4. THE JOURNEY TO THE WEST
1. Historical context
It was at this moment that Yan Dehui’s artistic quest coincided with a turning point in history. Aware that only technical progress could get the country out of its economic backwardness, the Minister of Education Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940) had initiated the “Work-Study” Movement during the 1920s, allowing nearly 2000 Chinese to train in France.
The cultural field also came into this framework and many artists were encouraged to study Western art in order to bring China into the era of modernity.
Paris was then an undisputed cultural beacon in the world and attracted many foreign artists. Yan was one of the last arrivals allowed by China to study in the City of Light. He left Japanese-occupied Shanghai in February 1938, unaware that a year later the war would catch up with him in Europe.
2. On the liner Président Doumer, the long voyage to France
Permission to leave the country
On the way to France on the bridge of President Doumer
Thus, in February 1938, he embarked with a group of compatriots on the President Doumer which, after a month’s journey, reached the French coast on March 17, 1938. The crossing had finally passed quickly, most of the time having been devoted to the study of French. Only a few stopovers – at the Saigon Museum, in Djibouti, on the Suez Canal – had come to distract him.
Saigon Museum
Port Said, statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps
Yan wrote on the back of these photos:
“Saigon, February 23, 1938. – I left Shanghai where it was cold and it took less than a week to get to Saigon. The trees are green and the flowers are blooming. You have to wear summer clothes. The park in Saigon is very large. We are in front of the museum which is located in a corner of the park.”
“Statue of Ferdinand de Lesseps in front of Port Said, March 12, 1938
A magnificent global construction – the Suez Canal is like a gigantic golden key, a major gateway to arrive. I take this photo out of respect for this construction.”
Liner Président Doumer – Yan wrote on the back of the photo “1938, boat I took to arrive in France“
Arrived in Marseille on 17 March 1938
Disembarkation in Marseille, an obligatory crossing point for all arrivals from the Middle Country, then the train and finally Paris, Gare de Lyon. In March 1938, Yan had his first Parisian residency, at 123 Boulevard Saint-Michel, next to the Sorbonne and in the heart of the Latin Quarter.
