The Roosevelt Library of China

Is the largest city in the world Chongqing?

Chongqing Library built by Perkins Eastman in 2007

“Realising that the winning of US support and sympathy was essential to their destiny, the Nationalists would do almost anything to make Americans happy. What better gesture than suggesting the building of a national library – a symbol of respect, knowledge and gratitude – in honour of an American president? The Nationalists wanted to make sure that the outside world, the US government in particular, knew that it was Nationalists, not the Communists, who made such a proposal. From the outset, the scheme to build a Roosevelt Library was highly political.”¹

The Chongqing municipality in China can technically claim to be the largest city proper in the world.²

Chongqing was provisional capital of the National Government of the Republic of China under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Chairman of the National Government of the Republic of China (1937-1946).³

On 5 May 1945, the ruling Nationalist Party held its sixth national congress. Among many resolutions proposed and passed, one prominent decision called for building a national library, to be named after Franklin D. Roosevelt, the late president of the United States. There were three reasons for this decision.⁴

1. President Roosevelt had played a decisive role as a leader in the war efforts against fascists throughout the world. In the name of world peace, the people, it was claimed, must commemorate him by building a library to collect and house his works and speeches.

2. The Chinese Nationalist government had greatly benefited from the support and assistance of the government of the United States during the war. The communication and correspondence between the two governments were valuable sources for study and research. The proposed library would be an ideal repository for such documents.

3. The world had been devastated by two world wars in recent history. World safety was a matter of utmost importance, quite clearly warranting research in the causes of war and the establishment of international peace-keeping. The findings and results of such studies needed a physical depository. ⁵

Subsequently the Central National Library, which had been located in the war capital, was ordered by the Ministry of Education to abandon its active collection, except for its rare books, and to move back to Nanjing, the capital of China. The new Roosevelt Library would inherit this book collection of about 100,000 volumes.⁶

In May 1947 Yan Wenyu, secretary of the preparatory committee of the Roosevelt Library, made a special trip to the United States to seek support from the American government and people for China’s effort to build a national library named after President Roosevelt. He met with Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of President Roosevelt and received memorabilia from the Roosevelt family.

Yan attended sessions during the American Library Association’s (ALA) annual conference and made known to the US library community that China was building a Roosevelt Library.⁷ As a result about 20,000 books were donated by various libraries, including a card catalogue sent from the New York Public Library. During his seven-month stay, Yan met a great number of politicians and professionals and in an extensive tour visited various types of libraries in 23 different states.⁸ Over 200,000 books were collected for the Roosevelt Library.

In November 1949 after Chongqing was captured by the Communist troops, the Roosevelt Library became the Peoples’ Library of the Southwest Region, thus ending a four-year saga of building a modern national library in China bearing an American president’s name. Since then very little was known with regard to various collections in the proposed library.⁹

In 2007 ArchDaily featured a new Chongqing Library built by Perkins Eastman

For the largest city in China, comprising 30 million inhabitants and more than 3,000 years of history, a new library had to be much more than just a collection of books. Chongqing, often called "mountain city" for its majestic natural features and geography, realized this early on in its plan to develop a world-class library.

There is a small plaque at the Chongqing Children’s Library that indicates it is the former site of the Roosevelt Library (above).

On May 27, Eric Concha, Culture Officer of U.S embassy in China, and Jon Larson, Economic Officer of U.S. Embassy in China with a delegation group, visited Chongqing Children's Library, also known as Former Site of Roosevelt Library.¹⁰

1. Wang R., Yang Y. (2004) China’s Roosevelt Library. In: Raven J. (eds) Lost Libraries. Palgrave Macmillan, London. 

2. Alexander, Ruth (29 January 2012). "Which is the world's biggest city?". BBC News.

3. It was the war capital during and after the Second Sino-Japanese War, (Nov 1937 to May 1946.)

4. Ibid., Wang and Yang. (2004)

5. Luo Si Fu Tu Shu Guan Chou Bei Wei Yuan Hui (The Preparatory Committee for the Roosevelt Library), ‘Chuan She Luo Si Fu Tu Shu Guan Zhi Qu’ (The Purpose of Building a Roosevelt Library). Jiao Yu Tong Xun (Education Bulletin), 2 (1946): 4.

6. Xiao Xi (News). Zhong Hua Tu Shu Guan Xie Hui Hui Bao. (Journal of China’s Library Association), 19 (1946): 4–5

7. The archives of the American Library Association has a record for the International Relations Committee China Projects File, 1938-1948. which includes entries for the National Roosevelt Library, 1946-48 [Digitized] and the Yuan, T.L., Chicago Visit, 1945 [Digitized]. These may tell us more about the effort to establish the Roosevelt Library but are not online.

8. Ibid.,Wang and Yang.(2004).

9. Ibid.

10. Vivian Yang (2021). Chongqing and the U.S. to Hold Ongoing Cooperation in Culture and Tourism. iChongqing.