Posted on June 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
As Literary Hub put it, June 24 is the anniversary of the destructive of "the greatest library in the world you’ve never heard of" — that is, the Hanlin Library in Beijing.
In 1900, the Hanlin Library — part of the Hanlin Academy, which itself dated back to the eighth century — burned to the ground during the Boxer Rebellion clashes between China and Britain.
Read all about the tragic (and debated) loss of the Hanlin Library at Lit Hub, and if you're in the mood to mourn more institutions we've lost, here are some links:
-
The life and death of the Library of Alexandria (Literary Hub)
-
Six famous libraries that were destroyed (Book Riot)
-
The House of Wisdom in Baghdad (Encyclopedia Britannica and National Geographic)
Categories: Today in Books