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 Tian Yi Pavilion
Library is the earliest and oldest, private and folk library well preserved
in China today, and even in Asia. It was built in 1561-1566 by Mr. Fan Qin,
a high-ranking official equivalent to today's minister of national defense
in the 39th year of Emperor Jia Jing's reign in the Ming Dynasty. Originally,
it had collected more than 70,000 volumes of books. After over 400 years
of vicissitudes, there still have kept a large collection of about 300,000
ancient books, among which 80,000 are rare only-existing copies, mostly
woodcut and hand-written copies of the Song and Ming dynasties. They are
rich sources of local chronicles and imperial examinations and are precious
materials for the study of history, people, social customs and habits. |
