TianYi Pavilion is the oldest surviving private library in China, built in 1561 by Fan Qin, a Ming dynasty official, to house his collection of over seventy thousand volumes. The two-storey wooden building is constructed with an unusual double-roof design that allows air circulation while protecting the collection from damp; drainage channels run under the floors; and the surrounding garden is planted with camphor trees, whose essential oils deter insects. These precautions kept the books intact for centuries while libraries around China burned or rotted.
The collection today is held in a climate-controlled museum adjacent to the original building, which is preserved but no longer used for storage. The original pavilion is striking in its simplicity — plain timber, whitewashed walls, a garden of stone and water — and the attached Tianyi Ge Museum displays a selection of the surviving volumes, including rare Ming-dynasty local gazetteers that are the only copies extant. The garden, with its linked rockery pools and classical Jiangnan planting, is one of the most tranquil spots in the city.