'Most Beautiful' Library Shuttered Over Reports of Piracy
It may not be the first time authorities have taken extreme measures over easily fixed issues, but this time it feels slightly personal. We had previously visited the famous Liyuan Library, situated in the mountainous north of Beijing and protected by a lake and the struggle of hardly-any-public-transportation, on a number of occasions but it seems our last visit may have been, well, our last. At least for a while.
That's because as of Tuesday afternoon, business has been temporarily suspended in order for law enforcement officials from the National Office Against Pornography and Illegal Publications to examine the content of the library, according to the South China Morning Post. Members of the public had alerted the authorities about pirated material that contained falsified publishers' information, incomplete or incorrect translations, and uncensored descriptions. As such, the library has been shut down temporarily and is reportedly expected to reopen next spring when it's all "cleaned up."
The Liyuan Library was designed by architect Li Xiaodong back in 2011 and has been featured in numerous international media outlets. His other projects in rural areas of China have also gained plenty of coverage, but this building proved to be his most acclaimed. The architect used a glass construction as a base and local fruit branches and twigs to cover the library's entire exterior. It has been praised for its eco-friendliness, natural light, and minimalistic design.
Those designs haven't gone unnoticed, with the building joining a list of the 18 most beautiful libraries in the world. Sadly, the book containing the details of those libraries could until now also be seen in the Liyuan collection.
The inspection has already found a long list of wrongdoings amongst the collection of over 10,000 books. We hoped to find pictures of said explicit content on Chinese media after news of the library's closing was announced, but we may have been a little naive. Some books had fake publisher logos, or barcodes not corresponding to ISBN, but others had more entertaining mistakes in the form of mistranslations and ramblings. And if anyone thought Comic Sans was dead, here's some proof that it will live in infamy forever, just kicking it in the village of Jiaojiehe:
While the inspection was most likely triggered by visitors expressing their dissatisfaction with the collection online, we've all lost a cozy day trip spot that would have looked magical amongst the snowy peaks of winter. Hopefully, a compromise can be reached between authorities and the library by the time spring rolls around so that Beijing's bookworms will be once again able to return to the unique site and browse its content with peace of mind.
Photos: Tautvile Daugelaite, iPublishing
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