Tianyi Pavilion

Covering an area of 26 thousands square meters, Tianyi Pavilion is located on Tianyi Street, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. Tianyi Pavilion is a special museum gathering protection, research, management, merchandising, social education, tourism together. Now, it collects ancient books more than 30 thousand volumes.

History

In 1561, Tianyi Pavilion was firstly built by Fan Qing who liked collecting books all his life. In 1772, Tianyi Pavilion was renowned around the world because of the Seven North and South Club which was used to collect the Complete Library in the Four Branches of Literature. Since Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), literati all were proud of climbing to the top of the Tianyi Pavilion.

During the Opium War, the British invaded dozens of ancient books. In 1940, only 1591 books were collected in the Tianyi Pavilion. After the founding of new China, the government, in order to protect the Tianyi Pavilion, set up a specialized management institutions. In 1982, Tianyi Pavilion was announced as the National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by State Council.

Layout

The Tianyi Pavilion has a flush gable roof, and is six bays wide and deep, with a corridor extending from the front to the back. In front of the pavilion is a pond that stores water for fireproof. Fan Wengguang, Fan Qin’s great-grandson, rebuilt the pavilion by laying rockery around the lake, building kiosks and bridges, planting flowers and grass in the fourth year (1665) of the Kangxi reign in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The whole pavilion and the milieu feature the style of private gardens south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. During its rebuilding in 1933, the Zunjing Pavilion of Confucian Temple in Ningbo was moved to the backyard. Steles from the Song (960-1279) to Qing Dynasties in Ningbo City were also put there. These steles and the Zunjing Pavilion are called the Stele Forest in Mingzhou.

Collections

Tianyi Pavilion has a collection of nearly 300,000 volumes of ancient books, which recorded the local chronicles and history. Modern writer Tie Ning, Han Zuorong, Chen Yuanbin, Wang Xufeng and other 12 writers’ manuscripts is the first batch to collect the contemporary popular literature. Tianyi Museum accepted the gift, Tianmu Wang Lineage from Wang Shiheng and Wang Shizhao. Tianyi Pavilion has to accept public donations of ten types of genealogy. The donation of genealogy has greatly enriched the collections of the Tianyi Pavilion, which makes it become another bright spot.