Chinese Core Collections

The Chinese collections at the Ecole Française d'Extrême Orient Library started developing at the end of the 1950's, period during which the school moved from Southeast Asia to Paris. The Chinese collection was constructed in parallel to the EFEO's domains of excellency: art, archeology, history, anthropology, philology and religious sciences. In order to keep an up to date view of sinology, we never lose track of the development of our sinologists' researches (among whom M. Bussotti, P. Calanca, L. Y. Kuo, A. Arrault).
Following the evolution of Chinese collections in Parisian libraries, we coordinated with several specialized institutions (Collège de France, Bulac), in order to offer a homogeneous, complementary and complete Chinese collections throughout Paris.
Due to the EFEO presence in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, our collections benefit every year from exchanges and donations from prestigious institutions (Academia Sinica in Taiwan, The Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing...).
The Chinese collections are composed of about 15 000 monographs (which 75% are in Chinese) and 450 periodicals (half of which are in Chinese) among which 150 are current Chinese titles.
Last but not least, the Chinese collections also have non-printed material: rubbings, Luo manuscripts, Naxi (Dongba) manuscripts, maps and som collections at the photolibrary.

Contact: Dat-Wei Lau, head of the China and Korea collections

 

EFEO News
Research project support manager
Paris, France, 20 September 2025
The research project support manager will support the EFEO's teacher-researchers in preparing responses to calls for proposals in the field of research in the humanities and social sciences, at the national (ANR, etc.), European (ERC, etc.) and international levels.

Application deadline: September, 20, 2025.

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New Publication
Pondicherry,

A Manual on the Practice of Haṭhayoga
An Edition and Translation of the Pune Manuscript of the Haṭhābhyās

By Jason BIRCH, Mark SINGLETON and James MALLINSON 

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Library
Paris, France, 01 August 2025
The EFEO library in Paris will be closed on Friday, August 15, 2025.

It is open at its usual times, from Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm.
Please make your book reservation requests via the catalogue, and your archive consultation requests via the form on https://archives.efeo.fr/ (bottom left of the home page).

Consult the catalogs and digital tools:
Books and periodicals catalog
- Archives and manuscripts catalog
- Digital heritage library

Please check the EFEO's Facebook page and Twitter account regularly for any updates to the conditions of public access.
New Publication
Pondicherry,

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Lecture
Paris, France, 18 June 2025
On the occasion of the exhibition Angkor Royal Bronzes: Art of the Divine presented at the Guimet - Musée national des arts asiatiques until September 8, of which he is co-curator, Brice Vincent will present "Bronzes royaux d'Angkor, un art du divin: nouveaux regards sur la métallurgie du cuivre dans le Cambodge angkorien". This lecture is organised jointly by the Association des Amis d'Angkor and the EFEO.

At 5.30 p.m. in the Grand Salon of the Maison de l'Asie, subject to availability.