Went to Tianyi Pavilion this morning – it is the oldest private library in existence in China and it’s right here in Ningbo!
Tianyi Pavilion was built in 1561 during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644) by Fan Qin, who, in his time, amassed ca. 70.000 books in the library. Although very important in terms of its history and significance, Tianyi Pavilion is so inconspicuous and hidden away among old parts of NingBo, that it is extremely hard to find if you do not know where to look for it. Walking along ‘Moon Lake’ you need to veer off the main road onto a narrow side-street in amongst old, residential buildings. We were lucky and got to experience market day in the area – tens of merchants selling anything from chickens, fish, crabs, vegetables, fruit etc. were there presenting their produce.
Following the narrow side street, turning around a few corners and there it was: the secret library. Covering quite a vast space, the library, as almost all old buildings in China which I have visited so far, is split into many different sections, or rooms, many of which are outdoor rooms and garden areas. It has a number of beautiful murals and stone carvings along the inside walls, some of which are just huge (like the one of the dragon below – the trees on either side were roughly 2m high).
The books themselves are not that spectacular – only very few are exhibited and comprise mainly of big wads of paper held together by a bit of string (no covers, as we would expect from books amassed in our libraries). What is quirky though is that almost each ‘room’, and certainly those with books, has a small water feature or pond. This was designed especially so that if ever books were to catch fire, there would immediately be water to hand to try and fight the flames. Many of these ponds now contain massed of coy carp and gold fish.
One of the most spectacular rooms contains an outdoor galleries, where the master of the house addressed his staff. It is a beautiful wood carved building, with gold decorations and many ornaments. The rest of the grounds and buildings are much more simple and traditional with many focal points, walk ways, several moon gates and pavilion dotted around.
My entry would not be complete without a mention of the plants which I discovered at the library. Found this beautiful tree which has wonderful small, off-white flowers. It is about to burst into bloom and with hundreds of flower buds on the tree, I think it will look quite spectacular in a weeks time. I think it’s a type of Camellia, but I’m still investigating.
