Peng encourages investment in women's education

China is willing to work with UNESCO to encourage increased global investment in girls' and women's education and help more women obtain equal access to education rights, said Peng Liyuan, wife of President Xi Jinping.

Peng, who is also a UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, made the remark on Monday when meeting with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay as she visited the organization's headquarters in Paris, France.

She briefed Azoulay on China's latest progress in promoting girls' and women's education, especially the achievements of the Spring Bud Project, a nationwide campaign to help dropout girls return to school and improve teaching conditions in impoverished areas.

She also presented UNESCO with a tapestry titled Blooming Spring Bud, co-created by beneficiaries of the project.

Peng said that while serving as UNESCO's special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education in the past decade, she has visited many schools in various countries, and is delighted to see more and more women being able to live a better life thanks to education.

Promoting girls' and women's education is a great cause that is closely related to social progress and the shared future for humanity, she added.

Azoulay praised Peng's work and contributions as a special envoy, and presented her with a 10-year service honor certificate.

They visited an exhibition on the 10-year achievements of cooperation between China and UNESCO, at which Azoulay spoke highly of China's contribution to the development of girls' and women's education around the world.

She also expressed UNESCO's willingness to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China to promote new developments in global girls' and women's education.

Also on Monday, Peng visited the Orsay Museum in Paris, together with Brigitte Macron, French President Emmanuel Macron's wife, to appreciate the Paris 1874 Inventing Impressionism exhibition and the museum's masterpiece oil paintings.

The paintings include classic works by impressionist and post-impressionist artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Vincent van Gogh.

Noting that both Chinese and French people love paintings, Peng expressed the hope that the two sides could carry out more exchanges to allow the two peoples to feel the charm of each other's culture and deepen mutual understanding.

In the hall of the museum, Peng and Brigitte Macron also had cordial exchanges with French students who were visiting and studying there.

Peng said she hopes that the students will become little envoys of China-France friendship and build a bridge of communication between the two peoples, so that China-France friendship will be passed on from generation to generation.

China Daily - Xinhua