 In 1916, the library received depository library status.In July 1928, its name was changed to National Peiping Library and was later changed to the National Library.The earliest Chinese references to Western-style public libraries were by Lin Zexu in the "Sizhou Zhi" (; 1839) and Wei Yuan in the "Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms" (first ed., 1843), both of which were translations from Western books.