A Cultural Miracle in Siming Mountain

Liangnong is a small town on Siming Lake in Yuyao， a county-level city affiliated to Ningbo， a port city in eastern Zhejiang Province. The lake stretches along the northwestern side of the Siming Mountain and is the largest lake in eastern Zhejiang. The town is of great cultural significance in history. In the Later Tang (923-936) of the Five Dynasties， Liangnong existed as a town with a large population. During the Chinese Resistance War against Japanese Invasion (1937-1945)， it was home to resistance forces.

Recently Liangnong has become a tourism attraction with its charming landscape and places of historical and cultural interests. One of the significant historical sites in town is Wu Gui Lou (Five-Osmanthus Mansion). The mansion， which houses a private library， was built in 1807 by a country gentleman Huang Chengliang in Liangnong for his collection of 50，000 books.

Huang Chengliang named his library after his five ancestors Huang Biteng and his four brothers. He was proud of the fact that the five scholars became cosmopolitan graduates on the same day in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). When they retired， Emperor Gaozong wrote a poem in appreciation of their virtue and services. The poem compares the five scholars to Osmanthus trees. The five osmanthus trees in the name of the mansion refer to the five ancestors.

The bibliophile built the library not to keep his collection as a private fortune. In an era where books were expensive and rare， Huang’s library represented a fortune， but his purpose was to make his descendents keepers of these precious books so that they could read and scholars from four corners of China could read if they were willing to Liangnong.

In order to keep the collection intact， Huang Chengliang wrote a family decree instructing his descendents never to sell or lend these books to anyone.

Huang Zhaozhen， the son of Huang Chengliang， added about 10，000 books to the collection. However， some books of the collection got lost when the Taiping Army came to eastern Zhejiang. Huang Lianbiao， the grandson of Huang Chengliang， and Huang Anlan， the great grandson of Huang Chengliang， dedicated themselves to building the collection up again. With the efforts of the four generations of the Huang family， the library established its reputation as the second largest private library in eastern Zhejiang， second only to Tianyige Library in Ningbo.

Physically， the library is not as great as its reputation. Three two-storied architectures stand side by side in a small compound surrounded by a three-meter-tall wall. The present houses look elegant in the architectural style of the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). A plaque in the handwriting of Lu Qishan， a calligrapher of the Qing Dynasty， spells the name of the mansion. Another plaque indicates the grandeur the mansion once enjoyed: 72-Peak Thatched House， meaning a house with a view of 72 peaks of the Siming Mountain. Well， the mansion was entitled to this unfeigned pride， for it used to be the tallest manmade structure in Liangnong and it had a commanding view of the surrounding peaks.

The three houses have a total floor space of 130 square meters. They are designed to be a library. The two-storied wooden houses each have an antic which serves as an insulation layer to keep heat out. Each house has fire-wind walls on the east and west sides， a fire-prevention structure that relieves the monotony and crowdedness of the compound.

The houses are still in good conditions. All the components of the houses stand well under aesthetic scrutiny after the wear and tear of the two centuries. The windows， doors， walls， pillars， foundations， and roof structures still retain a sense of majesty and dignity. Wood and stone carvings on these buildings and in the courtyard radiate the refinement and delicacy of the library.

The three houses adopt the same structure: the ground floor serves as a sitting room where scholars could meet or sit reading. The second floor is reserved for books. Altogether there are 20 some large wooden book shelves in three houses.

The “Annals of Yuyao County” compiled during the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty has a detailed description of the collection， saying that the library contained all kinds of books.

Huang Anlan， the great grandson of Huang Chengliang， put together a category of all the books in the library. There were altogether over 60，000 volumes in 3，666 titles including 475 titles in classics， 416 titles in history， 504 titles in literature， 430 titles in literary criticism and studies， and 1820 series. Most of these volumes were block-printed editions made in the Qing Dynasty and many were reliable editions printed in the dynasties of the Song， Yuan and Ming.

These priceless volumes used to attract scholars to visit the library. Unlike some private bibliophiles who refused to let anyone touch their books， Huang Chengliang opened his library doors to visiting scholars. Though the library did not let people check out books， it welcomed people to read for whatever reason and the family provided scholars with boarding and food. The library now is regarded as a pioneer as a public library in China.

In the early 1950s most of the books in the library went to Zhejiang Provincial Library in Hangzhou and Tianyige Library in Ningbo. Today， the library still houses nearly 10，000 ancient books including 625 volumes in reliable editions.□