Where / How to buy books in French language in Beijing?

French literature is widely spread around the globe; for those in love with French literature reading translated versions may not be the preferred choice and you have different options to purchase or borrow books or eBooks/ digital books in French language in Beijing.

If you are living in Beijing and you would like to understand more about Chinese culture, reading books in your motherlanguage about the Chinese culture is an easier way to learn!

  • L’Arbre du Voyageur

Located in the same building as the “Institut Francais”, “L’Arbre du Voyageur” is a book store offering exclusively books in French language. The offer is wide: French classics, cartoons, books for kids, science fiction, novels, historical novels, kitchen books, magazines and newspapers. And if you can’t find what you are looking for, you can still ask the staff if they can order for you.

The price is quite reasonable, even slightly more expensive than in France. However, if you like to buy your own books and you book consumption is high, l’Arbre du Voyageur is the solution for you!

Address:Guangcai International Mansion, 18 Gongti Xilu, 100020 Beijing
Phone:65535482
Email:arbreduvoyageur@institutfrancais-chine.com
Opening hours: every day from 10:30 am till 6:30pm.

  • French Cultural Center/ Alliance Francaise

For people living in Tianjin, they can borrow French books from the Alliance Francaise of Tianjin since 2010. In Beijing, the library is located at the 1st floor of the building hosting both French Cultural Center o Institut Francais and French Alliance.

Address: Guangcai International Mansion, 18 Gongti Xilu, 100020 Beijing
Phone: 01065532627
Website:http://www.institutfrancais-pekin.com/fr
Opening hours: every day from 08:30 am till 7:30 pm.

arton28103There is a dedicated website from where you can borrow e-books in French. This is a service from the French Institute / Institut Francais. From thematic books or most recent awarded books, you can borrow e-books fromCulturethèque. If you subscribed to the French Alliance / Alliance Francaise or to the French Institute / Institut Francais, then you should be able to borrow e-books in French language.

The French Digital bookcase was initiated by Editors, Booksellers and government administrations to allowFrench mediatheques the opportunity to introduce eBooks to their subscribers. People can access the books via streaming or by downloading the file on their pad or smartphone.

How to proceed?Visithttp://www.culturetheque.com/EXPLOITATION/US/ and create your account.

  • Bookworm

Beijing Bookworm is not only a book club in Beijing but also a bookshop:http://beijingbookworm.com/book-shop/. They have some books for sales and they can help you to order any book you would like to purchase, as long as you know its ISBN

Address:Building 4, Nan Sanlitun Road,Chaoyang District, Beijing
Phone:(010) 6586 9507
Email:info@chinabookworm.com
Website:http://beijingbookworm.com
Opening hours:9 am – Midnight every Day

  • Beijing International Book Fair

TheBeijing International Book Fair is hold every year in August. French editors are usually widely represented. Mostly books for kids and young adults, illustrated books. This is a professional fair, in which French editors aims at selling rights for Chinese language.

  • JD.com

On this platform, you will find everything to improve your French grammar – not a piece of cake, even for French natives! We have also seen some novels, law books etc… You can search for “Francais” on www.jd.com, as simple as that.

  • Foreign Languages Bookstore (外文书店)

You can purchase books in many foreign languages – not only French 😉 . You can visit the shop in Wangfujing or order on-line from their website (only available in Chinese). We have been told they shouldhave books in French language, however we only found French dictionaries.

Address: 235 Wangfujing St, Dongcheng, Beijing, China东城区王府井大街235号
Phone:+86 10 6512 6911
Hours: 9:30 am – 9:30 pm
Website:http://www.bpiec.com.cn/

  • Foreign Languages Press (FLP)

Couverture-La-gouvernance-ChineForeign Languages Press (FLP) is an international publishing house established since 1952. They have published over 30,000 book titles about different topics including documents from Party and State leaders and books aboutsocial, political, economic and cultural matter on China. Their tagline: “Know China through books“. It says a lot about the type of books you will find there.

You can buy books in French language – but also 43 other foreign languages – from their website: http://www.flp.com.cn/en/bookc2.cfm?sCid=EN21&sModule=French. This is a nice discovery we did while preparing this article!

Address:24 Baiwanzhuang Road, Xicheng District, Beijing 100037, China
Phone
:10-68320579
E-mail:wwdinggou@cipg.org.cn
Website:http://www.flp.com.cn/

  • Page One叶一堂

Page One brand is an internal bookshop chain and it is expanding quickly in Beijing / in China. They mostly have books in English (besides Chinese), but you can also find a small section with books in French language.

Locations in Beijing:http://www.pageonegroup.com/1/china.html
* PAGE ONE CHINA WORLD MALL (BEIJING)
Shop 3B201, Zone 3, China World Mall,No.1 JianGuoMenWai Avenue, Chaoyang District,
* PAGE ONE INDIGO (BEIJING)
Shop LG50, Indigo Mall,No.18 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang District,
* PAGE ONE TAIKOO LI SANLITUN (BEIJING)
Units S2-14a-b, 1-2F, Taikoo Li Sanlitun,No.19 Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District,
* THE WOODHOUSE TAIKOO LI SANLITUN (BEIJING)
Units S2-14a-b, 2F, Taikoo Li Sanlitun,No.19 Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District,

  • Amazon.fr

You can order from Amazon.fr and receive your delivery in China. You will have to pay some extra fees for international courier. It may take some time as your parcel can be checked by the customs.