Mu Zhai Library

Mu Zhai Library is the earliest library in the history of Nankai University. Its donator is Lu Mu Zhai, the well-known educator, book collector and book-setter. Lu Mu Zhai (1856 to 1948), with given name Jing, style name Mianzhi and nickname Mu Zhai, was born in Fuyang, Hubei Province. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Mr. Lu served as school ambassador for Hebei Province and Shenyang Province. He successively donated Tianjin Library, Baoding Library and Shenyang Library, and founded dozens of kinder gardens, elementary schools, middle schools and specialized schools. During the period of the Republic of China, Lu Mu Zhai retreated to Tianjin and dedicated his energy and resources into education and library careers.

In 1923, Nankai University moved to the new address in Balitai. Due to lack of funds, the University could not afford to build an independent and decent library. In 1927, Lu Mu Zhai learned this news from his old friend Yan Xiu. With the active participation of Huang Yusheng, Mr. Lu’s nephew who was a professor of Nankai University, Mr. Lu generously promised to donate 100,000 yuan to build the school library of Nankai University. The project was delivered to Tianjin Jitai Engineering Company for design and construction. To ensure the quality of the project, the 74 year- old Lu Mu Zhai personally visited the site during the construction process. The library was successfully completed one year later. Nankai University held an inauguration for the new library on the 24th anniversary of Nankai University on October 17, 1928. Yan Xiu, Yan Huiqing and more than 400 people from both home and abroad attended the ceremony. Lu Mu Zhai delivered a congratulatory speech and handed over the key to the library to President Zhang Boling. In appreciation of the donation from Mr. Lu to benefit teachers and students in Nankai University, this library was named as “Mu Zhai Library” to commemorate his charity.

To enrich the collection, Lu Mu Zhai donated over 3,000 volumes of Chinese books in his possession to the school library. Under his leadership, Yan Xiu, Li Zushen and Yan Huiqing also donated books to Nankai University successively. By 1934, besides books bought every year, the Mu Zhai Library possessed over 145,000 books and periodicals in Chinese and foreign languages. In addition to hundreds of rare books of Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the quality of mathematics books and periodicals was rare at that time. The most pivotal journals of mathematics from various countries were complete. Visiting scholars from foreign countries expressed their envy to the collection.

Stele Memorial Pavilion for Mu Zhai Library

What remains a pity is that the Mu Zhai Library stood in the campus for only 9 years before it was bombed by Japanese army and most of books were looted by Japanese army. After the victory of Anti-Japanese War, Nankai University retrieved 194 cases of books from Japan. Books which returned to their homeland were affixed with stickers “In memory of the return of books which were robbed by Japanese army in Twenty-sixth year of the Republic of China” on their title pages. In 1951, Nankai University rebuilt the school library on the original site of Mu Zhai Library. The descendants of Mr. Lu Mu Zhai renewed his donation according to his wills. In 1958, the new library located on the banks of Xinkai Lake (nowadays the old site of school library) was put into use, and the Mu Zhai Library was converted into an office building.