page_title: Guangzhou Library
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Guangzhou Library / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Inside Guangzhou Library
context_page_description: Guangzhou Library is a public library in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, China.
  The library has just moved to a new building in Zhujiang New Town, which fully opened on 23 June 2013.
  The old building in Zhongshan Road has been closed since 1 April 2013.
context_section_description: In 1927, Lin Yungai, a former mayor of Guangzhou, proposed setting up the Municipal Zhongshan Library to commemorate Sun Yat-sen ("Zhongshan" being his given name in Chinese) and to promote the cultural development. The Municipal Executive Council later approved of its planning and establishment. In the same year, fund-raising commissioners were sent to the United States, Cuba, Canada and Mexico and received a lot of donations from the overseas Chinese.
  In 1928, the Preparatory Committee for the Construction of the Municipal Zhongshan Library was established, with sixteen members, including Lin Yungai and Du Dingyou (a renowned librarian in modern China).
  In 1929, construction of the Municipal Zhongshan Library commenced at site of the original Cantonese Confucius Temple on Wende Road.
  On 15 October 1933, the Municipal Zhongshan Library was completed and opened, with Wu Zhimei as the first chief librarian.
  In 1934, the provincial library was abolished and its collection of 33,500 books was handed over by the municipal library.
  In 1938, the Municipal Zhongshan Library was suspended after Guangzhou was occupied by the Japanese.
  In 1945, as China won in the war against Japanese invasion, Du Dingyou served concurrently as director of the Preparatory Office for the Re-establishment of the Municipal Zhongshan Library.
  In 1949, the organization was renamed as the Guangzhou Municipal Zhongshan Library.
  It was later renamed as the Guangzhou Zhongshan Library after the liberation of Guangzhou.
  In 1955, the provincial and the municipal libraries were merged to form a new one – the Sun Yat-sen Library of Guangdong Province. The site of the original Guangzhou Municipal Zhongshan Library became the North Wing of the Sun Yat-sen Library of Guangdong Province, also known as the Sun Yat-sen Literature Museum.
  In December 1980, the CPC Committee of Guangzhou decided during an office meeting to establish the Guangzhou Library.
  In January 1981, the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture announced the establishment of the related Preparatory Committee and the decision to transform a revolutionary museum into the Guangzhou Library.
  On 2 January 1982, the opening ceremony of Guangzhou Library was held.
  In October 2004, the Guangzhou Development Planning Committee of Guangzhou formally approved of constructing the new premise of the Guangzhou Library.
  From October 2004 to January 2005, the Guangzhou Library organized an international invitational tournament to solicit the best design proposal for its new premise.
  On 20 February 2006, a foundation-laying ceremony was held for the new premise of the Guangzhou Library.
  On 28 December 2012, part of the new premise of the Guangzhou Library was officially opened.
  On 23 June 2013, the new library was completely opened.
caption: Inside the new Guangzhou Library building in Zhujiang New Town
exif: {"Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image ExifOffset": "78", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2848", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4288"}