The Jiangsu Football City League — better known as “Su Chao” — moved from local pitches in eastern China to the banks of the Seine on Sept. 17, when the China Cultural Center in Paris hosted “When ‘Su Chao’ Meets the World,” an international communication event built around Sino-French cultural exchange, GlobeNewswire reported.
The gathering was hosted by the Information Office of the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government and co-organized by Modern Express and the Information Office of the Taizhou Municipal People’s Government. It drew guests from Sino-French cultural, sports, tourism and media circles, according to the report also carried by The Manila Times.
Su Chao has grown into one of China’s most vibrant grassroots football tournaments, the release said. Zhu Xiaoyun, deputy director of the China Cultural Center in Paris, said the league turns local matches into a new form of cultural consumption that blends sport with urban tourism.
Historical Ties Between Jiangsu and Paris
Zheng Chunping, editor-in-chief of Modern Express, pointed to the long history linking Jiangsu province and Paris — from Jiangsu silk displayed at the Palace of Versailles to Chinese historical figures who studied in France — as evidence of a continuing cross-cultural dialogue, the report said.
Taizhou, the Inaugural Champion, Takes the Stage
Taizhou, the city that claimed the inaugural “Su Chao” championship, was prominently featured at the event. Wearing her team’s jersey, Taizhou representative Lu Chunyan delivered a presentation that quoted Guillaume Apollinaire’s poem “Le Pont Mirabeau” and invited French guests to visit the 2,100-year-old eastern water city and its tranquil lifestyle. Additional footage from the presentation is available on YouTube.
French attendees responded warmly to the invitation. Marie-Pierre Boucher-Hollier, UN Tourism Special Advisor, praised Su Chao for embodying resilience — a spirit she said she recognized from her brother’s Olympic decathlon career for France. François De La Chevalerie from the Fondation Charles de Gaulle said he hoped Chinese football would soon produce a global icon akin to basketball’s Yao Ming. Youth development experts from Paris clubs said football’s universal values transcend borders and voiced optimism about future joint youth training programs, as shown in event footage on YouTube.
Jersey Exchanges Along the Seine
The event closed with a symbolic jersey exchange between Taizhou and French club AS Beauvais Oise, alongside jersey presentations from Paris FC and FC Plessis-Robinson to Modern Express. Guests also toured a photo exhibition of passionate stadium moments and the modern charm of Jiangsu’s 13 cities. Full event video is available on YouTube.
What the Paris Event Signaled for Grassroots Football
Organizers framed the gathering as proof that grassroots football can open a new window for the world to see a modern China — a theme echoed by the youth-development experts from Parisian clubs who pointed to possible joint training programs between French and Chinese sides as a next step.
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