Built in 1782 during the Qing Dynasty, the library was one of seven – built between 1775 and 1880 – imperial libraries that would contain Siku Quanshu – a complete library of four branches of literature – i.e. classics, history, philosophy and literature. This was a project started in 1773 under the supervision of the Emperor Qianlong. Today the book collection is stored in the nearby city, in Zhejiang Library and consists of 36 000 volumes, that is 79 337 books. This is a treasure not only for the Chinese people but also to humanity as a whole. Today only four of the seven original library pavilions are bewared.