An exhibition to commemorate the 100th birthday of Fu Lei is held in Central China's Wuhan, Hubei province, on Sept 20, 2008. [Photo/VCG]

The Fu Lei award was established in 2009 to promote French literature in China. It's named after Fu Lei (1908 -1966), one of the most renowned Chinese translators who helped Chinese readers gain access to works from big names including Honoré de Balzac, Voltaire and Romain Rolland.

"There has been a severe shortage of young translators in our country. We hope this award will help get people's attention to this industry and encourage more young people to participate," said Dong Qiang, the awards' organizing committee chairman.

According to the French Culture Center, China is now the largest copyright import country for French books. However, a large amount of them are children's books, said Robert Lacombe, the cultural counselor of the French Embassy in China, while presenting Tuesday's news briefing. In 2015, Chinese publishers bought copyrights of over 1,600 French books, but literary works and those on social sciences only accounted for some 20 percent.