The old National Library building, completed in 1987, was listed as one of Beijing's "top ten architectural landmarks of the 1980s", but at 12,000 a day, visitors had long since outgrown its capacity and a new building had been planned several years ago.

Shaped like a gigantic book, the construction of the new 1.2 billion yuan complex started in late 2004. It has 2,900 seats in its 80,000 square meter area and is expected to be able to meet increasing demand for the next 30 years. The completion of the new building makes the National Library of China the largest library in Asia and the world's third largest library with a great range of English and other foreign language editions, including periodicals and academic titles.

Foreigners can only access the books at the library and are not permitted to borrow, but the selection makes it well worth the trip. Their website has a searchable online database that is available in both Chinese and English. Reader's cards are available for RMB 5/month or RMB 20/year.

It’s also home to China’s famed oracle bones and thousands of historically valuable papers. For rare book fans, the biggest attraction of National Library of China Phase II building will be on the first floor, where a special glass room houses original copies of the Siku Quanshu (Complete Library of the Four Branches of Literature – a huge Encyclopedia project initiated by the Qing Emperor Qianlong, who reigned from 1735 to 1796).

Notable collection and items in the library are:

• A collection of over 270,000 ancient and rare Chinese books and historical documents, and over 1,640,000 traditionalthread-bound Chinese books;

• Over 35,000 inscriptions on oracle bones and tortoise shells from the Shang Dynasty (c. 16th–11th Century BC)

• More than 16,000 volumes of precious historical Chinese documents and manuscripts from the Mogao Caves inDunhuang

• Copies of Buddhist sutras dating to the 6th century;

• Old maps, diagrams, and rubbings from ancient inscriptions on metal and stone;

• Rare copies of ancient manuscripts and books of Five Dynasties periods, including a large number of ancient manuscriptvolumes on different subjects;

• Books and archives from imperial libraries dating to the Southern Song Dynasty;

• The most complete surviving Ming Dynasty copies of the Yongle Encyclopedia ("Great Canon of the Yongle Era");

• A copy of the Siku Quanshu ("Complete Library of the Four Branches of Literature") of the Qing Dynasty;

• And the essential literary and books collection from Qing Dynasty's imperial colleges and renowned private collectors;

Address: 33ZhongguancunNandajie, Haidian District, Beijing

Chinese Address: 北京市海淀区中关村南大街33号

Hours: Daily 9am-9pm

Phone: 010-8854 5593/4089

Website: www.nlc.gov.cn/en/indexen.htm