Tianyi Pavilion, located in Ningbo, Zhejiang, is the earliest private library in China, the oldest library in Asia and one of the three oldest family libraries in the world. Tianyi Pavilion, covering an area of 26,000 square meters, was built in the middle of the Ming Dynasty and presided over by Fan Qin, a retired right assistant minister of the Ministry of War. 1982 was announced by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit. There are nearly 300,000 volumes of ancient books, including 80,000 rare books, especially local chronicles and imperial examinations in the Ming Dynasty. Our library has developed rapidly, including China Local Records Collection, Yintai No.1 Official House and Mahjong Origin Exhibition Hall. The book pavilion is a two-story hard-top building with a wooden structure and a height of 8.5 meters. The ground floor is six rooms wide and six rooms deep, with corridors in front and back. On the second floor, except the stairwell, there are big rooms separated by bookcases. In addition, a "Tianyi Pool" was dug in front of the building, which can beautify the environment and store water for fire prevention. The architectural layout of Tianyi Pavilion was later imitated by other libraries.

Tianyi Pavilion was built in Jiajing of Ming Dynasty from forty years (156 1) to forty-five years (1566). The private library was built by Fan Qin, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War at that time. Fan Qin likes reading and collecting books, and has collected more than 70,000 books and classics in his life. Fan Qin's collection of books is characterized by local chronicles, political books, imperial examinations and poems. Because of its high status at one time, some of Fan Qin's books are internal materials of the official department, and it is difficult for ordinary book collectors to obtain them. After he was dismissed and returned to the battlefield, he built a library to keep these books.

Fan Qin's earliest library was called Dongming Caotang. After resigning and returning to China, with the increase of books, it is urgent to build a new library. Fan Qin named the new library "Tianyi Pavilion" according to the statement of "natural water" ... and in the Book of Changes written by Zheng Xuan, "Di Cheng Liu" adopted the pattern of "natural six places" in the architectural pattern, and built a pool outside the building to prevent fire, and "controlled fire with water". At the same time, take various moth-proofing and insect-repellent measures to protect books.