I just read the letter of Professor Liu Qinghua announcing the death of Professor Zhang Kaiyuan. I beg to express to you, to Professor Zhang Kaiyuan’s family, and to all my friends and colleagues at Central China Normal University my deep sadness and heartfelt sympathy.

I had read some of Professor Zhang Kaiyuan’s articles early in the 1960’s. I had the chance to meet him personally for the first time in Beijing in May 1978, when he visited my Professor Chen Qinghua （陈庆华） in 北大. We then would meet regularly at scholarly conferences in China. He came to my home in Paris in 1990, and I still remember vividly our long talk. He invited me for one month to lecture in Wuhan in 2003, and showed me a lot around in Wuhan and Hubei province, It was one of my most enriching and pleasant experience in China. We shared a common interest for 张謇. I was lucky to see him several times later on. He was a great scholar, a deep historian, and a strong personality, full of humanity, courage, righteousness, and foresight. He has worked and done so much, for so many people everywhere. I shall keep his memory very dearly with the memory of other Chinese scholars of his generation who also lived a hard life, but never complained, and succeeded in giving lasting works to their generation and future ones.

With best regards.

Marianne BASTID-BRUGUIÈRE

Membre de l’Institut de France

Directeur de recherche émérite au CNRS