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Christine Cayol

 

 
Founder of Synthesis and Yishu 8 (Beijing-Paris)
Knight of the Legion of Honour
 
Philosopher and writer by training, hypokhâgne and khâgne graduate, third cycle in philosophy alumnus at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, Christine Cayol began by teaching French at the Complutense University of Madrid, then back in France, she became a professor of Philosophy for final year high school students.
 
For her, “culture is what aims to make people more open, more sensitive, more human.”
 
In 1994, she founded Synthesis, a firm specializing in supporting managers using an original method: a detour through art and culture. The challenge of this approach consists in sharpening one's gaze, one's listening, and all of our perceptions, in order to develop a sensitive, more creative and thereby more effective intelligence in action.  
 
 
Since 2004, she has lived in Beijing, where she learned about Chinese culture by getting involved, among other things, in learning Mandarin.
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Since September 2008, she has been teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing (CAFA) on the subject of “understanding Western culture through painting”. In 2009, she opened Synthesis Beijing, a consulting and training firm for international companies established in China and Chinese companies.
 
April 2009, she opened Yishu 8 in Beijing, a unique place dedicated to art and culture. Yishu 8 offers Chinese people the opportunity to immerse themselves in European culture through conferences, exhibitions, and other large-scale actions. Yishu 8 hosts and welcomes many Franco-Chinese artistic, political, and literary figures.
 
In 2011, Yishu 8 moved to the gates of the Forbidden City in the former Franco-Chinese University created in 1920. Christine Cayol founded the Yishu 8 association to create artistic links between France and China. Chaired by Henry-Claude Cousseau, the association selects three winners per year : three young artists who will come for a three-month residency in Beijing in the Yishu 8 house.
 
Yishu 8 has been supported from the outset by Mr. Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former Prime Minister, sponsor of the place.
In April 2012, Christine Cayol was appointed member of the board of directors of the Rodin museum in Paris.
On October 20, 2013, Jean-Pierre Raffarin presented her with the insignia of Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, at the French Embassy in Beijing.
In June 2014, she was appointed Member of the "Influence" council of the French Embassy in China.
 
For 20 years, Christine Cayol has worked with the Management Committees and Executive Committees of the largest groups (Orange, Total, Michael Page, PSA, Edmond de Rothschild Group, HSBC, Canal+, SwissLife, Renault, L'Oréal, etc.) and institutions ( Chinese Ministries, SASAC, Universities…). She leads both seminars with top managers and conferences, both in Europe and in Africa and Asia.
 
Within Synthesis, Christine Cayol supports managers in their reflection on managerial issues such as innovation, leadership, discernment, through seminars and conferences. On the strength of this experience, she made Synthesis in 2014 a platform for reflection and support for managers on the question of “time”. In her book published in April 2017, "Why do the Chinese have time?" , Christine gives us clues on how the Chinese apprehend time: a relationship to organization, to life, to the future – diametrically opposed to ours – more efficient, freer, more spiritual. Without renouncing progress, the Chinese draw from their traditional culture a discreet wisdom of time. This agility of Chinese time is a source of inspiration for all those who know that it is by curing the disease of time that we will assume our responsibility for the world to come. 
 
She is the author of:
 
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Her contributions to our blog:
 
 
Her "Time Chronicles":
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