Hanfen Building is the collection building of Shanghai Commercial Press, and its establishment can be traced back to 1904. At that time, the editorial affairs of the Commercial Press were handled by Zhang Yuanji, a character and academician of the Reform Movement of 1898. In his editing work, he couldn't find a good rare book, so he created Hanfen House, which means that there are rare books hidden in it, and they exude the fragrance of knowledge. 1909, officially named after Hanfen Building. Hanfenlou began with the collection of rare ancient books, and later accepted Chinese and foreign books. I always try my best to collect all kinds of books scattered in China. Japan, Europe and the United States also try to buy new books published every year; By 1924, there were 37,000 rare books and precious manuscripts in Hanfen Building, among which Yongle Dadian 12 was on the verge of being lost.

Hanfenlou also has a collection of 264 1 local chronicles covering 22 provinces and remote areas in China, which far exceeds that of public libraries. In terms of foreign language books and periodicals, Hanfenlou owns several sets of European scientific magazines, and collects a full set of Dutch Gazette and British Journal of North China Branch of Asian Language Association. The latter two books, founded by early foreign sinologists, are the basic reference books for the study of Sino-Western relations in the18th century. Besides books, newspapers and magazines, Hanfenlou has a collection of 5,000 photos, maps, charts and paintings. By 1924, Hanfen Building had a collection of 463,083 volumes, which was the largest library at that time. Zhang Yuanji decided to turn it into a public library and open it to the public. The Commercial Bureau decided to build a five-story concrete building with the accumulated funds of 1 1000 silver dollars, and named it Oriental Library, which was completed and opened in 1926, and played a role in enlightening the people.

Hanfen Building was originally built by the Commercial Press (then in Shanghai, not in Beijing) for the convenience of editing. Zhang Yuanji, who was in charge of editing at that time, set up a library at 1904. Later, due to the increase of rare books and the need for management, he "set up a library named Hanfen Building" in 1909 (Centennial of the Commercial Press).

1924 has also built a five-story "Oriental Library" to store more and more books. As for "the old periodicals of Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties are mainly banknotes, and the manuscripts of celebrities and their unpublished ones are rare books", "another special room is set up for collection, named Hanfen Building". At this point, "Hanfen Building" has changed from a library to a rare book room of the Oriental Library.

The number of books in this library once surpassed that of Beiping Library, reaching 565,438+0,000 volumes, making it the largest library in China. However, in 1932, along with the printing house, compiling institute and Shangzhi primary school, they were all destroyed by Japanese artillery fire.