Transcipt:
Opening: 我们很高兴又有一位领事来到我们的直播室。谈到美食和美酒，大家都会想到这个地方。我们今天很高兴请到法国驻港总领事Mr. Alexandre Giorgini.
感谢你来到我们的节目！我们想先请总领事和我们打招呼。
我很高兴能来到香港电台，我觉得谈论文化是十分重要的，因为我们人与人之间能筑起桥梁。所以我今天很乐意回答你对法国的问题。
总领事来了香港不久，第一次上我们的节目。我们的第一条题目是他认为最有特色的法国文化是什么？
我觉得我们用上许多小时讨论，听众准备好听一整天吗？我是一个戏剧爱好者，我不知道为什么，可能因为在法国的学校，自小你就有很多机会在学校里做话剧和饰演经典的角色。每年七月，法国都会有一个戏剧为主题的节目——亚维侬艺术节Festival of Avignon。亚维侬是一个位于法国东南部的中世纪城市，在隆河的左边。它是法国境内非常适合种植葡萄园的地方，所以是一个很好的旅游胜地。那里有很多纪念碑。我想很多人不知道法国政府在中世纪14世纪从义大利俘虏了罗马主教，足足一个世纪。为了控制天主教，我们的国王菲力四世不单单选了法国波尔多主教为罗马主教，他更强迫他在19世纪于亚维侬创制，所以今天在亚维侬有主教的宫殿，也有中世纪的石桥，是一个很值得到访旅游的地方。在这一个月内，你会看到这个小乡镇摇身一变成为一个露天的舞台，每天晚上你都能发掘许多东西。就像一个嘉年华似的，遍布全城，不但会在广场，在纪念碑也会找到表演的身影。在这个天气晴朗的七月，会看到有各式各样的表演，例如舞蹈表演、戏剧表演、默剧等等。最有趣的是，不少新作品都为这个艺术节而诞生，所以这个节日其实法国戏剧届的「先导者」。
所以我们能在这里找到国际戏剧节目的首映吗？
许多节目的首映。人们参与的原因是第一，因为是首映，是实验性质，所以能找到各式各类的表演，从经典到现代的表演类型。表演落幕后，人们会聚在一起讨论研究刚刚的表演，这个非常有趣。第二个原因是在这个美丽的中世纪城市中，能找到经典和现代的完美融合。这提醒了我们生活是复杂的，没有一样东西是固定不变的代表。所以，去亚维侬吧！
我们十分向往前往看看。还有没有法国的特别文化和我们分享？
就正如我刚才所说，亲身去法国吧！就能亲自了解法国，有自己的判断。但是亚维侬是一个很好的地方，那里有文化，也有美食和美酒。
我还没有去过亚维侬，我只去过康城和尼斯。我想去亚维侬很久了。
那你对香港文化的印象呢？我知道领事来了这里几个月，我也知道领事非常喜欢中华文化，那香港文化呢？
我还有许多东西要学习，每天我都会在香港发掘到到新的事物，这是一个美好的地方。作为一个法国人，我喜欢新旧之间的对比，周末的时候我会在上环慢慢散步，那里有很多古董店。虽然我不是经常都会光顾，但和商店主人聊天十分有趣，他们对古董很有热情，喜欢和我分享它们的历史。我也享受在这个寻找到法国遗产的痕迹。你可能会觉得惊讶，但我喜欢在圣母无原罪主教座堂里工作，它的歌德式建筑风格是典型法国建筑风格。在里面，更会找到许多法国的艺术，例如它的玻璃窗就是在法国图尔制造。图尔在法国西北部，今天是制造空中巴士的地方。教堂的玻璃窗在一个世纪前制造。黄昏时太阳光从玻璃窗穿透进来，折射出的五颜六色的光线，十分美丽。
太好了!我希望领事能继续发掘更多不同的香港文化。
我感到很惊讶，因为我们知道香港有许多殖民时代的建筑物，但不知道原来也有法国的建筑。
我很欣赏香港的是现在正在重修前法国外方传道大楼。第二次世界大战后，大楼曾经是暂借香港政府作为行政基地，现在应该是立法机关的办公室，将会在2020年中重新启用。所以是重新赋予了它生命。我觉得对于香港这样一个城市，活化，而不是彻底拆除，是非常重要的。
第三个问题是请领事为我们介绍法国的国花或其他你觉得对法国有象征意义的花。
这是一条很难回答的问题，因为我们没有国花。但在君主时代，我们有一个灵感来自鸢尾的花朵，我们叫它「fleur-de-lis」，是法国君主的象征。
但我最喜欢的花是紫罗兰。今年我们庆祝了拿破仑250岁生辰，拿破仑很喜欢紫罗兰，因为是他第一次见到他的太太时她从腰带摘下来送给他的花。拿破仑是一名战士，也是一个有情之人。当他在1814被流放时，他对支持者说「不用担心，等到紫罗兰再盛开时我就会回来。」这是是他太太的建议。紫罗兰后来变成拿破仑支持者互相相认的神圣记号。
还有，花在我们的生命里十分重要，我一定要告诉各位听众，请送花给你们爱的人。我们真正需要的24小时营业商店其实应该是花店。
还有，其实香港区花洋紫荆是法国的传教士在19世纪发现的，这也是法国和香港美好的联系。
「书本」的法文是bouquin, 而比较再轻松的可以说「livre」，在现代，我们用这个字代表我们钟爱的书本。当你用这个字，代表我们能花上一整个周末休息，只是坐在家里看书。
法国人喜欢发梦。我们有一个美丽的短语「été dens la lune」，意思是在月亮之中。英文里应该是「you have your head in the clouds」。这个俚语说的是暂时与现实脱离、迷失。在西方的世界，月亮代表「梦」，是太阳的相反。太阳代表「活力，力量」，月亮是「梦，被动」。这个俚语很浪漫，我希望听众们都能「été dens la lune」。
We are glad to have Mr. Alexandre Giorgini, the Consul General of France in Hong Kong and Macau with us today.
Hi! Thank you for coming to our programme! Can you say some greetings to our listeners first?
I’m very happy to be in your RTHK, and I think speaking of culture is something essential, because we build bridges between our people, and it is essential, so today I will be really happy to answer your questions about France.
Is there anything you want to share with us about France, the most significant, representative of French culture, for instance maybe?
I think we can spend hours and hours, are your listeners ready for 24 hours? I will just show you the…I am a theatre lover, I don’t know exactly, maybe in French schools when you are a kid, you have many opportunities in school to train and play classic roles, as a kid.
And in France, every summer in July, you have the most amazing event dedicated to theatre, which is the Festival of Avignon. Avignon is a wonderful Medieval city in south-eastern France, on the left bunk of the Rhône River. Just to let the listeners know, it is a wonderful vineyard region, as in many parts of France, and it is absolutely worth visiting. The essential features are that it has many monuments, and I think not many people know the French government stole the Roman Pope in the Middle Ages, they stole it from Italy for 1 Century, in the 14th Century. In fact, to control the Catholic, our king Philip the 4th, not only organized the election of the French Bishop of Bordeuax as the Roman Pope, they even forced him to establish in Avignon 19th, that’s why you have today the Pope’s palace. There are Medieval stone bridges. All these everyday sites are worth visiting.
What can we find there, I would say that it is something that is amazing, during one month, you have the rural city which transforms itself into an open-air forum where you can discover more, every night. It is like a carnival, but everywhere in mid-town, on the squares, even in the monuments, in the buildings. Because it is in July, so the weather is nice, so you have dance, you have theatre, you have mime, you have all kinds of performances. 0400 And what is very interesting is most of the time, new works are created especially for this festival, which makes this festival in fact a “precursor” of theatrical creation in France.
That means we can see a lot of international premieres?
A lot of premieres. And people go there because first of all, you have premiere, so artists take risks, and they play modern style, new classics, or new texts, and it is absolutely free, experimental phrase. After the show, people gather, and they discuss between themselves, they judge, they criticize, it is really interesting.
The second reason why people like the Avignon Festival is it is the mix of classic and contemporary in a wonderful Medieval scenery. That reminds us of life is complex, you don’t have anything that represents you, represents all, represent white, represent black. And maybe this is the most efficient way to not to forget life is complex. So go to Avignon.
We are looking forward to go to see. Are there anything that Council General wants to tell us more about your special culture to your country?
I just said to your listeners, go visit France, and you will make your own opinions. But Avignon is a nice place because you have culture, you have food and wine.
I have never been to Avignon, I have only gone to Cannes and Nice, but I always want to go.
So how about the significant culture of Hong Kong? I know the Council General has been here for months, and I knew that you are very fond of Chinese culture too, so how about the Hong Kong culture?
Yes I have lot of things to learn, every day I make new discoveries in Hong Kong, that’s why it is such an amazing place. I have to say that as a French man, I love the contrast between old and new, at the weekends I love strolling around the streets of Sheung Wan districts, where you can find a lot of antique shops, I don’t always have money to afford, but it is always interesting to speak to the owners of the shops because they are very enthusiastic about what they sell. They like sharing their passion for the history of the objects.
I also appreciate finding some pieces of French heritage in Hong Kong. You may be surprised but I appreciate working in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, gothic style so purely French style. When you go there, you can find incredible French art, because some of the saint glass windows had been made in Tours. Tours is in the south-western part of France. Today it’s the place where we make airbus. The cathedral’s glass windows were made 1 century ago. It’s really beautiful at sunset to see the lights through the colours of the saint windows.
6. Wow, that’s really great! I hope Council General can stay longer and get to know culture.
I think it is also eye-opening for me, because of course we all know there is a lot of colonial architecture in Hong Kong, but hardly do we know that actually there are some French architecture in Hong Kong too.
What I appreciate about Hong Kong is now you are restoring the French mission building, which is in the very centre, near the cathedral. And after the WW2, the building was made the temporary quarters of the provisional Hong Kong Government. And now it is being revitalized as office for I think NGOs for the legal sector. So it will be a new life, and it will be completed in the mid 2020, so I think it is really important for such a city as Hong Kong not to fold the heritage but to revitalize and give a new life to the best of what you have.
7. That’s great. The third question will be can council general introduce the national flower or significant flowers of your country to our listeners?
Such a difficult question, because we don’t have any real national flower. But we have a national flower at the time of the king, it was a designed flower inspired by the iris, we call it “fleur-de-lis”, the symbol of the French monarch. But I have to say that I have one favourite French flower which is the violet. You may know that this year we are celebrating the 250th anniversary of birthday of a certain French man. He is quite well-know, his name is Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte was fond of violets, it is special as this flower came for his first meeting with his wife, his beloved Joséphine, because when they met for the first time, she gave him the bouquet of violets that she was wearing on her belt on that day. Napoleon was a warrior but he was also a lover, let’s not forget that. It is incredible to imagine that Napoleon was supposed to be a statesman, a warrior, when he left France for his first exile in 1814, he told his supporters “do not worry, I will be back, and I will be back when violets will flourish again” And it was of course the recommendation of Josephine. When monarchy is restored after the fall of the empire, violets became in fact a sacred signal for supporters of Napoleon used to recognize each other.
There is one thing, if you are talking about flowers, flowers are really the most important in life, I have to say to listeners, please offer flowers to the people you love, it is the most important thing in life. The only shop we need for 24 hours a day for emergency are flowers to show to people that we love them. And I think you listeners have to know that the bauhinia flower in Hong Kong was discovered by a French catholic missionary at the end of the 19th century, so I think it is a wonderful cultural link between France and Hong Kong.
Finally we want to ask council general to demonstrate any lately, current, trendy words of your country.
The French word of book is “livre”. But if you like you can use the word “booklet” This word, came from English, appears in 15th century. It is a way to speak about a useless old book. After years, we can use this word to speak about the book that we love. If you use the word bouquin , (or you can say livre more casually) - you can spend a whole weekend just relaxing, do nothing, just sit at home reading.
We like to dream, as French people. We have a beautiful expression which is “été dens la lune”, it means “summer in the moon”, just to be in the moon. I think in English it is you have your head in the clouds. This idiom refers to the behavior of disconnected from reality, just lost. In our western mentality, the moon refers to dream, the contrary to the sun. The sun is “activity, energy”. Moon is “dream, passivity”. You can use this idiom to speak about someone who is lost in his house. I would say to “be in the moon”, it’s nice and romantic. I hope many of your listeners like to be in the moon.
