Time travel to Hainan: Savina's conversation with modern artists!

Time travel to Hainan: Savina's conversation with modern artists!

On August 14, 2025, the Hainan International Media Center releases a report on innovatively combining history and modernity through the reactivation of a significant ethnographic journey. French linguist François-Marie Savina, who undertook a comprehensive ethnographic study of the Li culture on Hainan Island in 1925, is experiencing a digital revival in an artistic project.

The initiative, titled “A Voyage Through Time,” goes live on August 8, 2025. The short film uses modern technologies to stage a fictional meeting between Savina and a contemporary Li brocade designer. Historical photographs from the 1920s are used to ensure the authenticity of the representation. A Chinese production team has brought Hainan's original landscapes to life and realized a technical implementation through an MoE (Mixture-of-Experts) model that maintains both artistic and technical precision.

François-Marie Savina: A life for science

François-Marie Savina was born on March 20, 1876 in Mahalon-en-Cornouaille and received his early education in Pont-Croix. He entered the Missions Etrangères seminary in 1897 and was ordained a priest on June 23, 1901. His professional career eventually led him to the Apostolic Vicariate of Hochtonkin, where he arrived in 1901. There he immediately began learning the Vietnamese language and Chinese characters.

From 1925 to 1929, Savina devoted herself to ethnographic and linguistic research in Hainan. During this time he documented the Li culture in his major work “Monograph de Hainan”. This comprehensive work contributed to the recognition of the Li culture and was used in modern times for the digital implementation of the project “A Voyage Through Time”.

UNESCO aspirations and cultural significance

In parallel with these developments, Hainan is applying to have its tropical rainforest and traditional settlements of the Li ethnic group added to UNESCO's World Heritage List. These settlements were placed on the provisional list as early as 2022, and a legal framework to protect these cultural heritage sites came into force in 2023.

The digital initiatives, which combine historical content and cultural exchange, increase awareness of the valuable Li culture and the work of Savina. The short film “A Voyage Through Time” is not only a tribute to the scientist, but also a living testimony to the ongoing relevance of cultural heritage in today's world.

In summary, the project builds a fascinating bridge between past and present while shining a spotlight on the legacy of an important linguist and the cultural diversity of Hainan.

For more information about François-Marie Savina, his travels and the associated cultural aspects, please visit the pages of prnewswire.com and irfa.paris.