The Centre culturel de Chine à Paris (Paris China Cultural Center) is a Chinese cultural institution in France that China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism has described as  part of a network that is described by as an ‘official non-profit cultural institution dispatched by the Chinese government,’ whose mission is to promote Chinese culture abroad. Inaugurated on November 29, 2002, as the first such center in a Western country, it was jointly opened by then-Vice Premier of the State Council Li Lanqing (李嵐清) and former French Minister of Overseas Affairs Bridget Girardin. The center hosts exhibitions, film screenings, language courses, and seasonal festivals. In its “About Us” page, the Center says its mission is “telling China’s story well” (講好中國故事) and presenting a “trustworthy, lovable and respectable” image of China — standard party-state language that highlights Xi Jinping’s directive that media and cultural institutions must work internationally to strengthen external propaganda. Unlike similar centers such as Germany’s Goethe-Institut, which is registered as a politically independent association, or the British Council, which operates under an independent Board of Trustees at arm’s length from the UK government, the Paris center operates under direct ministerial authority with no independent governing body.