A futuristic library in North China's port city of Tianjin has become a major tourist attraction. CGTN's Jenny Cortes Ybanez paid a visit to the library, to see if its success is also fulfilling the need for more literacy resources.

China is in third place around the world when it comes to the most number of reading hours people do per week; according to the latest 2016 infographic of world reading habits by "Global English Editing". But along with India and Thailand, China is not the most "literate" country. Meaning there is a lack of access to lots of libraries, newspapers and computers. Therefore the public- funded new library in the port city of Tianjin could not come at a better time.

JENNY CORTES YBANEZ TIANJIN The Tianjin Binhai library was designed and built in record-breaking time of three years. And its impressive futuristic elements and features has caught global attention. Some have described it as the "Ocean of Books" and some have labelled it "the most beautiful library in China".

The 33,700 square meter information hub is part of a larger project to make Tianjin a cultural centre. The new landmark has helped put the port city on the map. But is this just another beautiful government building or a functional local library?

LIU XIUFENG, DEPUTY DIRECTOR TIANJIN BINHAI LIBRARY "We never expected it to gain this amount of attention and popularity in such a short amount of time. We are constantly upgrading our services. By next year the library will have around 600 thousand books inhouse and we are looking to add ten more services, including digital reading systems, to boost our user experience."

With this new-found fame comes some backlash. Some critics have called this library "fake" because of the "pictures" of books on the walls. Architect Chen Tianze, who was involved in this project, explained the decision.

CHEN TIANZE, ARCHITECT TIANJIN ARCHITECTURE DESIGN INSTITUTE "We wanted to create a comfortable and homey space for public gatherings hence the wallpaper with pictures of books and the stairs. The wallpaper is also a symbol of Chinese culture. You can see the Chinese saying 'Diligence is the path to the mountain of knowledge'. It helps to incorporate Chinese culture into the overall design of the building."

During the tour, visitors commented on the lack of books on the shelves, but they were all in awe of the futuristic architectural design of the library. Jenny Cortes Ybañez, CGTN, Tianjin.