COLORS OF CHINA, HISTORICAL PARTNER

A nice travel souvenir!

The story of Qwetch begins when Stéphane Miquel travels to China in Danian, on the occasion of a stay with friends with the head of the humanitarian association Couleurs de Chine, Françoise Grenot-Wang. Over there, everyone drinks loose leaf tea, all the time and above all everywhere: at home, in the rice fields, at work, on the bus, in the parks, alone or with family... Seduced by this culture, he decides on his return to France to develop the concept of "nomadic teapot". He adapts the traditional container in which the Chinese infuse their tea to the requirements of Western tea and infusion drinkers. And so in 2010 the Qwetch adventure began!

What is the association Couleurs de Chine?

Couleurs de Chine is an association under the law of 1901, apolitical and non-confessional. It was created in 1990, with the initial objective of promoting the culture of China's ethnic minorities in France. In 1997, Françoise Grenot-Wang, founder of the association, worked as an interpreter for a team of Médecins sans Frontières in the region of the Great Miao Mountains in Guangxi. She is moved by the difficulties of schooling for little girls because, in fact, in most schools in these Miao and Dong villages, almost no girl is educated because of the poverty of the families, priority going to boys. Thus, in the spring of 1998, the association Couleurs de Chine started its action to help the schooling of little girls from minorities in the Great Miao Mountains. Originally purely cultural, the association thus took on an essentially humanitarian dimension.

His missions

In 1998, in the 100 villages where Couleurs de Chine operates, practically no girl went to school. Today nearly 5,100 young people (mostly girls) go to school, college, high school, higher education establishments or university thanks to the generosity of the sponsors and patrons of the NGO . At the end of the 2017-2018 school year, the workforce sponsored by Couleurs de Chine consisted of 2,052 students in primary school, 1,141 in middle school and 793 in high school and university. In total, more than 12,000 students have been helped by the association in 20 years!

The association is active in the districts of Rongshui (Miao autonomous district) and Sanjiang (Dong autonomous district) in Guangxi, as well as in the district of Congjiang (district of the Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture of Qiandongnan) in Guizhou. Thanks to sponsorships from companies, associations or individual donations to Couleurs de Chine, numerous construction and rehabilitation, development and equipment projects have been carried out in more than 80 schools and school buildings ( dormitories, refectories, etc.).

The association also aims to help local people preserve their cultural traditions. Typically, Couleurs de Chine finances the maintenance, restoration or reconstruction of community buildings such as the "drum towers" of the Dong or the "luchen pavilions" of the Miaos, but also by encouraging the wearing of traditional costumes, the helping to set up music and dance troupes in schools or helping with village festivals.