CHINA & I
As usual the fall was coming as a beautiful part of the Qu谷bec flamboyant red leaves season. We had the chance to have a school that boasted a large screening room where
We could see a cultural movie every wenesday afternoon. This particular mid-October
Day they were screening the ※KITE§ a wonderful story of adventure and youngsters
dreams, and friendship between Chinese and French pupils 每 as today I still clearly
picture in detail the face of the young girl playing the main role of the Chinese part 每
like a bliss, I fell in love instantly with her and this faraway land I had only seen in
my parents library and oat to the gods this would be my destiny 每
I was then six years old.
I have nearly covered the five continents 每 my father worked for the Swissair airline
company and were posted in various locations 每 Russia, Africa, Canada, Americas
and places of Europe - I was a true ※enfant du voyage§ as we say in French or a children
of the world. It was sad at some times as we had to often change schools and find
new friends but likewise a delight, as my parents always thought us that the best
way to integrate a culture and become part of it＊s country was to learn it and live it.
accept the differences, the changes, the food and languages, the religions and
cultures all these facets were new excitements to discovers but also rules to live by.
I would later use these teachings as assets to feel at home literally anywhere.
15 years later, Paris, France.
My bachelor studies are completed 每 it＊s fall again, under a more cloudy and romantic
atmosphere, preparing to enter my first year of university studies in industrial, com-munication and graphic design mastership we gather in front of the schools doors in
a shady 18th century house. Few scholars are already waiting, scattered here and there.
and here she stood 每 my very China 每 the one I had first met 15 years ago, once again;
carried by an unstoppable curiosity and desire I reached to her ※ are you Chinese?§ ※yes!§ she softly replied 每 this affirmative and brief answer started my true voyage to China.
Our work took us to New York, Paris, Shanghai and now Beijing where we live since 2 years and have successfully brought up our company 每 a design agency - working mostly for Chinese companies and some international names. Our daughter is 7 and goes to chinese school. This sweet today didn＊t come easy 每 we left a ※tranquil§ life for the wild train to the east 每 a melting pot of hard work, apprentice ship, guangsi learning, as well
as sometimes filling my business days with pedagogic teachings to my staff and clients rather than working sessions to share our knowledges about design and the field of
brand communication. But it＊s exactly where the inspiration comes: curiosity, vision
and the pleasure of creating, learning and listening, sharing and surpassing myself in
and for a country that gave us so much and to whom we can give back today.
My home country of Switzerland is a small but truly international one 每 we had to defend ourselves ※TOGETHER§ true history and together expand across the world 每 it is thus not innocent that Switzerland hosts most of the humanitarian organizations as well as the
Olympic one! We couldn＊t participate to the logo design of the Olympics, I missed the competition for the torch design; so now I take the task at heart because I just love the
hell of it and instead of disserting on ※why I should bee a torch bearer§ I rather boldly and without runarounds affirm:
I WANT to be a torch bearer 每
deep in my heart,
deep in my bones
and as far as the dreams reaches,
Because the colors of the Olympics run deep in my veins as the life I had was and still
is colorful in many ways. For my adoptive country - CHINA, my wife and daughter , my mother country and our very own world.
To have this ONE chance to say thank you in a visible, physical and spiritual way
to all the countries that made me and the people that accepted me as I am; carry their honors from the tip of the Olympic flame to the doors of the world Olympiads.
One dream, one world ＃ one wish.
C谷dric ALLEMANN
Beijing
