Public opinion is being sought on 13 plans for the new Guangzhou Library, which is on display at the No. 9 exhibition hall of the China Export Commodities Exhibition Center.

The public may visit the hall or log onto the city planning authority's Web site www.upo.gov.cn to vote until Jan. 30.

The planning authority shall choose three reasonable plans based on public opinion and choose the finalist after consulting experts and budget construction cost.

The Guangzhou Urban Planning Bureau invited designs for the new Guangzhou Library since last September and got 13 of candidate.

The new library, which is expected to be built in the Pearl River New Downtown, will cover 21,067 square meters with 95,000 sq/ m of floor space, six times the size of the present Guangzhou Library in 4th Zhongshan Road. Costing 8.4 billion yuan (US$1.01 billion), the new library is designed to allow 4 million books with seating for 6,110. It accommodates 10,000 readers per day.

To blend in with the nearby buildings, the new library will be no more than 50 meters in height. Construction will start this year and finish in 2007.

Although there are 14 libraries in Guangzhou, they are generally small in size and capacity.

Deputies to the 3nd Session of the 10th Guangdong Provincial People's Congress proposed to list the construction of the library as one of the most important culture projects this year.

After the new library is built, the old city library will be transformed into a library for children.

Scheme 1: "Baiyun Mountain" of Books

Scheme 2: "Lingnan Terrace"

Scheme 3: "Simple on the outside, but rich inside."

Scheme 4: A "Stamper"

Scheme 5: The "Mountain of Books" and the "Sea of Lore"

Scheme 6: "Building Blocks"

Scheme 7: The Chinese Character: "Zhi", which is shaped similar to the English letter "Z"

Scheme 8: "Double-folded Books"

Scheme 9: "Closing-in and Opening-up"

Scheme 10: "A Bookcase of World Classics"

Scheme 11: "Millenary Flower City"

Scheme 12: "Venation of Landscapes"

Scheme 13: A roll of Ancient Chinese "Ink-written Letters"

Editor: Catherine