Tianyi Library, Zhejiang, China

5xamhayana 5:00 PM Mar 23, 2015

Charming estate with heartbreaking stories attached to it
The story of this place is fascinating; I recommend reading some background info about it before you go, so you can appreciate its uniqueness. It's a sprawling traditional house with a lovely garden, but it becomes so much more when you imagine all the vicissitudes it's gone through. Ming-era official Fan Qin had an unusual taste in books for his time. In mid-16th century he assembled a collection that did not focus on classics (like all other collections had) – but instead had histories of obscure counties, statistical records and examination reports. As time passed his holdings turned into a unique historical resource, where each book is one of a kind. The name “Tianyige” invokes a window in the sky where the rain pours from; this was a charm to keep the collection safe from fire. To battle humidity book cases had ventilation holes on all sides, and porous stones were placed under the book cases to absorb moisture. Fan’s two sons could choose what to inherit: all of Fan's wealth or the burden of maintaining the library. The oldest son chose the library. He created an elaborate system of rules to protect the treasured books. Members from all family branches had to be present to open the doors to the vault. Anyone taking the books out was to be excluded from ancestral worship for a year (a horrible punishment to a Confucian-minded person). Later generations of the family loosened the original rules a bit and allowed famous scholars in. The library started to receive donations, and grew. In 1914 Shanghai antique store sent a thief to Ningbo with a list of most valuable books in the library. The thief spent ten days inside, sleeping during the day, picking the books by night and smuggling them into a boat sitting on a channel nearby. A ship waiting in the harbor smuggled the books to Shanghai. Fan family’s rule not to open the doors in vain prevented them from spotting the loss in time. One Shanghai book collector knowingly bought most of the stolen books and never returned them to Tianyige. After tending for China’s most unique library for centuries the Fans saw it nationalized in 1949. They became employees of the museum and continued taking care of it. Amazingly, the library benefited from the chaos and destruction brought on by the Cultural Revolution, as Ningbo families brought their treasured books here to protect them from destruction by the Red Guards. Today the books are stored in a separately built concrete building on the premises, open for visits, as well the old library buildings and Fan’s family home.

4Julie H 5:00 PM Jul 17, 2012

Delightful afternoon stroll
Thought i was going to see a few old books & be out in an hours. 4 hours later my friend & i left. So much to see & such a pleasant area to walk around. The grounds are lovely. Take your lunch as very little to purchase inside.