Chateau Chieve, a city in the southwest of Bordeaux, has a long history of winemaking, and its wines are world-famous. The special "Bordeaux Red Wine" is listed as the "Queen" of the world wine, and a bottle of century-old wine can sell for more than 30,000 US dollars in the international market. Cannes, located on the Mediterranean coast, is a small town with beautiful scenery and pleasant climate. The Cannes Film Festival held here every year is very lively, and its Palme d 'Or award is recognized as one of the highest honors in the film industry. French fashion enjoys a high reputation in the world, with rich and excellent materials, bold design and superb production technology, which has always guided the world fashion trend. There are 2000 fashion shops in Paris, and the slogan of their bosses is: "Fashion doesn't sell the second one". On the street, it is almost impossible to see two women wearing the same clothes. French people are honest and like nature. More than half of French families keep all kinds of small animals, with a total number of more than 30 million.
France is a civilized and polite country, and courtesy to women is a tradition that the French have always been proud of.
Country name: France * * * Republic of China (French, la République fran? Aise, RF, English, The Republic of France)
Interpretation of the country name: "France" evolved from the name of the Frankish tribe, meaning "brave" and "free".
Ethnic composition: mainly French, but also ethnic minorities such as Brittany, Basque, Corsica, Flemish, Catalan, Germanic, Slavic, North African and Indian zhina.
Language: French (local dialects include Provence dialect, Brittany dialect, Corsican dialect and Germanic dialect)
Religion: France is mainly Catholic, followed by Protestantism, Orthodox Church, Islam and Judaism.
Capital: Paris.
Population: 6339.2 1 10,000 (2007)
Currency: Euro, Franc
Now it is the fifth Republic of France.
Current President: Nicolas Sarkozy
Current Prime Minister: francois fillon
National Day: July 14 (1880 Parliament confirmed the Bastille Day as National Day to commemorate the French bourgeois revolution).
Heritage Day: officially started on the third Saturday and Sunday in September (1984), and the initial event was held on the third Sunday in September. With the promotion of Jacques Lang, then Minister of Culture, many historical and cultural heritages in deep palaces were opened to the public, with the aim of letting more people know about their love and protecting human historical and cultural heritage. The original name was "National Cultural Relics Open Day", and it was/kloc-0. )
National Flag: The French national flag is one of the most important national flags in the world, which has an important influence on the development of national flags in post-world countries.
Shapes and patterns:
The French flag is rectangular, and the ratio of length to width is 3: 2. The flag surface consists of three parallel and equal vertical rectangles, which are blue, white and red from left to right. The earliest tricolor flags were arranged differently from today, with red on the left. Blue is the color of Saint Martin's robe, which symbolizes freedom. White commemorates Joan of Arc, a national hero, symbolizing equality. Red is the color of the flag of saint-denis, symbolizing fraternity.
Source and history:
France's national flag is famous for its tricolor flag, which first appeared during the French bourgeois revolution (French Revolution) in 1789, and the Paris National Self-Defense Force took the tricolor flag as its team flag. White is in the middle, representing the king and symbolizing the sacred position of the king; Red and blue are on both sides, representing the citizens of Paris; At the same time, these three colors symbolize the French royal family and the Paris bourgeois alliance, and the tricolor flag was once a symbol of the French Revolution. 1February, 794 15, the flag was finally determined as the national flag of France.
When the Bourbon Dynasty was restored, the tricolor flag was abolished and the royal fleur-de-lis was used instead. However, after the July Revolution in 1830, the tricolor flag became the national flag of France again and continues to this day.
The French flag is called by the French as:
le drapeau tricolore
le drapeau bleu-blanc-rouge
le drapeau de la France
Sometimes it's called le tricolore, and it's called les couleurs orally.
The French flag is also called French tricolor (American English) or French tricolor (British English) by people who use English.
National Emblem: France has no official national emblem, but it has traditionally adopted the coat of arms of the Great Revolution as the national symbol. The coat of arms is oval, and it is painted with one of the symbols popular during the Great Revolution-the bundle of sticks, which is a symbol of authority used by senior law enforcement officers in ancient Rome. Both sides of the bundle are decorated with olive branches and oak branches, and the ribbon wound between them reads "freedom, equality and fraternity" in French. The whole design is decorated with ribbons with Roman legion medals.
National anthem: La Marseillaise.
National flowers: iris, rose
National bird: rooster
National Stone: Pearl
head of the state
President Nicolas Sarkozy was elected in May 2007; Bernard Accoyer, Speaker of the National Assembly, was elected in June 2007; Francois Fillon, Prime Minister, took office in May 2007; Jean-Louis Debre, President of the French Constitutional Council, took office in February 2007.
physical geography
The area is 550.160,000 square kilometers (including Corsica). France is bordered by the sea on three sides and is the largest country in western Europe.
Location: Located in the western part of Europe, bordering Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Andorra and Monaco, facing Britain across the Lamanche Strait in the northwest, and bordering the four major sea areas of the North Sea, the English Channel, the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, Corsica Island in the Mediterranean Sea is the largest island in France.
Terrain: high in the southeast and low in the northwest, open to the Atlantic Ocean. The eastern part is the Alps and Jura mountains; The south-central part is the central plateau; There are Pyrenees mountains on the southwest border; The southwest area between the central plateau and the Pyrenees is the aquitaine Basin. The northern part is the Paris basin; The northwest is Amauri Hill. The plain accounts for two thirds of the total area.
Mountains: Alps, Pyrenees, Jura Mountains, etc. Mont Blanc on the French-Italian border is 48 10 meters above sea level, which is the highest peak in Europe.
Rivers: Loire River (10 10 km), Rhone River (8 12 km) and Seine River (776 km). Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea is the largest island in France. The total length of the border line is 5695 kilometers, of which the coastline is 2700 kilometers, the land line is 2800 kilometers, and the inland river line is 195 kilometers.
Climate: the climate in the west is maritime temperate broad-leaved forest, the climate in the south is subtropical Mediterranean, and the climate in the middle and east is continental. The average precipitation increases from 600 mm to over 1000 mm from northwest to southeast, and reaches over 1 500 mm in mountainous areas. Monthly average temperature: 4-7℃ in the west and south,1-3℃ in the east and north in January; In July, north and west 16- 18℃, south and east 2 1-24℃.
Minerals: Iron, coal and bauxite are abundant, as well as lead, zinc, uranium and potassium salt. The forest land coverage rate is 26.4%.
Population: 60.628 million (2000), including 3.5 million foreign nationals, of whom1400,000 are from EU countries, and there are Alsace, Bretom, Corsican, Basque, Flemish and others on the border. Common French. Among the residents, 81.4% believe in Catholicism, 6.89% believe in Islam, and others believe in Protestantism, Judaism, Buddhism and other religions.
administrative division
Divided into regions, provinces and towns. The province consists of prefectures and counties, but it is not an administrative region. The county is the judicial and electoral unit. The French mainland is divided into 22 regions, 96 provinces, 4 overseas provinces, 4 overseas territories and 2 local administrative regions with special status. There are 36,565 municipalities in China, including 34,000 with a population of less than 3,500, 23 1 municipality with a population of over 30,000, and 37 municipalities with a population of over10000.
The 22 regions are: Alsace, aquitaine, Ovigne, Bourgogne, Brittany, Central China, Champagne-Ardennes, Corsica, Franche-Gondai, Paris Region, Languedoc-Roucion, Limzan, Lorraine, Pyrenees Sul, Strait of Northern Calais, basse-normandie, Upper Normandy, Loire, Picardi, and Paris.
The four overseas provinces are: GuaDroop, Martinique, French Guiana and Reunion.
The four overseas territories are: French Polynesia, New Caledonia, wallis islands and Futuna Islands, French Southern Hemisphere and Antarctic Territory (the chief executive of this territory is based in reunion island, a French overseas province). )
The two local administrative regions are Mayotte Island, Saint Pierre Island and Miquelon Island.
history
The Gauls settled here in BC. In 1 century BC, Caesar, the governor of Gaul in Rome, occupied all Gaul and was ruled by Rome for 500 years. In the 5th century AD, the Franks conquered Gaul and established the Frankish Kingdom. /kloc-after 0/0 century, feudal society developed rapidly. 1337 The British king coveted the French throne and the "Hundred Years' War" broke out. In the early days, a large area of France was occupied by Britain, and the king of France was captured. After that, the French people waged an anti-aggression war and ended the Hundred Years' War in 1453.
/kloc-a centralized country was formed from the end of 0/5th century to the beginning of 0/6th century. /kloc-in the middle of the 0/7th century, the absolute monarchy reached its peak. With the development of bourgeois forces, on July 4th 1789 14, Paris citizens armed with weapons were attacking the Bastille. Only seven people were held in the prison at that time, but the citizens fought fiercely for it for a day and sacrificed 98 people. 1789 On August 26th, the program of the French Revolution, the Declaration of Human Rights and Civil Rights, was formally adopted.
1789, Voltaire and Rousseau died 1 1 year later, the French revolution broke out. 1789 French revolution broke out, the monarchy was abolished, and the first Republic was established on September 22nd, 1792. 1799 1 1 9 (foggy month 18), Napoléon Bonaparte seized power, 1804 proclaimed himself emperor and established the first empire. 18041On February 2nd, Notre Dame held a grand coronation ceremony, and Napoléon Bonaparte became the first emperor of France. 187 1 March18th, the people of Paris held an armed uprising and founded the Paris commune. At the end of May of the same year, it was brutally suppressed by the French army. 1848 February Revolution broke out and the second Republic was established. 185 1 year President louis bonaparte launched a coup, and the second empire was established in the following year1February.
1870 was defeated in the Franco-Prussian War, and the third republic was established in September of 187 1 until June of 1940, when the French Petain government surrendered to Germany, and the third republic was destroyed. France was invaded by Germany during World War I and World War II. 1944, the triumph of the French Arc de Triomphe finally ushered in a real triumph.
Under the leadership of Charles de Gaulle, the French people who fought for freedom not only made due contributions to the victory over fascism, but also paved the way for the revival of France after the war.
1944 announced the establishment of an interim government, with Charles de Gaulle as the head. 1946 adopted the constitution and established the fourth Republic. 1958 a new constitution was adopted in September, and the fifth Republic was established. In the same year1February, Charles de Gaulle was elected president. 1959, France announced that it accepted the national self-determination of colonial Algeria, thus starting to bid farewell to colonialism.
1963, France and the Federal Republic of Germany signed the Franco-German Friendship Treaty, and since then they have reconciled with their old enemy Germany.
1964 1 On 27th, France established diplomatic relations with New China, becoming the first western power to recognize New China.
1966, France announced its withdrawal from NATO and ordered the United States to remove its troops and bases on French territory within one year.
France, which adheres to an independent foreign policy, has become a balancing force in the world pattern. It is in this pursuit of ideals that France has embarked on its own path with its outstanding temperament.
politics
The President is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, with a term of five years (changed to five years in June 2000, and a referendum is scheduled to be held on September 24, compared with seven years before), and is directly elected by voters. The President has the power to appoint and remove the Prime Minister and ministers who approve the nomination of the Prime Minister; Preside over cabinet meetings, the Supreme National Defense Conference and the National Defense Commission; Have the right to dissolve parliament; Some important bills can be directly submitted to a referendum without going through parliament; In an emergency, the president has the full power to "take necessary measures according to the needs of the situation." When the President is unable to perform his duties or is vacant, the President of the Senate shall act as the President during his resignation. Parliament is composed of the National Assembly and the Senate. It has the power to make laws, supervise the government, pass budgets and approve the declaration of war.
The National Assembly * * * has 577 seats, with a term of five years, and is directly elected by voters by adopting two rounds of direct majority voting. The Senate ***32 1 seat, with a term of nine years and re-election every three years1/3, is indirectly elected by an electoral college composed of members of the National Assembly and local councils at all levels.
1July 3, 9951day, the French parliament passed a constitutional amendment. This bill empowers the president to make more use of referendums to solve economic and social problems. At the suggestion of the government, the Senate and the National Assembly, the President of France can put all reform plans concerning public power organizations and French economic or social policies to a referendum.
Presidential Palace-Elysee Palace, Prime Minister's Office-Matignon Palace, National Assembly-Bourbon Palace.
Diplomacy: France is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, a founding member and an important member of the European Union, and a member of NATO (but does not participate in NATO military integration institutions). Since the establishment of France's Fifth Republic in 1958, successive governments have basically followed the independent foreign policy formulated by Charles de Gaulle to safeguard national independence. The EU is the foundation of French diplomacy. France is committed to promoting the construction of Europe, building the EU into a truly independent pole, and giving full play to the core role of France in it; Promote multi-polarization, develop and strengthen inter-regional cooperation between Europe and Asia; Strive for a favorable position among big countries; Maintain and develop traditional relations with African countries and promote developed countries to increase aid to Africa; Actively participate in the Middle East peace process and related hot issues; Strengthen political and economic relations with Asia and Latin America.
economy
France is the second largest exporter of agricultural products in the world after the United States. The main industrial sectors are mining, metallurgy, automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding, machinery manufacturing, textile, chemistry, electrical appliances, power, daily consumer goods, food processing and construction. Emerging industrial sectors such as nuclear energy, petrochemical industry, marine development, aviation and aerospace have developed rapidly in recent years, and their proportion in industrial output value has been increasing. Nuclear power equipment capacity, petroleum and petroleum processing technology rank second in the world, second only to the United States; The aviation and aerospace industry ranks third in the world after the United States and CIS. Iron and steel industry and textile industry rank sixth in the world. However, the traditional industrial sector is still dominant in the industry, among which steel, automobile and construction are the three pillars. The proportion of industry in the national economy is gradually decreasing. The proportion of tertiary industry in French economy is increasing year by year. Among them, the business volume of telecommunications, information, tourism services and transportation departments has increased greatly, and the service industry employees account for about 70% of the total labor force.
French business is relatively developed, and food sales are the most profitable. Among all kinds of shops, supermarkets and chain stores are the most dynamic, accounting for almost half of all commercial activities. The reserves of iron ore in France are about 7 billion tons, but the grade is low and the mining cost is high. Most of the iron ore needed depends on imports. Coal reserves are about 2 10/000 million tons (including lignite1000 million tons), and those with mining value are about1470 million tons. Bauxite reserves are about 90 million tons. Non-ferrous metal reserves are very small, and almost all of them depend on imports. Oil reserves are only over 30 million tons. Natural gas reserves are 250 billion cubic meters, and 99% of the required oil and 75% of natural gas are imported. Hydraulic resources are about10 million kilowatts, and nuclear energy, hydraulic resources and geothermal energy are fully developed and utilized. The forest area is about15 million hectares, accounting for 25% of the total forest area in the EU. The per capita green area is 0.28 hectares and the forest coverage rate is 26.7%. Agriculture is very developed, combining farming with animal husbandry and comprehensive development. Mainly produces wheat, barley, corn, sugar beet, potato, tobacco, grapes, apples, vegetables and flowers. Wine production ranks first in the world. There are dairy, meat animal husbandry and egg industry. France is the largest agricultural producer in the European Union and a major exporter of agricultural and sideline products in the world.
With the urbanization of French population, the rural population is decreasing, and the land area in France is 55 million hectares, of which 61%is agricultural land, 27% is forestry land and12% is non-agricultural land. 96% of agricultural land is owned by families. The traditional regional structure of agriculture is: the central and northern regions are the main producing areas of cereals, oilseeds, vegetables and beets, the western and mountainous regions are the main producing areas of feed crops, and the Mediterranean coast and southwest regions are the main producing areas of perennial crops (grapes and fruits). Mechanization is the main means to improve agricultural productivity, and law has basically realized agricultural mechanization. Agro-food processing industry is one of the pillar industries of France's foreign trade export surplus. Twenty-four of Europe's top 100 agro-food industrial groups are in France, and seven of the world's top 100 agro-food industrial groups are in France. The export of agricultural and sideline products in France ranks first in the world, accounting for11%of the world market.
France is a world-famous tourist country. Paris, the capital, the scenic spots along the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean and the Alps are all tourist attractions. In addition, there are some famous historical cities, castles along the Loire River, fishing villages in Brittany and Normandy, Corsica and so on. Some famous museums in France collect the precious heritage of world culture.
France is also a big trading country in the world, and its foreign trade has two characteristics: first, its imports exceed its exports, resulting in a trade deficit. The imported commodities mainly include energy and industrial raw materials, while the exported commodities mainly include machinery, automobiles, chemical products, steel, agricultural products, food, clothing, cosmetics and arms. On the other hand, non-product technology exports are growing rapidly, and pure technology exports are playing an increasingly important role in the whole export trade.
The main source of French government's fiscal revenue is tax, which is higher than that of the United States, Japan and other countries, mainly from value-added tax, as well as income tax, corporate tax, social welfare tax and so on. Member States of the European Economic Community. Important seaports include Marseille, le havre, Dunkirk, Nantes, Saint Nazaire and Rouen.
culture
/kloc-Since the beginning of the 7th century, French classical literature has ushered in its own glorious period, with the emergence of literary giants such as Moliere, Stendhal, Balzac, Dumas, victor hugo, Flaubert, Dumas, Zola, guy de maupassant and romain rolland. Many of their works have become treasures of world literature. Notre Dame de Paris, Red and Black, Old Man Gao, The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables and John Christophe have been translated into world literature and widely circulated in the world. Detective stories include Maurice Lebron's Grand Theft Auto Arsene Luoping and George Simenon's Inspector Megray. In modern times, French art is quite innovative on the basis of inheriting the tradition. Not only have there been sculptors like Rodin, but also representatives of impressionism and fauvism like Monet and Matisse. Since the17th century, France's leading position in the field of industrial design and art design has long been obvious to all. Schools specializing in practical art, architecture, fashion design and industrial design have long been famous overseas for their "Made in France" commercial achievements.
The French love sports, and the popular sports include football, tennis, rugby, groundball, sailing, swimming, skiing, and cycling. Well-known universities include Paris University and Lyon University.
Cannes International Film Festival is one of the five largest film festivals in the world. It is held in Cannes, a seaside town in southeastern France, every May. It is one of the earliest and largest international film festivals in the world, lasting about two weeks. 1956 The highest prize was "Golden Duck Award", and 1957 was changed to "Golden Palm Award".
Press and publication
The main newspapers are: le figaro, Le Monde, French Evening News, Liberation and Paris Daily. The local newspapers mainly include: The French West, which has the largest circulation in France; Voice of the North. The main weekly magazines are Express, Viewpoint, New Observer, paris match Pictorial, Figaro Magazine, etc. There are about 6,000 publishing houses in France.