曾繁兴 －中华之光
(Pictured, On 11 January 2013 at Chinese Culture Promoters of the Year, CCTV 4, Beijing, People’s Republic of China)
Right from our first meeting in the early 1900’s, a strong bond started to be woven between Mr. Zeng Fanxing and I.
I was impressed by his sharpness of mind, his vision, his witty repartees drawing upon a seemingly unfathomable pool of knowledge of world history, cultures, poetry and music, but also, his humanity. Rare things to be found blended together into the same person.
These assets were collected over years of working as a teacher, a diplomat stationed for a long time in Europe and a job of Deputy-Director of the Commonwealth Foundation that took him to visit more than a hundred countries around the globe. He even found the time to indulge into prolific writing both poetry and prose, like his “Hakka Epic”, and in both English and French.
When he became Minister of Arts & Culture, I was proud to work alongside him as his Adviser. He was, at the time, the only minister of Chinese origin in a non-Chinese government in the world. Which also says something for the great multi-cultural society that is Mauritius. Mr. Zeng was instrumental in setting up a National Library and a National Art Gallery amongst other major achievements.
He also played a major role in strengthening the bonds between China and Mauritius.
In 1997, Mr. ZengFanxing appointed me as Chairman of the Mauritius Film Development Corporation as he believed in the future of an image industry. This year, his dream will become reality as the government has introduced a Film Incentive Scheme to encourage co-productions with foreign countries including China.
Mr. Zeng digs into the Chinese culture, so dear to his heart, to dispense wisdom and guidance around him and to encourage intercultural exchanges, as he firmly believes that Culture is the ideal bridge and the great leveler between nations.
It is my great pleasure, and honour, to present to you a man who certainly merits the award “Brilliance of China”, my friend and brother, Mr. ZengFanxing.