Ningbo part one

It is said during the years this library belonged to Fan Family, only about a dozen people were allowed to climb up this staircase and go to the library to read the books, and they are all renowned scholars.

Tianyi ge was named after a Taoist scripture 鈥Tianyi sheng shui, meaning Tianyi breeds water, in the hope that the name will keep the library free from disasters such as fire and other ill fates.

The library was built in mid-sixteenth century by Fanqin, a defense minister in Ming Dynasty, whose passion was reading and collecting rare and precious books. It only took about five years to build the library, but the accumulation and maintenance of the books has become the destiny of many generations of the Fan family to come.

Inside the bookcases are many valuable antique books. Actually being one of the largest, best-kept private libraries, Tianyi Pavilion has many volumes of precious antique books, and among them, the most talked-about is that one over there 鈥this is a gift given by Emperor Qianlong, It鈥檚 the grand encyclopedia in Qing Dynasty.

The success of Tianyi Ge came from the application of strict even inhumane rules. For example, non-family members were not allowed to get into the building or even borrow the books. For family members, only when all the branches agreed unanimously could the library be opened up.

Legend goes that a girl named Qian Xiuyun admired the books so much that she married into the Fan family just to earn the qualification to get inside Tianyi Ge. Sadly, until the day she died, she never got a chance to fulfill the dream because her husband was not from the main branches that controlled the keys.