# Jingtang Library

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The **Jingtang Library** (Chinese: **景堂圖書館**) is a library located in the city of [Jiangmen](/source/Jiangmen) in [Guangdong](/source/Guangdong), [China](/source/China). The library was established in 1925, by an [Overseas Chinese](/source/Overseas_Chinese) founder [Fung Ping Shan](/source/Fung_Ping_Shan). The area of the library was initially 1,250 m2, and after a series of donations from [Fung Ping-fan](/source/Fung_Ping-fan), the son of Fung Ping Shan, the library was expanded by 4,030 m2, and the new building of the library was built in 1988. In 2012, [Huo Zongjie](/source/Huo_Zongjie) (霍宗傑) donated to build an extra reading room, named the "Huo Zongjie Reading Room".[1] In the present day, the total area of the library reaches 6,510 m2 (70073.05 ft²) nowadays. More than 400,000 books are collected in the library.[1]

## Facilities

The library offers the following resources:

- Digital Reading Room (電子閱覽室)
- Newspapers and Periodicals Reading Room (報刊閱覽室)
- Braille Material Service Room (視障人士閱覽室)
- "Love-Tree" Story Room (愛心樹故事屋)
- Exhibition Hall (展覽廳)
- Book Check-in/Check-out Room (圖書借閱室)
- Diversity Reading Room (綜合閱覽室)
- Children's Book Check-in/Check-out Room (少兒閱覽室) - late moved to the north wing in 2024[2]
- Special Collection Reading Room (特藏閱覽室)
- Class Room (教室)
- Study Room (自修室)
- Xinhui Public Forum (新會大眾講堂)
- Multi-function Hall (多功能報告廳)
- Fok Chung-Kit (Huo Zongjie) Reading Room (霍宗傑閱覽室)
- Multicultral reading centre - established 2022 in Kong Yoo Mansion, west of the library (心连心多元文化园)[3]

## Collections

There are a substantial number of collections in the library, including [Local history](/source/Local_history), documents of the history of [Overseas Chinese](/source/Overseas_Chinese), [genealogy books](/source/Genealogy_books), etc. For instance, the library is keeping *Wan Guo Shi Ji* (萬國史記, The Record of World History, Hua Guotang, 1900), and *Da Xue Yan Yi Tong Lve* (大學衍義通略, the 43rd year of the [Jiajing Emperor](/source/Jiajing_Emperor) in the [Ming dynasty](/source/Ming_dynasty)).[4] Most of the old books were collected from communities and families. In the 1950s, [Xinhui District](/source/Xinhui_District) organized a collection activity to search for old books from communities and families, to register and preserve those collections in the library. There are also collections like resources of [Overseas Chinese](/source/Overseas_Chinese) including 20 types of papers dating back to the time before the establishment of the [People's Republic of China](/source/People's_Republic_of_China). For example, the library has *Siyi Newspaper* (四邑平報, 1917) and *Gangzhou Weekly News* (岡州星期報, 1925), which recorded the history of [Xinhui District](/source/Xinhui_District) like [Sun Ning Railway](/source/Sun_Ning_Railway).[4] Alternatively, there are collections dating back to nearly 900 years ago when [Song dynasty](/source/Song_dynasty) was migrating to the south. For instance, the library has kept some [Guqin](/source/Guqin) music sheet like *Gu Gang Zhe Hu Music Sheet* (古崗蔗胡琴譜).[4] The library also collects more than 910 genealogy books for up to 68 family names.

## History

The Jingtang Library was established by Fung Ping Shan. Fung Ping Shan (1860-1931) was born in [jiangmen](/source/Jiangmen)[Xinhui District](/source/Xinhui_District). At the age of 16, he moved to [Siam](/source/Siam) (old name of [Thailand](/source/Thailand)) for a living. After experiencing success in business, Fung focused on the field of education. In [Hong Kong](/source/Hong_Kong), he donated to build [The Chinese University of Hong Kong](/source/The_Chinese_University_of_Hong_Kong) Library (香港中文大學圖書館[5]), [The Chinese General Chamber of Commerce](/source/The_Chinese_General_Chamber_of_Commerce) Library.[6] And in [Xinhui District](/source/Xinhui_District), he had established Fung Ping Shan Private School, Woodworking School, and Ping Shan Primary School (新會平山小學).[6]

In 1922, Fung donated 10,000 yuan to build the library on Renshou Fang in the center of [Xinhui District](/source/Xinhui_District).[7] He purchased Tan Mansion in Renshou Road (譚家大屋, a mansion pre-owned by family Tan) and demolished it to build the library.[1] The library was completed in 1925 for an area of 1,250 m2 (13,454.89 ft²), and opened to public in June.

By 1938, the collections in the library reached 65,945 books. After the [Second Sino-Japanese War](/source/Second_Sino-Japanese_War), when the [Xinhui District](/source/Xinhui_District) was occupied, [Fung Ping-Wah](/source/Fung_Ping-Wah) (馮秉華) and Fung Ping-fan, sons of Fung Ping Shan, assisted the library to evacuate and reopen in Luokeng (羅坑) and Lingchong (凌衝) as branch libraries.[1] In 1939, due to clerks' leaving, branch library of Luokeng was closed and combined into branch library of Luochong. Another branch library, the Tianting branch library (天亭分館),[1] was established in 1941. Until 1949, Jingtang Library was reopened again.

In 1988, Fung Ping-fan donated to the library for refurbishment as well as extension of new building (新館). The new building enlarged the area of the library by 4,030 m2 (43,378.56 ft²). In 2012, Huo Zongjie (霍宗傑) donated to build the Huo Zongjie Reading Room to further expand the library. Right now, the total area of the library is 6,510 m2 (70073.05 ft²), with more than 400,000 books in its collection.

## See also

- [List of libraries in China](/source/List_of_libraries_in_China)

## References

1. ["历久弥新的新会景堂图书馆 隐藏在闹市中的世外桃源_江门频道_新浪广东_新浪网"](https://gd.sina.com.cn/jm/2017-04-07/city-jm-ifyeceza1460053.shtml) [Jintang Library, an espape from the high street glamour] (in zh-cn). *gd.sina.com.cn*. Retrieved 2021-04-24.

1. Zhong, Lingling (10 October 2024). ["景堂图书馆多了一处阅读休闲场所 心连心少儿阅览中心“焕新”迎客"](http://www.jmnews.com.cn/a/content/2024-10/10/content_2706427.htm) [New children section of Jintang Library opens] (in zh-cn). *Jiangmen Daily*. Retrieved 22 May 2026.

1. Huang, Shaozhen & Li, Kaiying (27 December 2022). ["新会景堂图书馆迎来建馆百年"](https://pc.nfnews.com/10119/7210051.html) [The centenary of Jintang Library] (in zh-cn). *Southern Daily*. Retrieved 2026-05-22.

1. ["江门景堂图书馆：侨乡文化的灵魂栖息地_古籍"](https://www.sohu.com/a/426244672_268755) [The Jintang Library: a trove of Jiangmen's diaspora history and culture] (in zh-cn). *www.sohu.com*. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20210428124416/https://www.sohu.com/a/426244672_268755) 2021-04-28 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2021-04-24.

1. [香港中文大學圖書館](https://www.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/tc)

1. Hsieh, Cheng-Hung & Tsai, Zuo-Min (2019). "Design of an ultra-compact lowpass filter with ultra-sharp roll-off for UHF application". *IEICE Electronics Express*. **16** (17). [doi:10.1587/elex.16.20190473](https://doi.org/10.1587/elex.16.20190473). [ISSN 1349-2543](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1349-2543)

1. 馮, 美蓮 & 尹, 耀全 (2013). [*庋藏遠見: 馮平山*](https://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/205458). Hong Kong: 商務印書館(香港)有限公司. p. 193. ISBN 978-962-07-4488-4. Retrieved 25 April 2021.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jingtang Library](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingtang_Library) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingtang_Library?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.