness and happiness, but also demonstrates the will of the owner of classical garden or architecture. Finally, the integration of imagination and conviction and the collision of tradition and modernity are often vividly shown in classical Chinese garden and architecture.