The Chinese love to read. They must also love a good joke.

The relatively new five-story, 360,000-square-foot library in Tianjin, China, was designed by the Dutch architectural firm MVRDV to look like a giant eye. It contains 200,000 books.

One problem, you can’t can’t tell if the rows and rows of books in the library’s main hall are actually real, or decorated with printed images.

It turns out that the main hall is only for walking, sitting, reading, and discussions. It’s not meant for book storage. The real books are in rooms behind the atrium.

The new design is attracting people from all over the world. It seems people who love to read also appreciate leading edge architecture. Checkouts reportedly have quadrupled since the opening.

An average of 15,000 visitors flock to the library every weekend. We could use some of that enthusiasm for libraries in the United States.

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