Forty-two years ago today, on September 23, 1983 (August 17, 1983 lunar calendar), the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Beijing Library was held. On the afternoon of September 23, 1983, the foundation stone was laid for the new Beijing Library, a key national construction project approved by Premier Zhou during his lifetime. Comrade Deng Xiaoping inscribed the name of the new Beijing Library "Beijing Library". Deng Liqun, Yan Keats, Qian Changzhao, Ye Shengtao, Zhu Muzhi, Chen Xitong and others attended the groundbreaking ceremony to lay the foundation stone for the new Beijing Library. Background information: Beijing Library is the national library of the People's Republic of China. The title of National Library of China (THENATIONALLIBRARYOFCHINA) is used in international exchanges. The Beijing Library is a comprehensive research library with a rich collection. It is the national general library and bibliographic center. It is located on the banks of the ancient Gaoliang River in the western suburbs of Beijing, and on the south and west sides are the scenic Zizhuyuan Park. The former site of the Beijing Library is on the shore of Beihai, Wenjin Street, Beijing, and it is now a branch. The predecessor of the Beijing Library was the Beijing Library, which was raised by the government's Ministry of Education on April 24, 1909. After the 1911 Revolution, it was taken over by the Ministry of Education of the Beijing government. It opened on August 27, 1912 and officially received readers. The Beijing Library was proposed and approved by the late Premier Zhou Enlai in March 1975. As a national key construction project, the new library project was laid in September 1983 and completed on July 1, 1987. Comrade Deng Xiaoping wrote the name of the Beijing Library. Comrade Wan Li cut the ribbon for the opening of the new library in Beijing. The new library covers an area of 7.42 hectares, with a construction area of 140,000 square meters. Including Wenjin Street Branch, the building area of the library is 170,000 square meters. It can store 20 million books. There are more than 30 reading rooms, more than 3,000 reading seats, and the daily average can receive seven or eight thousand readers. The name of the library written by Deng Xiaoping is the old library of Beijing Library