Macron will visit the northern city’s famous terracotta warriors along with his wife Brigitte before delivering a keynote speech on the future of Franco-Chinese relations.
French President Emmanuel Macron today launched a state visit to China in Xian — the starting point of the ancient Silk Road — in a nod to his counterpart’s scheme to revive the famous trading route.
Macron will visit the northern city’s famous terracotta warriors along with his wife Brigitte before delivering a keynote speech on the future of Franco-Chinese relations.
The 8,000-man clay army, crafted around 250 BC for the tomb of China’s first emperor Qin Shihuang, is a symbol of ancient Chinese artistic and military sophistication in a country that proclaims itself a 5,000-year-old civilisation.
Macron is beginning the three-day visit in Xian as a gesture to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s colossal New Silk Road project, an ambitious initiative to connect Asia and Europe by road, rail and sea.
