The history National Library of China (Zhong Guo Guo Jia Tu Shu Guan) was established in 1909 with the opening of the first national library. After the 1911 Revolution the Library was taken over by the Ministry of Education of the Northern Government and formally opened to the public on August 27, 1912, which was set as a memorial say for the National Library of Beijing. In 1931 the new building of the Library was constructed on the west bank of Taiyie Lake in Weijin Street.



After the founding of the People's Republic of China in October 1949 the National Library was renamed as Beijing Library. Premier Zhou Enlai, the first Premier after the founding of the People's Republic of China, proposed and approved the construction of the new building for the Library, while the Library located in Wenjin Street became a Branch Library. The new library building is located in the western suburbs and was completed in July 1987. It formally opened to the public on October 6, 1987. (Photo below and indicated in the attached Placemark.)





The Library not only has the largest collection of Chinese books in the world, but also the biggest collection of materials in foreign languages in the country. The Library has the total floor area of 170,000 square meters, ranking first in the national libraries in Asia, and fourth in those of the world. The Library has a rich collection of 22,400,000 volumes, ranking fifth in the libraries of the world. In the collection there are 270,000 volumes of rarebooks; 1,600,000 volumes of general ancient books; and 35,000 pieces of the scripted turtle shells and animal bones from the Yin-Shang Dynaststy, c. 16th-11th century B.C.