Heilongjiang Provincial Library

Heilongjiang Provincial Library

The Heilongjiang Provincial Library officially opened on May 5, 1962, and has since become the largest comprehensive public library in the province. In the process of comprehensive social development, the Heilongjiang Provincial Library plays various functions including protecting cultural heritage, transmitting civilization, disseminating knowledge, storing information, organizing literature, and meeting societal needs. It serves as an important window showcasing the humanistic resources of Heilongjiang and facilitating international cultural exchanges, an information hub for the province's industrial, agricultural production, and economic development, a social classroom for spiritual civilization construction, and a key base for fostering a learning-oriented society across the province.

Historical Development

To trace the historical development of the provincial library, we must go back to 1905. At that time, the Educational Affairs Office under the Military Governor's Office of Heilongjiang established a library in Longsha Park, Qiqihar City. This was the earliest provincial library. In 1954, the original Heilongjiang Province and the original Songjiang Province merged to form the new Heilongjiang Province, and the provincial capital was moved from Qiqihar to Harbin. As a result, the original Heilongjiang Provincial Library was renamed Qiqihar Municipal Library. In 1957, the provincial party committee and government decided to build a new Heilongjiang Provincial Library in Harbin. In 1961, the library building covering an area of over 8,600 square meters was completed.

With the development of the times, the original library space and traditional services of the Heilongjiang Provincial Library could no longer meet the growing needs of readers for literature and information in the new era. Building a modern library had become a pressing demand of the times. The new library project received strong support from the provincial party committee and government. Construction began in May 2000, and the new library was completed in October 2003, with a total estimated cost of 170 million yuan. The new library is located at No. 216 Changjiang Road, Harbin City, covering a total site area of 27,894 square meters, with a building footprint of 7,642 square meters, a total floor area of 34,000 square meters, and roads and green spaces occupying 20,252 square meters. Designed by the Architectural Design and Research Institute of Harbin Institute of Technology, the building stands as a symbolic structure of the province’s cultural development and represents the progress of modern libraries in Heilongjiang.

Collection Resources

When the provincial library first opened, it housed a collection of 800,000 volumes. After several decades of accumulation, it now boasts a collection of 2.64 million volumes. This includes over 1.97 million volumes of Chinese and foreign books, more than 142,000 ancient texts, 506,000 periodicals, 380 microforms, and over 20,000 audiovisual materials. The collection focuses on various types of literature needed for industrial and agricultural production as well as scientific research in the province. The reference books and indexing journals are fairly comprehensive. Due to its geographical location, the library also holds a large amount of Russian and Japanese materials. There are nearly 10,000 types of local documents, reflecting the region’s geology, mineral resources, products, industrial and agricultural production, and local customs in the northeastern area and the province. The rare book collection includes 385 titles and 6,602 volumes, among which are treasures such as the scroll manuscript of “Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra” from the Later Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty printed edition of “Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government: Anecdotal Accounts,” the Yuan Dynasty printed “New Compilation of Literary Materials,” “Yunfu Qunyu,” the Ming Dynasty printed “Newly Engraved Ancient and Modern Elegant Northern Palace Poetry Collection” and “Newly Engraved Ancient and Modern Elegant Southern Palace Poetry Collection,” and the Qing Dynasty Qianlong edition of “Da Qing Yitong Zhi.” Since 1980, the library has established book and periodical exchange relationships with 15 libraries in seven countries including Japan, the United States, Canada, the former Soviet Union, North Korea, and Singapore, obtaining newly published literature from these countries.

Venue Size

Architectural Structure

The new library building adopts a reinforced concrete frame structure with modular design featuring the same floor height, column grid, and load capacity, providing extensive adaptability inside the building and offering flexible space for use and development. The main body of the building serves as the public service area of the library. Facilities include a reader service hall, multi-functional hall, literature borrowing, periodical reading, local document retrieval, electronic literature reading, internet searching, mini-theater, and language learning services. Special service areas are also designated for self-study readers, children, and people with disabilities, totaling over 20 borrowing and activity spaces with more than 1,400 reading seats. The central hall is a shared open space with a glass dome, offering harmonious and abundant lighting. Corridors connect each floor, extending in straight lines over 80 meters, meandering on both sides and encircling up and down, forming a unique “cultural corridor” landscape within the hall.

Main Structure

On either side of the main building are two circular structures of distinct designs. The western side is an exhibition hall covering 700 square meters, providing various display services for economic, cultural, and other exhibits. The eastern side is a lecture hall spanning 700 square meters with 350 seats and equipped with simultaneous interpretation facilities, suitable for high-quality conferences and academic lectures. The regularly held “Heilongjiang Forum” here has built a strong brand presence as a “citizens’ classroom,” attracting a large audience from all walks of life. The three-story podium behind the lecture hall houses office areas, which also include some teaching spaces available for professional education services. Additionally, the new library has a reader restaurant and a water bar, providing convenient dining services for visitors.

Sky Ladder

It is a piece of paper—the most basic unit of a library: the book.

A molecule. This paper records the history of writing and printing, as well as the progress of human civilization. Throughout human civilization, people have evolved from knot-tying for record-keeping to carving characters on oracle bones to document human activities, and from writing history on parchment and bamboo slips. Each change in writing medium marks a new stage in human civilization.

It is a curved ruler—a bent ruler inscribed with various scripts and images depicting every step of human progress. From knots to paper, and then to digital technology, this ruler not only connects the past but also extends into the future.

It is a sky ladder. At the top of the sculpture, the spiraling DNA model represents our vision: future books and materials may be stored via biological chips, and knowledge might be stored, processed, and deepened in unknown ways on bio-intelligent chips, eventually bringing surprises to humanity in even more marvelous forms. The application and research of DNA should be the most accessible ladder for humans exploring the future.

It is a wave. Beneath the ark of knowledge, the red wave encourages people to continuously pursue knowledge, equipping them with better skills to live and transform the world.

It is a swan, ready to take flight, resembling the shape of Heilongjiang Province—the swan. If people can change their fate through knowledge, they too can soar to their ideal heights like a swan.