ABSTRACT
At this stage of my study and taking into account the questions examined, I would argue that the existence as well as the manifestation of a form of Francophonie peculiar to Asia is an indisputable historical fact. If colonization was a premise of Francophonie for the traditional French-speaking world, what would be the conditions for the gestation of a form of Francophonie in a country that had not experienced an official phase of colonization? To make any telling statement on the presence of French culture in Asia in the countries and territories excluded from the Francophone zone would require a study on a case-by-case basis of the manifestations of Francophone cultures across all these cultures. Although these countries escaped classical colonization, they played host to French culture at a certain point in their history, which explains the unique characteristics of their Francophone heritage. The conditions in which these cultures come into contact with French culture, the ways in which it coexists with the local culture, and finally, the processes of transfer of French cultural products – all these aspects will frame the main thrusts of my research in this chapter. Given the immensity but also the delicate nature of the subject, it would be wise to circumscribe our object of study to a specific case as a starting point. From this perspective, I will look at the Chinese case, which will be treated here as an example of what happened in other countries touched by French culture. The elements contributing to the Chinese Francophonie analyzed in this chapter will aim to demonstrate the conditions under which a country considered as non-French can have a French heritage, and the forms in which this French expression can survive. The aim of our approach is to illustrate that there is a form of Francophonie based on a process of cultural transfer and cohabitation in non-Francophone Asian countries. From there it will be possible to extend the Chinese case to other Asian countries that have experienced a similar acculturation process due to coming into contact with French culture in the same way.
