After 1949, the Chinese government renovated old libraries and built many more new ones. Today, public libraries exist in colleges, research institutes, factories, schools, army barracks, townships, and neighborhood communities. By the end of 1997, there were more than 2,600 public libraries at and above the county level, 1,100 libraries in institutions of higher learning, and more than 8,000 libraries housed in research institutes. The National Library of China, former Beijing Library, is the largest in Asia.

Recent years have seen marked improvements in Chinese libraries in terms of amenities. Many have expanded their premises and installed modern equipment such as computers, microfilm reproduction machines, reading machines, copying machines and audio-video equipment. Libraries are playing an increasingly important role in the gathering, sorting, storing and transmission of information and data. Business hours have been extended, shelves opened to readers, seating capacities expanded, and procedures simplified. Librarians have also improved their service awareness by launching programs such as exhibitions, lectures, quiz shows, mail deliveries, pre-reservations and door-to-door deliveries. Other services include follow-up services, focused services, indexing, information providing, and participating in the technology market.

Librarian training has also flourished. The Chinese Association of Librarians, founded in 1979, has established branches at local levels and helped advance libraries in China. Progress has also been made in international liaison.

Economic prosperity has further boosted the development of libraries. In the economically developed regions, particularly in the Yangtze and Pearl River deltas, every township has built a library with 10,000 copies of books. It is estimated that by 2010, all townships across the nation will have a library, numbering more than 60,000.

Libraries in China assume a greater role than in other countries. The government pays particular attention to border areas and poverty-stricken areas by allocating funds earmarked specifically for building libraries in those areas

A majority of libraries at provincial level are now computerized in management, with 48.3% of them having established their LANs. Some have hyperlinks with local or the national networks and Internet. Some regions have established on-line compiling centers, in preparation for shared on-line cataloging to be introduced in the future.

Many libraries are beginning to collect electronic data, with 44.8% of provincial-level libraries having built or are currently building electronic reading rooms. A number of advanced libraries have launched on-line services. Inter-library cooperation has also made much headway in databank building and resource-sharing.

Overall, libraries in China are switching from book-centered to knowledge- and information-centered services and from being a storing place for books to a source of information.
In 1996, China successfully hosted the 62nd International Congress of Librarians, elevating the nation's standing in the international librarian community. In March 1997, Du Ke, Director General of the Department of Libraries of the Ministry of Culture, visited the Netherlands and briefed the next hosting country on the practices of China in hosting the last congress. In August, Chinese librarians took part in the 63rd congress held in Copenhagen, Denmark. At that congress, Sun Peixin, Vice President of the National Library of China and Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese Association of Librarians, was re-elected into the Executive Committee of the International Congress of Librarians.

In 1997, Chinese librarians visited their counterparts in Romania, Russia, Belarus, the Philippines, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Leading Libraries

National Library of China (Beijing Library)

Founded in 1909, Beijing Library was first opened to the public in 1912. In 1996, it began to receive submitted copies of books, thereby establishing itself as the national library of China. In July 1928, it was renamed the National Library of Peking.

In 1949, when the People's Republic was founded, it was changed back to Beijing Library. Originally located in Wenjin Street, it moved in 1987 to its present location in western suburbs.
The library currently has a collection of 21 million copies of books, including 260,000 copies of rare ancient books and 2 million thread-bound classics. It is the largest library in Asia and the fourth largest in the world. It also houses the National Cataloguing Center, Inter-Library Information Network Center, and Center for Librarian Studies.

In 1998, the library established an LAN incorporating the original 13 unconnected subsystems. In addition, it created a website in 1997. So far over 10 million people visited that website, with the peaking months numbering more than 2 million. Downloaded information amounts to 200GB annually, the largest of all the libraries in China. Currently, more than 3 million pages of data have been up-loaded, drawing 1.4 million readers monthly. Website: www.nlc.gov.cn

Capital Library

One of the oldest libraries in China, Capital Library was founded by Lu Xun, a modern literary giant, in October 1913. After 1949, it has established four branch outlets in Dongdan, Dongsi, Chongwen and Qianmen. It moved to its present location (where the Directorate of Education was located during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties) in 1957.

A new extension is under construction for the library. The project, costing 170 million RMB, broke ground in February 1997. With a floor space of 37,000 square meters, it is designed as a quarter-circle, symbolizing an open book, the source of knowledge and inspiration. According to the blueprint, it will have eight levels above the ground and one level in the basement, capable of housing 4 million copies. Inside will be 19 reading rooms (with 1,065 seats), a lecture hall, an exhibition hall, function rooms, and a control center.

The new facility will open to the public on October 1, 1999.

Shanghai Library

Covering an area of 3.1 hectares, (including 83,000 square meters of floor space), Shanghai Library was built and opened to the public on December 20, 1996. It is the first modern library in China capable of providing integrated book-lending and information-sourcing services.

Housing 13.2 million copies of books, the library is equipped with advanced facilities. These include a computer system that manages cataloging, circulation, information accessing, indexing and finance; a microfilm copying system; an audio-video system that includes large-screen projection TV, language labs, audio-video recording, editing and producing equipment, and satellite reception facilities.

Other major libraries: Nanjing Library (4.82 million copies), Science Library (4.4 million), Beijing University Library (3.7 million), Chongqing Library (2.87 million), Shandong Library (2.86 million), Sichuan Library (2.85 million), Tianjin Library (2.5 million), and Guangzhou Zhongshan Library (2.45 million). Tibet, the "roof of the world", also has a library.