National Library of China

The National Library of China (simplified Chinese: 中国国家图书馆; traditional Chinese: 中國國家圖書館; pinyin: Zhōngguó Guójiā Túshūguǎn) or NLC in Beijing is the national library of the People's Republic of China. With a collection of over 33,78 million items, it is the largest library in Asia and one of the largest in the world. It holds the largest collections of Chinese literature and historical documents in the world.

The forerunner of the National Library of China, the Imperial Library of Peking (京师图书馆; Jīngshī Túshūguǎn), was founded on 9 September 1909 by the government of the Qing dynasty. It was first formally opened after the Xinhai Revolution, in 1912. In 1916, the library received depository library status. In July 1928, its name was changed to National Peiping Library and was later changed to the National Library.

History

Background

Early references to public libraries were by Lin Zexu in the Sizhou Zhi (四洲志; 1839) and Wei Yuan in the Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms (first ed., 1843), both of which were translations from Western books.

Beijing

Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world.

Its total population in 2013 was 21,150,000. The city proper is the 2nd most populous in the world. The metropolis, located in northern China, is governed as a direct-controlled municipality under the national government with 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts. Beijing Municipality is surrounded by Hebei Province with the exception of neighboring Tianjin Municipality to the southeast; together the three divisions form the Jingjinji metropolitan region and the national capital region of China.

Beijing is the second largest Chinese city by urban population after Shanghai and is the nation's political, cultural and educational center. It is home to the headquarters of most of China's largest state-owned companies, and is a major hub for the national highway, expressway, railway, and high-speed rail networks. The Beijing Capital International Airport is the second busiest in the world by passenger traffic.

Beijing (disambiguation)

Beijing, literally northern capital in Chinese may refer to the modern city of Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, or any of several other Northern Capitals in Chinese history including:

China Railways BJ

Beijing, mostly referred to as BJ, is a diesel-hydraulic locomotive used in the People's Republic of China. It is named after the capital city of China, Beijing.

BJ were made in two different versions, a standard version and a kou'an (port) version. China Railways DF7D, a diesel electric locomotive based on DF7B, has a similar appearance to the Beijing locomotive.

North Korea

From 2002 the Korean State Railway has received a number of BJ class locomotives second-hand from China. They are used mostly for heavy shunting and on local freight trains around P'yŏngyang. Thirty have been delivered, numbered in the 내연301 - 내연330 series (내연 = Naeyŏn, "internal combustion"); most are still painted in their original Chinese blue livery, but a few have been repainted into the standard North Korean scheme of light blue over dark green.

References