Beijing Watchtower Library （角楼图书馆）

The southeast corner watchtower at Zuo’anmen of Beijing’s outer city wall, is a well-known landmark. It was built in 1553 in the Ming Dynasty and demolished in 1957. In 2015, Cultural Commission of Beijing Dongcheng District order to rebuild it to a public library with the function of exhibition reading, cultural communication and experience. The newly built Watchtower Library was open to the public in Oct. 2017.It has three stories including a theme culture exhibitions featuring Old Beijing culture, a reading service area housing 7,000 local documents, over 30 newspapers and more than 100 kinds of periodicals, a mini-reading area with tea tables and sunshades.
The library has been praised as the “most Beijing” library. Many theme activities such as "Intangible Cultural Heritage 52 days", ''Beijing Huiketing(meeting room)" and "Laowaiai Beijing" have a attracted a great number of visitors. Apart from the theme activities, experience activity featuring traditional handicrafts is also another highlight.. The library is opened seven day a way, totaling up to 70 hours a week. The working time on each Friday will be extended to 22 pm. A night reading activity will also be held on the same day.