National Library of China
The National Library of China (; NLC) is the national library of the People's Republic of China and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It contains over 41 million items as of December 2020. It holds the largest collection of Chinese literature and historical documents in the world. The National Library is a public welfare institution sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The collections of the National Library have inherited the royal collections since the Southern Song Dynasty and private collections since the Ming and Qing dynasties. The oldest collections can  be traced back to the oracle bones of Yin Ruins more than 3,000 years ago. The National Library is a major research and public library, with items in 123 languages and in many formats, both print and digital: books, manuscripts, journals, newspapers, magazines, sound and music recordings, videos, play-scripts, patents, databases, maps, stamps, prints, drawings. As of December 2020, the collection contains more than 41 million volumes and is growing at a rate of one million volumes per year. The total amount of digital resources exceeds 1000TB and is growing at a rate of 100TB per year . The National Library of China was initially founded as the Imperial Peking Library by the Qing government in 1909. After several name changes and administrative alternation, it was renamed the National Library of China in 1999. The National Library now consists of the South Complex, the North Complex, the Children's Hall, the Ancient Book Hall, and seventeen dispatched research libraries to the central government's various departments and the Academy of Military Sciences. History. Background. The earliest Chinese references to Western-style public libraries were by Lin Zexu in the "Sizhou Zhi" (; 1839) and Wei Yuan in the "Illustrated  Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms" (first ed., 1843), both of which were translations from Western books. In the late nineteenth century, in response to several military defeats against western powers, the government of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912) sent several missions abroad to study western culture and institutions. Several members of the first Chinese diplomatic mission, which sold to the United States, England, France, and other countries from 1111 to 1870, recorded their views of western libraries, noting that they attracted a large number of readers. Journalist Liang Qichao (1873–1929), who became a prominent exiled intellectual after the failure of the  Hundred Days' Reform in 1898, wrote about the Boston Public Library and the University of Chicago Library, praising their openness to the public and the virtue of readers who did not steal the books that had been lent to them. (), a member of another Qing mission sent abroad to study modern constitutions, noted the efficacy of book borrowing at the Library of Congress. Foundation. In 1906, the governor of Hunan province memorialized to the throne to announce he had completed preparations for the creation of a provincial library in Changsha. In 1908 and 1909, high officials from the provinces of  Fengtian, Shandong, Shanxi, Zhejiang and Yunnan petitioned the Imperial Court asking for permission to establish public libraries in their respective jurisdictions. In response, on 2 May 1909, the Qing Ministry of Education () announced plans to open libraries in every province of the country. On 9 September 1909, Zhang Zhidong, a long-time leader of the Self-Strengthening movement who had been viceroy of Huguang and was now serving on the powerful Grand Council, memorialized to request the foundation of a library in China's capital. Foundation of the library was approved by imperial edict that same day. The institution was  originally called the Imperial Library of Peking or Metropolitan Library (). Lu Xun and other famous scholars have made great efforts for its construction. Philologist and bibliographer (; 1844–1919), who had overseen the founding of Jiangnan Library in Nanjing two years earlier, was called in to administer the new establishment. As in Jiangnan, his assistant Chen Qingnian took charge of most of the management. A private proposal made by Luo Zhenyu in the early 1900s stated that the library should be located in a place protected from both fire and floods, and at some distance from noisy markets. Following these recommendations, the  Ministry of Education first chose the Deshengmen neighborhood inside the northern city wall, a quiet area with lakes. But this plan would have required purchasing several buildings. For lack of funds, Guanghua Temple () was chosen as the library's first site. Guanghua Temple was a complex of Buddhist halls and shrines located near the northern bank of the Shichahai, but inconveniently located for readers, and too damp for long-term book storage. The Imperial Library of Peking would remain there until 1917. In 1916, the Ministry of education ordered the library, every published book should be registered in ministry of  interior and all collected by library, The function of national library begins to manifest. Later history. The National Peking Library opened to the public on 27 August 1912, a few months after the abdication of Puyi (r. 1908–12), the last emperor of the Qing dynasty. From then on, it was managed by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China. The day before the library's opening, its new chief librarian Jiang Han (: 1853–1935) argued that the National Peking Library was a research library and recommended the opening of a new library with magazines and new publications that could  attract a more popular readership. In June 1913, such a Branch Library was opened outside Xuanwumen Gate, and more than 2,000 books were transferred there from the main library. On 29 October 1913, because Guanghua Temple proved too small and inaccessible, the main library itself was closed, pending the choice of a new site. The Library charged one copper coin as a reading fee, whereas the Tianjin Library charged twice as much and the Shandong public library charged three coins. At first, readers could not borrow books, but sometime before 1918 borrowing became allowed. In 1916, the Ministry of Education  (MOE) of the Republic of China ordered that a copy of every Chinese publication should be deposited at the Metropolitan Library after being registered with the Copyright Bureau. After the Northern Expedition of Kuomintang in 1928, the National Peking Library changed its name to the National Peiping Library and served as the national library with the National Central Library in capital Nanking together. In 1931, the new library house in Wenjin Street near the Beihai Park opened. After the People's Republic of China was officially established in October 1949 and Peking became its capital, the National Peiping Library was  renamed "National Peking Library". In 1951, the Ministry of Culture declared that its official English name would now be Peking Library. In 1978, two years after the end of the Cultural Revolution, the library started publishing the "Bulletin of the Beijing Library" ("Beitu Tongxun" 北图通讯), which quickly became one of China's most important library publications. In 1979, under an Implementing Accord regulating cultural exchanges between the U.S. and China, it vowed to exchange library material with the Library of Congress. To compensate for a lack of professionally trained librarians, starting in 1982 librarians from the NLC and other academic  libraries spent periods of six months at the Library of Congress and the Yale University Library. To develop library science, the NLC established links with the Australian National University. In October 1987, the Library moved to a modern building located north of Purple Bamboo Park in Haidian District. In 1999, it was officially renamed the National Library of China. November 2001, approved by the State Council, the National Library of the two phase of the project and the national digital library project formally approved. As an important part of the national information industry infrastructure, has been included in the national  fifteen plan, the national total investment of $1 billion 235 million, began to put into effect. In 28 October 2003, the National Library ALEPH500 computer integrated management system has been put into operation, which laid the foundation for the National Library to enter the ranks of the world's advanced libraries. Collections. Overview. The National Library of China's collection is the largest in Asia. Its holdings of more than 41 million items (as of December 2020) also make it one of the world's largest libraries. It houses official publications of the United Nations and foreign governments and  a collection of literature and materials in over 115 languages. The library contains inscribed tortoise shells and bones, ancient manuscripts, and block-printed volumes. Among the most prized collections of the National Library of China are rare and precious documents and records from past dynasties in Chinese history. The original collection of the Metropolitan Library was assembled from several sources. In 1909 the imperial court gave the library the only surviving complete copy of the "Siku Quanshu" ("Complete Books of the Four Treasuries"), an enormous compilation completed in 1782 that had been made in only four copies. That copy had  been held at the Wenjin Pavilion of the Imperial Summer Resort in Chengde. On orders from the Qing Ministry of Education, the ancient books, archives, and documents of the Grand Secretariat were also transferred to the new library. So was the collection of the Guozijian or Imperial University, an institution that had been dismantled in 1905 at the same time as the imperial examination system. These imperial collections included books and manuscripts dating to the Southern Song (1127–1279). The content of three private libraries from the Jiangnan area were donated under the supervision of Duanfang, the viceroy of Liangjiang, and  the Ministry arranged for the transfer from Gansu of what remained of the Dunhuang manuscripts. Finally, the court made great efforts to obtain rubbings of rare inscriptions on stone or bronze. Services and facilities. The main library is located in Haidian District while the Ancient Books Library is in Xicheng District. The North Complex of the main library is open from 9am to 9pm on weekdays, and from 9am to 5pm on week-ends. The South Complex has been closed for renovation since May 2011. The Children's Hall and the Ancient Book Hall are and  closed on week-ends, and open from 9am to 5pm on weekdays. As of 2013, the Library maintains 14 branch offices, the latest of which is at the China Youth University for Political Sciences. Transportation. The Main Library, located on Zhongguancun South Road in Beijing's Haidian District, can be accessed by bus or subway.