China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently announced the sixth group of national key sites for the preservation of ancient books. Of the 23 sites on the list, three are based in East China's Zhejiang province, namely Ningbo Library, Pinghu Library, and the Yuyao Cultural Relic Protection Institute.

At present, Zhejiang is home to a total of 13 national key sites for the preservation of ancient books.

Ningbo Library, located in Haishu district in the city of Ningbo, was founded in 1927 and boasts a collection of more than 15,000 ancient books passed down from the personal library of Xue Fucheng (1838-1894), who was the Chinese ambassador to the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Italy in the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It is particularly rich in Zhejiang's local chronicles from ancient times.

Pinghu Library is located in Pinghu, a county-level city administered by Jiaxing. It has a vast collection of 36,363 ancient books, of which 12 have been granted the title of provincial-level rare books and two of which has been granted the title of national-level rare book.

The Yuyao Cultural Relic Protection Institute is located in Yuyao, a county-level city administered by Ningbo. It has a collection of more than 34,000 ancient books, many of which are rarely seen elsewhere.