Formally established in July 1, 1952, Foreign Languages Press (FLP) is a comprehensive publishing house targeted at the international market; it specializes in editing, translating and publishing foreign-language books for readers abroad. It also publishes foreign-language textbooks, reference books and books in Chinese.

The FLP is an imprint of the China Foreign Languages Publication and Distribution Administration (China International Publishing Group).

The books published by the FLP range from sci-tech ones to ones of humanities. Over the past half century and more, it has published, in 43 languages, a great number of documents of Party and government, Marxist-Leninist works, the works of Mao Zedong and other Party and state leaders, as well as books on political theory. It has also translated and published many literary classics and famous works by modern and contemporary writers, art albums and children's readers.

Since 1978, the FLP has shifted its focus to basic information about China and the country's policy of reform and opening to the outside world. Its publishing scope has expanded to cover background information about China, traditional Chinese culture, economy, law, history, geography, medical and health care, children's readers and Chinese language learning textbooks for foreign students.

The FLP has a large team of editors and translators well versed in both foreign publicity and publishing business. To improve the quality of the translation, the FLP has employed native speakers as "polishers". Some famous Chinese and foreign experts and top-notch translators have worked with the FLP at one time or another, such as Israel Epstein, Sidney Shapiro, Gladys Yang, Denise Ly-Lebreton, Tatsuko Yokokawa, Betty Chandler, Xiao Qian, Ye Junjian, and Yang Xianyi.

The FLP has been an active player in cooperation with foreign publishers and in the rights trade. It has co-published, sold or bought the rights of a few hundred titles in the past decade.

With the integration of the international market, the world needs to know more about China, while China also needs to know about the world. While continuing to publish better books for its foreign market, the FLP has diverted part of its attention to promoting the domestic market, and published a whole array of foreign-language readings to meet the needs of Chinese learning foreign languages, reaping both economic and social benefits.