Cheng Zhifan (; 27 June 1927 – 1 February 2021) was a Chinese-French musician, painter, collector, and political activist. She has run for the

President of France The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the po ...

three times. She has held a number of personal exhibitions in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Her works are collected in the Paris Oriental Museum and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

Biography

Cheng was born in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in 1927, to

Cheng Shewo Cheng Shewo (; 28 August 18981 January 1991) was a journalist, publisher, and educator of the Republic of China. He was the founder of Shih Hsin University in Taiwan. Biography Cheng was born in Nanjing in 1898, with his ancestral home in Xiangx ...

(1898–1991), a journalist, publisher, and educator, and Yang Fan (). She has an older sister, Cheng Youshu (1924–2021), a diplomat and poet, and a younger brother, Cheng Siwei (1935–2015), an economist, chemical engineer, and politician. At the age of 11, Cheng was accepted to Shanghai Academy of Music; after graduation, she taught at the

Shanghai Conservatory of Music The Shanghai Conservatory of Music (SHCMusic) is a municipal public college in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the City of Shanghai and is part of the Double First-Class Construction. The college was founded on November 27, 1927. The Sh ...

. In 1947, Cheng moved to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and taught at Hong Kong School of Sacred Music. In May 1951, the French pianist

Germaine Mounier Germaine Mounier (7 February 1920 – 27 June 2006) was a 20th-century French classical pianist and music educator. Biography Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Mounier won First prize at the Conservatoire de Paris. She worked the piano with Yves Nat an ...

visited China and took her as an apprentice; in November, the pianist took her to Paris. In 1953, she married Philippe Bertrand () in a Christian church. In April 1973, Cheng founded the French Taoist Association and served as its president. In October 1981, Cheng ran for the

for the first time but was unsuccessful. In 1988, she ran for the office for the second time and failed again. She ran for the third time in 1995, but the French Interior Department has no proof of her participation in the presidential election. Zhifan died on 1 February, 2021, at the age of 93.

Award

* 1995 Silver Medal for Paris Artists

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Zhifan 1928 births Musicians from Beijing 20th-century French women musicians French women activists French women painters 20th-century Chinese musicians Academic staff of Shanghai Conservatory of Music People who lost Chinese citizenship Naturalized citizens of France Chinese emigrants to France 20th-century French women artists 2021 deaths