PARIS - Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, visited the Orsay Museum and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) headquarters on invitation in Paris on Monday.

Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, warmly welcomed Peng at the gate of the museum in the afternoon. The wives of the two heads of state entered the museum to appreciate the "Paris 1874 Inventing Impressionism" exhibition and the museum's masterpiece oil paintings.

The two stopped from time to time to appreciate Impressionist classic works by Claude Monet, Van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and other famous painters, and exchanged feelings.

Noting that both the Chinese and French people love painting very much, Peng expressed her hope that the two sides could carry out more exchanges so that the two peoples could feel the charm of each other's cultures and deepen mutual understanding.

Peng hoped that artists of the two countries will strengthen exchanges and mutual learning, and inspire each other to create more exquisite works of art.

In the hall of the museum, the wives of the two heads of state had cordial exchanges with French students who were visiting and studying there.

The students shared their experiences of learning Chinese and expressed their love for Chinese culture. Peng encouraged them to work hard to learn Chinese well, and take opportunities to study in China, walk around and take a look, so that they can get a true and multi-dimensional view of China.

Peng said she hopes that the students will become little envoys of China-France friendship and build a bridge of communication between the two peoples so that China-France friendship will be passed on from generation to generation.

Founded in 1986, the Orsay Museum is a French national museum, which has the richest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist artworks in the world.

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On Monday morning, upon the arrival of Peng at the UNESCO headquarters, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay warmly welcomed her at the entrance.

Azoulay accompanied Peng, who is also a UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education, to visit an exhibition on the ten-year achievements of cooperation between China and UNESCO, and spoke highly of China's contribution to the development of girls' and women's education around the world.

Peng briefed Azoulay on China's latest progress in promoting girls' and women's education, especially the achievements of the Spring Bud Project, a Chinese nationwide drive to help dropout girls return to school and to improve teaching conditions in impoverished areas.

Peng said that serving as the UNESCO special envoy for the advancement of girls' and women's education in the past decade, she has visited many schools in various countries and is delighted to see more and more women being able to have a better live thanks to education.

Promoting girls' and women's education is a great cause that is closely related to social progress and the shared future for humanity. The Chinese side is willing to work with UNESCO to encourage increased global investment in girls' and women's education, help more women obtain equal access to education rights and jointly create a better future, she added.

For her part, Azoulay highly praised Peng's work and contributions as the special envoy, expressing UNESCO's willingness to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China to promote new developments in global girls' and women's education.

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Azoulay presented Peng with a ten-year service honor certificate. Peng presented UNESCO with a tapestry titled "blooming spring bud" co-created by beneficiaries of the Spring Bud Project.