Someone once posted a question online, “I have read lots of books but forgotten most of them. What's the purpose of reading?” The answer that got the most likes is “When I was a child I ate a lot of food. Most of it is long gone and forgotten, but certainly some of it became my very bones and flesh. Think of reading as the same thing for the mind.”
People always say knowledge is power. What better places could you access books easier than libraries? In this article we are going to show you some of the oldest and largest public libraries in Foshan where you can gain power!
Foshan City Library was first established in 1957 in Zhongshan Park. On January 8, 1993, the library building on Zumiao Road was completed and opened. On December 6, 2014, it moved to Foshan New City and opened to the public for a trial run. At the same time, the old library on Zumiao Road was closed and reconstructed. Some floors of the reconstructed old library is now reopened as a branch of the Foshan City Library.
The new building of Foshan City Library has a building area of 47,000 square meters (equivalent to two and a half old libraries), covering an area of 24,000 square meters. It is the largest library in prefecture level cities in China at present, with a project investment of more than 410 million yuan.
Opening Hours
9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday
The 24-hour self-service library is open all day
First floor and first floor mezzanine:
General service desk and 24-hour self-service library
Second floor:
Multimedia Center: individual audition area, electronic reading area and film studio
Exhibition hall: lectures, academic conferences, small performances and play digital films.
Second floor mezzanine: music halls, recording studios, and special event rooms
Third floor:
Social science book area (F economy; G culture, science, education, sports; H language, writing; K history, geography), foreign language library, literature and art area, painting gallery.
Fourth floor:
Social science book area (A Marxist-Leninist-Mao-Deng Theory; B Philosophy; C Social Science General Theory; D Politics, Law; E Military)
Natural science Book Area (N Self-science General Theory; O Mathematical Science and Chemistry; P astronomy, earth science; Q biological science; R medicine, health; S agricultural science; T industrial technology; U transportation; V aviation, aerospace, X environmental science; Z comprehensive books)
Fifth floor:
Ancient books area, local literature area, ordinary Chinese book reading area and Foshan cultural and historical exhibition hall
Sixth floor:
Self study area and Information Department
Seventh floor:
The administrative office area, except for the rooftop garden, is not open to readers. The rooftop garden has a wide view, overlooking the entire Foshan Park.
Chancheng District Library, formerly known as Shiwan District Library or Su Li Xiuying Library first opened on October 18, 1992. It was invested by the former Shiwan District government, along with the one million yuan donated by Ms. Su Li Xiuying of Hong Kong. The total area is nearly 6000 square meters.
In 2003, for better management, four libraries (Shaonian Ertong Library, Lanshi Jinshu Library, Huanshi Tongzhuang Library and Zhangcha Library) joined Chancheng District Library and they formed Foshan United Library. Chancheng District Library is the main library and the other four and branch libraries. The five museums have a total construction area of nearly 6000 square meters and a collection of more than 300000 books.
Located at No. 106 Tianyou 3rd Road, Guicheng Town, Nanhai District, Nanhai District Library, with a construction area of 6600 square meters and a total construction investment of 20 million yuan, is a modern medium-sized city library based on digital construction, using advanced technology, embodying contemporary service concepts, and integrating traditional service functions. It was built in 1990, and completed in December 1991, and then opened for service.
Nanhai District Library is open for more than 56 hours a week, and has more than 300 reading seats. The library has more than 580,000 books (pictures), more than 1,000 Chinese newspapers and periodicals, more than 2,600 local materials, and 200,000 e-books, more than 100 types of electronic newspapers and magazines, more than 60000 audio-visual CDs, and 8 large-scale comprehensive resource databases.
Shunde Library (including the old library - Shunde Liang Qiuju Library), founded in 1957, now has a total construction area of 34,300 square meters, a total of 1,900 reading seats, and a total of 1650 network nodes. There are nine departments: office, book acquisition and editing department, information department, computer technology department, book borrowing department, special collections department, newspapers and periodicals borrowing department, children's book borrowing department, and the Shunde branch of the National Cultural Information Sharing Project. The library currently has a collection of nearly 500,000 books.
The new library is located in the cultural center square of the new city of Shunde, with a construction area of 28,000 square meters. It adopts a human-oriented intelligent design and implements the integration of large-opening, storage, borrowing and reading. It has 1100 reading seats and 1500 network nodes. It opened in 2007 and serves the whole region. It mainly collects scientific, professional and academic documents, local characteristic documents and various digital resources, providing various literature borrowing and information retrieval services for readers, especially the professionals.
The old library is located at No. 37 Wenxiu Road, Daliang. It is one of the earliest public libraries in the province to implement full open shelf borrowing and computer management, and receives more than 800000 readers annually. After the new library was put into use, the old library serves the majority of basic-level readers as its main service targets. It continues to keep the external service windows such as the book borrowing hall, newspaper lending hall, children's book borrowing hall, and information retrieval center, so as to provide readers with real-time, entertaining and popular literature information services.
In addition, the Shunde Library actively popularizes scientific and cultural knowledge by holding various kinds of training, lectures, exhibitions and reader activities throughout the year.
Gaoming District Library was formerly known as the Gaohe County Library. Gaoming Library was established after its restoration in February 1982. In July 1984, it moved to Wenhua Lane, Cangjiang Road. In February 1989, the independent building of Gaoming Library was completed and opened. It is located at No. 56 Wenchang Road. In April 2004, the library expansion project was completed, with a total area of 3680 square meters. In August 2017, the Xijiang New City branch and Yinhai branch were added, with a total area of 8130 square meters. Built-in functional rooms include: a self-service hall, a network information reading room (licensing office), a smart book bar, a self-study room, a multi-functional academic lecture hall, a comprehensive book lending room, a children's reading room, an editing room, a comprehensive reading room,a special collection room, and a local literature reference room.
Full address: 56 Wenchang Road, Hecheng Street, Gaoming District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province
Sanshui District Library, founded in February 1951, is located at Lane 21, Wenfeng Dong Road, Xinan, Sanshui District, Foshan City. It is adjacent to Sanshui Cultural Park and Hengfu Square. The main building is a four story antique building. It covers an area of 3800 square meters and a construction area of 2100 square meters.
There are six departments and one room in the library, including office, collection and editing department, counseling Department, technology department, consulting department, lending department and periodical children's department. There are about 260,000 books in various collections, including more than 3,000 ancient books and more than 2,000 local documents. More than 700 newspapers and periodicals are ordered every year. Open-shelf books and periodicals account for more than 80% of the total library collection. The annual reception is about 400,000 readers. More than 5,000 library cards of various kinds have been issued, and 150,000 copies of various books and periodicals are lent out.
In 2005, in order to make it convenient for Foshan citizens to access books and information resources, libraries worked together and joined Foshan United Library, where libraries share the same system for better management. Now Foshan United Library has grown to 339 member libraries (including Foshan City Library, 21 in Chancheng District, 14 in Nanhai District, 30 in Shunde District, 3 in Gaoming District and 10 in Sanshui District), 256 intelligent libraries (including 1 Mobile Intelligent Library and 2 self-service borrowing and returning machines) and 3 new book borrowing places outside the library). For Chinese citizens who are over 16, with the 2nd-generation ID card you can borrow books from any of member library for free. For Hong Kong or Macao residents / foreigners, you only need to bring your passport or other valid documents and fill a form in any of the member library. After getting the library card you can borrow books for free as well.
With the library card, you can:
Please note: You can only borrow books, periodicals and audio-visual materials with YOUR OWN library card. And you can borrow a book for up to 30 days each time. Before due date the period can be extended for another 30 days. Please also remember, no matter which library you are at, obey the library regulations. Keep a good reading environment for others and yourself.
For the full library member list, please see https://www.fslib.com.cn/site-fsunionlib/node/2175
