Library

Collège de France Institute of Advanced Chinese Studies Library

IHEC, the Institute of Advanced Chinese Studies, was founded in 1921 by Paul Pelliot and Marcel Granet and came under the aegis of the Collège de France in 1972. IHEC is one of Europe's premier Chinese Studies libraries with over 250,000 volumes and 1,500 periodical titles, including 400 current publications. Collections include the University of Paris Center for Chinese Studies' Peking holdings, transferred to the Collège de France in 1953. The library is primarily a research library, specialized in Classical Chinese studies. The catalogue contains Europe's largest collection of local monographs (difangzhi地方志), a rich collection of collectanea (congshu叢書), as well as a collection of rare books (shanben善本).

The library offers 58 seats, including 3 carrels and 2 rooms for group work in a reading room shared by the 5 Asian Worlds libraries. Reservations are made via the Affluences platform.

Access terms

The library is open to researchers, university faculty, doctoral, and post-doctoral students. Master's and undergraduate students may also use the library on formal request from their research advisor.