An inside view of Liyuan Library in Beijing. (Photo provided to thepaper.cn)
(ECNS) -- Liyuan Library in Beijing, known as one of China's most beautiful bookstores, hit the spotlight after an online article said it was filled with pirated books, Shanghai-based The Paper reported.
The article published in an official account on the popular messaging app WeChat said some books claimed to be collections by authors such as Yu Qiuyu and Guo Jingming were from a publisher that actually doesn't exist.
Pan Xi, manager of Liyuan Library, said she never thought pirated books would end up in the bookstore until reading the online article.
She also said about 70 percent of the books were donated by readers and the bookstore may have overlooked the copyright issue. The bookstore, only open from April to October, mainly relies on volunteers to help sort books.
"We cannot confirm the reported books one by one now," she said.
Pan added the bookstore stopped accepting reader donations two years ago because of quality concerns and now mainly collects books itself or through volunteers.
Pan said she will not take any action now just because of the online accusation and welcomes readers to visit the bookstore for a personal look.
Nestled in mountains of Huairou on the outskirts of Beijing, Liyuan Library is ideal for escaping crowded urban life in Beijing. The most striking part of the 170-square-meter structure is its exterior walls and roof covered with 40,000 firewood sticks. The building was one of the winning designs in the 2013 Architecture of Necessity competition in Sweden and was designed by Li Xiaodong, a Chinese architect and professor at Tsinghua University.
