Chinese director Jia Zhangke and Isabelle Huppert discuss films at a Shanghai event. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In 2015, she read from French author Marquis de Sade's novels Justine and Juliette at the Festival d'Avignon, an annual arts festival held in Avignon, France.

"Reading has been threatened by modern life. But I couldn't spend my life without reading," the actress says. "I cannot live in a house without books."

During her short stay in China, besides reading the novel, the actress also shared her thoughts about films. She talked with Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke at Shanghai Culture Square and met her fans at Guangzhou Grand Theater and the China Film Art Research Center in Beijing.

"In China, most actresses who appear on the screen are young and good-looking. Age seems to be a limit for Chinese actresses," says Jia, whose film Still Life won the Golden Lion Award for best film at the 2006 Venice Film Festival.

"One exceptional thing about Huppert is that she is capable of being strong and clever on screen even now."

In her career of more than four decades, Huppert has taken on some challenging female roles, including the best-known in Michael Haneke's 2001 film, The Piano Teacher, which won her the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Her latest, Elle by Paul Verhoeven, won her the Golden Globe Award for best actress and a nomination for the Academy Award for best actress.