Huang Yuan Library

Huang Yuan Library

Huang Yuan Library, located at the foot of Wancang Mountain by Beihu Lake, stands adjacent to the Zaiqing Villa on either side.

In 1996, Mr. Huang Yuan donated nearly ten thousand books to his hometown of Haiyan. The county Party committee and government attached great importance to this gesture and allocated funds in 1997 to construct the library. It was completed in October 1998, with a total floor area of 560 square meters, consisting of a left and a right building. The left building serves as the creative studio, while the right one functions as the library. The two are connected by a winding corridor in between. It is a cultural building that embodies the architectural style of the Ming and Qing dynasties, integrating both a library and a creative space.

Huang Yuan (1906–), whose given name was Qiyuan,

styled Heqing, was a native of Wuyuan Town, Haiyan County. In his early years, he followed Lu Xun, editing magazines such as Literature and serving as the chief editor of Translation in Shanghai. He translated numerous works, including The Life and Works of Turgenev, The Class of 1902, The General Died in Bed, and Representative Works of Gorky. When the War of Resistance broke out, he put down his pen and took up arms, successively serving as the editor of the literary sections of the New Fourth Army Daily and the Anti-Japanese Magazine, as well as the literary supplement of the Anti-Japanese Newspaper. He forged revolutionary friendships with generals such as Chen Yi, Ye Ting, and Ye Fei.

During the Liberation War, Huang Yuan served as the director of the Central China Literary Association. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, he held various positions including deputy minister and party group secretary of the Cultural Department of the East China Military and Political Commission, deputy minister of the Culture and Education Department of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee, deputy minister of the Propaganda Department and director of the Cultural Bureau, as well as party group secretary. In the 1950s, he oversaw the adaptation of the Kunqu-Suzhou opera Fifteen Strings of Cash, which received praise from Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai.