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Québec: at the heart of the Americas
Québec is a great continental peninsula,
with a territory of 1.7 million km² —almost as big as Mexico—.
Half of this territory is covered with forest and is sprinkled with
thousands of lakes and rivers that represent 3 % of Earth's water
reserves. That is Québec today, a vast land of water, snow,
and forest, enriched by people from everywhere in the world, solidly
rooted in the soil of America, faithful to its European origins,
open towards every horizon.
As the only French-speaking society in North America,
Québec has built its own identity. And while it has a fierce
and deeply felt attachment to its culture, the symbol of its identity,
it also affirms itself day by day as a modern State, outward looking,
and receptive to other cultures.
A culture that travels the world
Crossroad for European and North-American cultures,
Québec's 7.5 million population has a bursting creative energy
and a unique cultural vitality. These qualities express themselves
in literature, music, theater, dance or circus, as well as in painting,
sculpture, and craft.
The impressive number of creators that inhabit
the international scene are an eloquent demonstration of Québec's
energy: Céline Dion, Leonard Cohen, François Girard,
the Cirque du Soleil, la Bottine Souriante, Luc Plamondon, Oscar
Peterson, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Denys Arcand, André Laplante,
Robert Lepage, Marie Laberge, Mariette Rousseau-Vermette, Maurice
Savoie, Margie Gillis, Édouard Lock, Michel Tremblay, Marie
Chouinard, Marc-André Hamelin, Mistress Barbara or Ramachandra
Borcar, a.k.a DJ Ram.
Following the seasons, the almost uninterrupted
series of festivals and cultural manifestations that celebrate all
disciplines and forms of art spreads, all over Québec, a
wind of fiesta that appeals to creators and tourists around the
globe.
A highly-prized literature
Having developed a French language literature
in North of America is a fact that borders miraculous nature. Within
proportion, and according to its population, Québec's artistic
production is as rich as that of countries as Germany, France, Italy
or the United States. Surrounded since its origins by a strong foreign
concurrence, Québec's editors have largely succeded in taking
50% of the local market for books, of all genres.
From Philippe Aubert de Gaspé to Réjean
Ducharme, from Émile Nelligan to Gaston Miron, from Marie-Claire
Blais to Gaétan Soucy, literature has been one of the cultural
expressions that have allowed Quebequers to survive and to fulfill
themselves in their own language.
Over time, Québec's literature has been
enriched from voices of different cultural heritages. Their presence
and success are testimony to the multiethnic nature of Quebec and
to its will to open itself up to the world. Among these authors
are Abla Farhoud, Sergio Kokis, Ying Chen, Dany Laferrière,
Émile Olivier, or Neil Bissoondath.
An economic force
Québec has a developed, diversified, and
liberalized economy. Quebec was 29th among 176 exportating countries,
in 2000. Beyond the tertiary sector, the manufacturing industry,
the construction industry, and the exploitation of its agricultural,
fishing, forest, mining and hydraulic resources, Québec's
economy depends strongly on the state-of-the-art technology, specially
on the aerospace and pharmaceutical areas. Québec is the
world's third aluminium producer and one of the most important paper
producers.
Its culture, its history and its geography make
Québec a natural bridge between America, Europe, and the
other continents. With the free trade agreements it has signed,
Québec has a privileged access to a market of more than 400
million consumers.
This is the Quebec that will travel to Guadalajara,
to join a publishing and cultural encounter that aims not only to
bond its links to Mexico and Latin America, but also to share its
people's spirit, their capacity to appreciate every form of art
and their enormous joy of living.
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