Paris Saint-Germain’s other half: Do you know about “Saint-Germain”?

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Paris Saint-Germain eliminated Arsenal and advanced to the Champions League final for the second time in history. It will face Inter Milan at the Allianz Stadium in Munich on the evening of May 31.

Paris Saint-Germain was founded in 1970 and was formed by the merger of two extremely different clubs: one is the "empty shell" club established in 1969, which has policy support but does not actually participate in any level league; the other is the Stade Saint-Germain, which was founded in 1904, has a deep sports tradition and participated in the third level league in the 1969-70 season.

It should be noted that the "merger" is limited to the football branch. The original tennis, hockey and other events of Saint-Germain Sports Association are still operating independently and retaining its original name. In particular, its hockey team not only won the top domestic league championship in 8, but also competed in the European Hockey League (equivalent to the Champions League of Football). Paris Saint-Germain, which was merged, inherited the upgrade qualification obtained by Saint-Germain Sports at the end of the 1969-70 season, and participated in the second-level league in the 1970-71 season, and then advanced again to participate in the 1971-72 season Ligue 1. The club's development seems to be smooth sailing, but in fact it is undercurrent - some people advocate deleting "Saint-Germain" in the name to create a purer image of "Paris", but some people insist on retaining "Saint-Germain" to show history and inheritance. The dispute eventually led to the split of the club: the first team participated in the 1972-73 Ligue 1 in the name of "Paris FC", but then rose and fell in the third and even fourth level leagues for a long time. It was not until the last two years that the dawn suddenly appeared and will return to the Ligue 1 in the 2025-26 season; the rest held high the banner of "Paris Saint-Germain" and participated in the 1972-73 third level league. After two seasons of struggle, they were promoted to the 1974-75 season, and today 50 years later, they wrote a brilliant chapter in Capital Football with 13 Ligue 1 championships.

So, although today's Paris Saint-Germain is blessed by oil capital, big-name stars, and champion trophy, they are not born with the golden key in their arms. They have also groped forward in the mud and silently persisted in the storm. Their glory today has come step by step from countless hard days.

So, what is the "Saint-Germain" that Paris Saint-Germain would rather be reopened to the third level and reopen, and should be retained in its name?

Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the seat of the Saint-Germain Sports Club, the city of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 15 kilometers northwest of Paris. This small town with more than 40,000 residents is also referred to as Saint-Germain. Its name comes from Saint-Germain, a Christian bishop and the patron god of the poor in the 6th century AD. However, Saint-Germain was not a German. His parents were Romanized Gauls, and the Gauls were branches of the Celtics.

Before the Qatar consortium took over Paris Saint-Germain, the status of "Paris" and "Saint-Germain" in the Paris Saint-Germain logo were roughly equal. Not only did they use the same font, but they also added the Eiffel Tower symbolizing Paris and the cradle and iris symbolizing Saint-Germain respectively. The cradle and iris were to commemorate Louis XIV, the "Sun King" born in the castle of St. Germain Aun-Lay. The historical significance of the castle of Saint-Germain Ah Lai is not only the birthplace of Louis XIV, which pushed French monarchy to its peak, but also the end of the British tyranny: after being overthrown by the "Glorious Revolution" in 1688, King James II fled to France, lived here under the protection of Louis XIV, and eventually died in a foreign land. The

Saint-Germain Aung Lai Castle is also engraved with a major victory in China's modern diplomacy. During World War I, Russia, France, Britain and other countries in the Allied camp recruited hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers and went to the east-west battlefields of Europe to engage in arduous logistics and labor work. Therefore, China participated in the Paris Peace Conference of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman as a victorious country.

China did not sign the Agreement and the Peace of Germany that affected its own interests, namely the Peace of Versailles, nor did it sign the Treaty of Sever on Turkey, but it signed the Treaty of Saint-Germain Ah Lai on Austria, the Treaty of Trianon on Hungary and the Treaty of Neuil-on-Seine on Bulgaria.

The Treaty of Saint-Germain Aun Lai, referred to as the Treaty of Saint-Germain, was signed at the Castle of Saint-Germain on September 10, 1919. Its Part IV, Article 113 clearly abolished all the privileges Austria obtained in the Treaty of Sin Chou, impacted the heavy chains of imperialism on China, and won a ray of dawn for national interests and national dignity, becoming a far-reaching positive breakthrough in the history of modern China's diplomacy.

The Chinese diplomat who signed the Treaty of Saint-Germain Aung Lai was Lu Zhengxiang, the representative of the Beiyang government, and Wang Zhengting, the representative of the southern one. The former was a Catholic and the latter was a Protestant, both of which were secretly consistent with the word "Saint" of Saint-Germain. In addition to diplomatic work, Wang Zhengting also actively participated in the sports industry and joined the YMCA, which attaches importance to sports. He once organized Liu Changchun to participate in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics and is still known as the "father of the Olympics" in China.