Montargis is a small town in central France.
Some founders and early leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) once studied and worked here.
They were participants in the "Work-Study Movement," during which thousands of progressive young Chinese were sent to France, where they worked in factories in Paris, Lyon and Montargis to pay for their studies.
Among those sent to Montargis, a small city around 100 km to the south of Paris, there was a young man called Deng Xiaoping, who later became the Chinese leader and the chief architect of China's reform and opening-up.
From July 6 to 10, 1920, those young Chinese met in the garden to discuss ways "to transform China and the world," and the idea of founding a communist party in China came up.
Hundreds of meters away from Durzy garden stands an about-300-year-old townhouse. Some rooms in the house were leased to the young Chinese in the 1920s. The building has now been turned into a museum.
An introduction on the first floor of the museum about Deng Xiaoping told visitors how he arrived in France in October 1920, when he had just turned 16.
Deng settled in Montargis and worked there as a laborer in the Hutchinson rubber factory in February 1922, when he experienced a major turning point in his life.
Following meetings and discussions with peers, Deng was attracted by Marxism and developed a better understanding of the world and China. From then on, he grew into a firm believer in Communism.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
