Xinyang City Library, situated along the Shi River in Xinyang, is a literary sanctuary that seamlessly blends modern architectural aesthetics with humanistic spirit. Its exterior features flowing lines inspired by the regional characteristics of the Dabie Mountains, while its glass curtain walls reflect the emerald hues of Xinyang’s famed tea-growing landscape. Inside, tiered reading areas of varying heights create an immersive experience that harmoniously balances tranquility and activity.
Key highlights of the library include: an Intangible Cultural Heritage Corridor housing rare ancient editions of the "Xinyang Local Chronicles," interactive bamboo-slip exhibits that visitors can touch, and a 24-hour smart book café that, illuminated at night, resembles a starry river descending to earth.
In the central exhibition area, the children’s reading zone is themed as an enchanted forest, complete with a holographic storytelling wall. The Digital Resource Center offers a VR system for exploring ancient architecture, allowing visitors to virtually step into the Ming-Qing-era Xinyang Confucian Temple. A dedicated “Red Memory” exhibition showcases manuscripts and periodicals from the Eyuwan Revolutionary Base, bearing witness to the heroic struggles of revolutionary martyrs like Liu Bojian, a proletarian revolutionary leader.
Originally established in 1956, the library has undergone several expansions yet retains the original wooden vaulted ceiling of its historic building, which now engages in a dialogue across time with the steel framework of the new wing. Among its treasured collections is a surviving fragment of the Qing-dynasty "Xinyang Prefecture Gazetteer," documenting how Li Hongzhang—a prominent late-Qing statesman—once established a Huai Army supply depot here, intertwining the fragrance of books with history along the banks of the Shi River.
