François Cheng
François Cheng (born 30 August 1929) is a Chinese-born French academician, writer, poet, and calligrapher. He is the author of essays, novels, collections of poetry and books on art written in the French language, and the translator of some of the great French poets into Chinese.
François Cheng

Photographe de la Ville de Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, dans le cadre de sa mission · Scan of the original photograph · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Name
- François Cheng
- Born
- 30 August 1929
- Birthplace
- Nanchang, China
- Education
- Nanjing University École pratique des hautes études
- Occupation
- Writer
- Known for
- Member of the académie française
- Full name
- 程抱.
- Nationality
- France and People's Republic of China.
- Honours
- Officer of the Legion of Honour, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, Prix Femina, Grand prix de la francophonie, Knight of the French Order of Academic Palms and honorary doctor of the Shandong University.
- Languages
- Chinese and French.
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Documentary summary
François Cheng (born 30 August 1929) is a Chinese-born French academician, writer, poet, and calligrapher. He is the author of essays, novels, collections of poetry and books on art written in the French language, and the translator of some of the great French poets into Chinese.
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wikipedia incomplete · checked 25 September 2026
- Identity
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- Independent source families
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Authority files
wikidata · Q469459 · wikipedia · François Cheng
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
François Cheng studied at École pratique des hautes études and Nanjing University. Sylvie Gentil is recorded as having studied under François Cheng. The recorded working language is Chinese and French. Positions recorded include member of the Académie française. Works named in the authority record are Le Dit de Tianyi. Distinctions recorded are Officer of the Legion of Honour, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, Prix Femina and Grand prix de la francophonie.
• Name — François Cheng • Born — 30 August 1929 • Birthplace — Nanchang, China • Education — Nanjing University École pratique des hautes études • Occupation — Writer • Known for — Member of the académie française • Father — Cheng Qibao • Children — Anne Cheng François Cheng (born 30 August 1929) is a Chinese-born French academician, writer, poet, and calligrapher. He is the author of essays, novels, collections of poetry and books on art written in the French language, and the translator of some of the great French poets into Chinese.
Biography
Biography
Born in Nanchang, Jiangxi in 1929, Cheng travelled to France in 1948 at the age of nineteen. In his 2002 speech to the Académie française, Cheng said, "I became a Frenchman in law, mind and heart more than thirty years ago [...] especially from that moment when I resolutely went over to the French language, making it the weapon, or the soul, of my creative work. This language, how can I say everything that I owe to it? It is so intimately bound up with the way I live and my inner life that it has proved to be the emblem of my destiny." Cheng's first works were academic studies about Chinese poetry and painting. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he worked with the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan on studying and translating texts from the classical Chinese canon. These exchanges informed Lacan's late teaching on psychoanalytic interpretation. Later he began to write poems in French, before finally turning to the writing of novels. Cheng won the 1998 Prix Femina for his novel Le Dit de Tianyi ("The Tale of Tianyi") (Albin Michel, Paris, 1998). In 2002 he was elected to the Académie française, the first person of Asian origin to be so honoured. Since 2008, he has been a member of the Fondation Chirac's honour committee.
Marriage and family
Marriage and family
Cheng married a painter who was also a Chinese national. They became French citizens and had a family. Their daughter Anne Cheng, born in Paris in 1955, also became an academic and sinologist.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1929
François Cheng was born on 30 August 1929.
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “François Cheng”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q469459: François Cheng
Unverified · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Une nuit au cap de la Chèvre. Albin Michel. 2025. 978-2-226-50028-1.
- 2.François Cheng, Assise, Albin Michel, Paris 2013,
- 3.Francois Cheng (Cheng Chi-Hsien), Analyse formelle de l'œuvre poétique d'un auteur des Tang, Zhang Ruo-xu, sous la direction d'Alexis Rygaloff, École pratique des hautes études, 1969, édition EPHE - Paris Mouton, 1970.
- 4.François Cheng ou dire la Chine en français par Yinde Zhang, Revue de littérature comparée 2/2007 ( ), .
- 5.Dictionnaire de la Littérature française du XXe siècle.
- 6.Antoine Gaudemar, [http://www.liberation.fr/livres/1998/11/05/les-tribulations-d-un-chinois-en-chengpasseur-en-france-de-la-culture-chinoise-et-en-chine-de-la-poe_252678 Les tribulations d'un Chinois en Cheng. Passeur en France de la culture chinoise et en Chine de la poésie française, François Cheng narre, dans « le Dit de Tianyi », l'itinéraire d'une génération de Chinois qui s'achève dans le chaos de la Révolution culturelle.] Libération, 5 novembre 1998.
- 7.“Quand les âmes se font chant” : dialogue entre le poète François Cheng et le peintre Kim En Joong. Profession Spectacle. 16 avril 2019.
- 8.Comité d'honneur de la Fondation Chirac
- 9.Ilana Navaro. “J’ai appris les règles du foot dans une cité parisienne” : épisode 2/5 du podcast Anne Cheng : penser la Chine, penser le monde. France Culture.
- 10.Pierre-Jean Rémy. Réponse au discours de réception de M. François Cheng Académie française. www.academie-francaise.fr.
- 11.UN MODÈLE D’INTÉGRATION : FRANCOIS CHENG, DE LA CHINE À LA FRANCE. CDI Garches. 2019-01-11.
- 12.Micheline CHENG née BENOIT - Avis de décès - Paris 14E Arrondissement. www.simplifia.fr.
- 13.Madeleine. Bertaud. François Cheng, du Tao à la « Voie christique ». Transversalités. 124. 129–143. 2012. 1286-9449. 10.3917/trans.124.0129. 2024-10-23.
- 14.Astrid De Larminat. François Cheng : «François d'Assise a changé ma vie ». Le Figaro. 2014-11-27.
- 15.François Cheng. Une longue route pour m'unir au chant français. essai. 246. 2022. 2025-12-03.
- 16.Assise, une rencontre inattendue, Paris, Albin Michel, 2014, 51 p.
- 17.Réponse au discours de réception de M. François Cheng à l'Académie française. academie-francaise.fr.
- 18.Décret du 31 décembre 2008 portant promotion et nomination. legifrance.gouv.fr. 31 décembre 2008.
- 19.« La Légion d'honneur du Nouvel An », Le Figaro, janvier 2009.
- 20.François Cheng. academie-francaise.fr.
- 21.Legifrance JORF PRER2521504D Décret du 2 décembre 2025 portant élévation aux dignités de grand'croix et de grand officier de l'ordre national du Mérite .
- 22.Double je avec François Cheng. YouTube.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 7
- Madeleine Bertaud, François Cheng : un cheminement vers la vie ouverte, Paris, éditions Hermann, 2009 ; et 2de édition, révisée et complétée, Hermann, 2011.
- Id., Lire François Cheng / poète français, poète de l'être, Hermann, 2017.
- Madeleine Bertaud et Cheng Pei, François Cheng à la croisée de la Chine et de l'Occident, Actes du colloque de Paris-Shanghai ( ), Genève, Droz, 2014.
- Yinde Zhang, « François Cheng ou Dire la Chine en français », in Revue de littérature comparée, 2/2007, , .
- ARDUA, François Cheng Écriture et quête de sens, Actes du colloque de Bordeaux ( ), éditions Passiflore, .
- Madeleine Bertaud: François Cheng, Enfin le royaume / Quatrains, édition introduite et commentée par Madeleine Bertaud, Genève, Droz, "Textes Littéraires Français", 2020.
- Olivia Mauriac (dir.), Cahier Cheng, Paris, L'Herne, coll. « les Cahiers de l’Herne », 2022, 288 p.
References
Citations
References
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,342 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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