New Building of Yangpu Library

New Building of Yangpu Library

The 80-year-old "Little Forbidden City" in the magic city—Yangpu Library's new building—has been open to the public free of charge since its renovation was completed in 2018.

Beautiful gate towers, exquisite paintings, majestic red-painted columns, vintage decorative displays, and clean, bright reading spaces... who would have thought this place was once an abandoned building?

Shanghai’s new “internet-famous” landmark, the “Little Forbidden City,” the new building of Yangpu District Library, located at 128 Hengren Road, reopened to the public during the National Day holiday in 2018 after more than three years of renovation and expansion.

The new building of Yangpu District Library was formerly known as the “Old Shanghai Municipal Library.” It was one of the main structures in the “Greater Shanghai Plan” from the 1930s, designed by the renowned architect Dong Dayou and opened to the public in 1936. However, due to budget constraints at the time, not all of Dong Dayou’s design plans were realized, and only about half of the intended structure was built and put into use.

More than eighty years later, Yangpu District established the conservation and renovation philosophy of “maximum protection and utilization, optimal renewal and regeneration,” renovating and expanding the historic building to realize the architect’s original vision of a “well”-shaped layout. The renovated area belonging to the “Old Shanghai Municipal Library” covers 3,960 square meters, while the expanded area is 10,192 square meters. The total area after renovation and reconstruction exceeds 14,000 square meters.

Following the principle of restoring the old as it was, the renovation and expansion project employed many new techniques while preserving some of the original painted patterns. Over ten artisans spent six months using traditional hand-painted techniques, applying lime powder and mineral pigments with the delicate brushwork akin to painting thangka, meticulously creating the artwork and deeply embodying the spirit of craftsmanship.

The new building of Yangpu District Library will introduce new technological facilities such as recording booths and audio booths to create an audio library project, offering citizens an immersive reading experience. The recording booth will provide a convenient reading system, a rich selection of reading resources, and a comfortable reading environment. It will also recruit citizens’ “best reading voices” through online themed reading competitions. The audio booth will collaborate with experts, curated lists, and reader recommendations to select recommended titles for the audio library. It will invite renowned voice actors and talented “best reading voices” to co-record audiobooks, which will then be uploaded, shared, and disseminated via new media platforms such as online radio and WeChat official accounts. Yangpu District Library will partner with Dragonfly FM to build the audio library, making what you see also audible — listen to the stories of the building anytime, hear book reviews from experts at your convenience, and catch library events live.

The new building of Yangpu District Library will also be equipped with an AR intelligent interactive guidance system. This system is based on automatic scene navigation and real-time geographic location information, integrating features such as AR-based real-scene navigation and AR panoramic scanning. Readers can use their smartphones to experience AR, learn about the historical stories of the new building, and navigate its functional areas.

The new building of Yangpu District Library began trial operations on October 1, 2018. During the trial period, opening hours are from 9:00 to 18:00 (the library is closed in the morning every Friday and opens at 12:30 in the afternoon; opening hours may vary during holidays and will be announced separately).

The new building has a total of 692 reading seats and can accommodate up to 800 readers at the same time. Due to the load-bearing safety requirements of the heritage building, crowd control measures will be implemented once capacity is reached. Citizens and readers can visit the Yangpu District Library website (http://www.yplib.org.cn/), click on “Yangpu Updates” under the “Yangpu News” section, or follow the “Shanghai Yangpu District Library” WeChat official account and click on “Book Borrowing” and then “Current Patron Count” to check the current number of people in the new building and stay informed about crowd control status.

Admission requires a valid Shanghai Central Library “One Card” reader’s pass, or a second-generation ID card, electronic student ID, or other valid identification.

Address: 128 Hengren Road, Yangpu District

Transportation: Get off at Jiangwan Stadium Station on Metro Line 10, then take Bus 61, 538, 854, or 942 to Changhai Road Heishan Road Station.