Tianyi Pavilion

Tianyi Ge was built between 1561 and 1566 by Fan Qin, a retired official who collected books, and it is the oldest private library still standing in China and among the oldest anywhere. Fire was the enemy: the building was set beside a pond, kept away from other structures, and family rules forbade taking books out or admitting outsiders, restrictions so strict that scholars were rarely allowed in. The collection once ran to seventy thousand volumes, of which a fraction survives after losses to theft and war, strongest in Ming local gazetteers and examination records. The site now includes gardens, a Ming residence moved here, and displays on Chinese book culture.

History

Fan Qin, a book lover who passed the highest imperial examination in 1532 and served in the Ministry of War, built the library in 1561; its name, from a Han commentary on the Book of Changes, is linked to water and was meant to protect it from fire. His eldest son gave up the rest of the family property to inherit its 70,000 volumes, the family's rules kept the books together, and in the 17th century the scholar Huang Zongxi became the first outsider allowed up into the library, where he compiled its catalogue; the Qianlong Emperor had its building and bookcases drawn as the model for imperial libraries such as Wenyuan Ge in the Forbidden City (Wikipedia, Tianyi Ge).

What you'll find

• The 1561 library building - the oldest surviving private library in China.
• The fire precautions - the pond and isolation that preserved it.
• The Ming gazetteers - the surviving strength of the collection, in displays.
• The gardens and halls - rockeries, ponds and relocated Ming buildings.

When to go

March to May and September to November; Ningbo is hot and humid in summer. The site is quiet compared with Zhejiang's major attractions. It closes on some Mondays.

What to expect

The books themselves are largely in storage and what is displayed is limited, mostly in reproduction. The significance is historical rather than visual. English interpretation is thin.

Nearby

Ningbo's old town and Moon Lake are adjacent; Putuoshan lies east by ferry.

Key facts