Asian Studies: Text Collections

The online edition of Siku Quanshu spans five thousand years of Chinese history, geography, politics, economics, science, technology, philosophy, and close to 3,500 works with a total of more than 36,000 volumes. The compilation contains large numbers of rare books and manuscripts and is an important tool for East Asian Studies.
On-campus users need to download the Client Program (setup.exe) onto their computers (in Internet Explorer browser on the Windows platform) in order to use the database.

Buddhist Digital Resource Center (formerly Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center) is dedicated to preserving and sharing Buddhist texts through the union of technology and scholarship. Fondren Library owns access to Modules 1-17 of the Core Texts Collections.

This database provides a history of modern China from 1817 to 1950.

This collection includes "a wide range of sources, by writers, diplomats, tourists, businessmen, missionaries and others, documenting the political, cultural and social history of Japan from 1400 to the 20th century (Adam Matthew)."

This database contains the archive of Edward Sylvester Morse (1838-1925). He "was a great polymath – notable for his work in natural history, ethnography and art history – but, perhaps most famous for his work in bringing Japan and the West closer together (Adam Matthew)."

Comprised of correspondence, intelligence reports, agents’ diaries, minutes, maps, newspaper excerpts and other materials from the FO 65, FO 106, FO 371 and FO 539 series. It encompasses the era of “The Great Game” - a political and diplomatic confrontation between the Russian and British Empires for influence, territory and trade from the Black Sea in the west to the Pamir Mountains in the east (Adam Matthew).

These collections feature specific events involving Asian Studies. See more information for specific collections.

"This unique online collection is to provide ... the declassified documentary record about the successes and failures of the U.S. intelligence community in the Far East during the Cold War (1945-1991). Particular emphasis is given to America’s principal antagonists in Asia during the Cold War era: the People’s Republic of China, North Korea and North Vietnam. However, countries such as Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia are covered as well (Brill)."

"The six parts of this collection make available all British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan between 1919 and 1980:
-1919-1929: Kuomintang, CCP and the Third International
-1930-1937: The Long March, civil war in China and the Manchurian Crisis
-1938-1948: Open Door, Japanese war and the seeds of communist victory
-1949-1956: The Communist revolution
-1957-1966: The Great Leap Forward
-1967-1980: The Cultural Revolution"
"Due to the long-unique nature of the relationship between Britain and China, these formerly restricted British government documents, consisting of diplomatic dispatches, letters, newspaper cuttings, maps, reports of court cases, biographies of leading personalities, summaries of events and diverse other materials, provide unprecedented levels of detail into one of the most turbulent centuries of Chinese history (Adam Matthew)."

"This collection provides significant insight into the events between First World War victory and Second World War defeat, crucial to understanding the political journey of Japan during this period (Adam Matthew)." Fondren owns access to the following modules:
● Module I: Japanese Imperialism and the War in the Pacific, 1931-1945
● Module II: Occupation of Japan, 1946-1952
● Module III: Japan and Great Power Status, 1919-1930

This collection consists of correspondence, maps, government dispatches and press releases from the FO 371, DO 169, DO 187, FCO 15 and FCO 24 series regarding Southeast Asia. It offers insight into the political and economic challenges faced during this period as the region moved towards industrialisation and establishing the foundations for economic growth (Adam Matthew).

"As the United States' principal historical record of political open source intelligence for more than half a century, the Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Report is an indispensable source for insights into decades of turbulent world history. The original mission of the FBIS was to monitor, record, transcribe and translate intercepted radio broadcasts from foreign governments, official news services, and clandestine broadcasts from occupied territories. Accordingly, it provides a wealth of information from all countries outside of the U.S.—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe."

Fondren Library owns FBIS Daily Reports for the Middle East & Africa, Near East & South Asia 1974-1996 and Annexes 1974-1996.

Search the library's catalog for additional holdings available on microform.