LibGuides: Chinese Studies: Primary Sources

Primary Sources in English and Chinese

Scripta Sinica This link opens in a new window
Scripta Sinica contains over 460 titles and 358,000,000 characters of materials pertaining to the traditional Chinese classics, especially those related to Chinese history. The collection continues to be expanded.
Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980 This link opens in a new window
"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)."
Siku Quanshu Online This link opens in a new window
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.
China, America and the Pacific: Trade & Cultural Exchange This link opens in a new window
"Explore an extensive range of archival material connected to the trading and cultural relationships that emerged between China, America and the Pacific region between the 18th and early 20th centuries. Manuscript sources, rare printed texts, visual images, objects and maps document this fascinating history (Adam Matthew)." It consists of Module I and Module II.
Global Commodities This link opens in a new window
"This resource brings together manuscript, printed and visual primary source materials for the study of global commodities in world history. The commodities featured in this resource have been transported, exchanged and consumed around the world for hundreds of years. They helped transform societies, global trading operations, habits of consumption and social practices (Adam Matthew)."
U.S. Intelligence on Asia, 1945-1991 This link opens in a new window
"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)."
China and the Modern World This link opens in a new window
This database provides a history of modern China from 1817 to 1950. Fondren Library owns access to the following archival collections: 1) Diplomacy and Political Secrets, 1869-1950; 2) Missionary, Sinology and Literary Periodicals, 1817-1949; 3) Records of the Maritime Customs Service of China, 1854-1949; 4) Hong Kong, Britain and China, 1841-1951; 5) Imperial China and the West, part 1, 1815-1881; and 6) Imperial China and the West, part 2, 1865-1905.
"Consisting of monographs, manuscripts, periodicals, correspondence and letters, historical photos, ephemera, and other kinds of historical documents, these collections provide excellent primary source materials for the understanding and research of the various aspects of China during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, such as diplomacy/international relations, economy/trade, politics, Christianity, sinology, education, science and technology, imperialism, and globalization (Gale)."
China: Culture and Society, 1750-1929 This link opens in a new window
Pamphlets from Cornell University Library’s Charles W. Wason Collection on East Asia along with scholarly essays, an interactive chronology, mini guides and editors’ choices from the collection.
China: Trade, Politics and Culture, 1793-1980 This link opens in a new window
This resource collects sources from nine archives, including documents encompassing events from the earliest English embassy to the birth and early years of the People’s Republic (Adam Matthew).

Other Chinese Electronic Texts

Complete Classics Collection of Ancient China 《數位古今圖書集成》

Ming Qing Women's Writings Digitization Project 明清婦女著作

Chinese Text Initiative 中華文學集錦 (University of Virginia Library)

Ancient Books (National Library of China)

International Union Catalogue of Chinese Rare Books 中華古籍善本國際聯合書目系統 (National Library of China)

National Library of China-Harvard-Yenching Library Chinese Rare Books Digitization Project 哈佛燕京图书馆善本特藏

Fu Ssu-nien Library-Harvard-Yenching Library Chinese Rare Books Digitization Project

Harvard-Yenching Library Chinese Republican Period (1911-1949) Collection 哈佛燕京圖書館民國時期文獻

Harvard-Yenching Library Baojuan (寳卷) Collection

Harvard-Yenching Library Chinese Rubbings Collection

Princeton East Asian Library Digitized Medical Texts

東京大學東洋文化研究所所藏漢籍善本全文影像資料庫 (The Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo)

Chinese Poetry Databases 中国诗歌库

Digital Archive of Chinese Buddhist Temple Gazetteers 中國佛教寺廟志數位典藏

Laogai Research Foundation Digitized Archives

Xingan xinbian 刑案新編 (Columbia University Library)

东南亚华人历史文献 (National University of Singapore)

奈良女子大学所蔵資料電子画像集 (Nara Women's University Library)

London Missionary Society Collection (National Library of Australia)

Chinese Christian Texts Database (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)

The International Dunhuang Project: The Silk Road Online

Selected Microform Sets in English

The Chinese Recorder, 1867-1941《教務雜誌》
This was the longest published English journal in 19th century China. The journal was designed to facilitate communication and fellowshipamong Christian missionaries in different locations in China. The contents include many rare photos, drawings, journals, debates and statistics.

Call Number: BV3410 .C6 Location: Fondren Library-Government Publication, Microfilm

***The Chinese Recorder Index: A Guide to Christian Missions in Asia, 1867-1941 by Kathleen L. Lodwick (2 volumes, 1986)

Call Number: BV3410 .C6 Suppl. Location: Fondren Library-General Stacks

The North-China Herald (1850-1941)《北華捷報》

1850-1868 also in microform. Call Number: AN4.S5 N6 Location: Fondren Library-Government Publication, Microfilm

The North-China Herald and Market Report (1867-1869?)

Call Number: AN4.S5 N62 Location: Fondren Library-Government Publication, Microfilm

The North-China Herald and Supreme Court & Consular Gazette (1870-1941)

Call Number: AN4.S5 N63 Location: Fondren Library-Government Publication, Microfilm

Correspondence of the Military Intelligence Division relating to general, political, economic, and military conditions in China, 1918-1941

North China Herald Online This link opens in a new window
"The English-language North China Herald is the prime printed source in any language for the history of the foreign presence in China from around 1850 to 1940s. During this so-called ‘treaty century’ (1842-1943) the Western Powers established a strong presence in China through their protected enclaves in major cities (Brill)."

CPC Resources

Archives of the Communist Party of China This link opens in a new window
"This database contains archives and publications of the Communist Party since its establishment in 1921 (Oriprobe)."Notes: Look for the little “click here" on the English introductory page to enter the actual resource. Also, only two simultaneous users are allowed at one time for this database.
"The following are the database's main contents:
● Archives of the important, historical documents such as the Party's Constitutions over the years and party internal files;
● Documents from the Communist Party's National Congress since 1921. Included are reports, name lists, pictures, news reports and commentaries, audio/video files and other research materials, totaling over 3 million characters;
● Publications of legendary leaders including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Ren Bishi, Deng Xiaoping, and Chen Yun;
● Daily activities of current party elites since 1989;
● Historical events in the Party history since 1921;
● Who is Who in the Communist Party over the years.
Database Features:
● Invaluable for research: Archives and important documents of the party
● Authoritative: From official, authoritative organizations, i.e., the People's Daily Press, the Party Literature Research Office of the CPC Central Committee, the National People's Congress, and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
● Comprehensive: Coverage from the very first establishment of the party up to today, and from valuable historical archives to the latest documents
● Real-time updated: Updated monthly or in a real time manner (Oriprobe)."
Database of the National People's Congress (the) This link opens in a new window
This database "is a comprehensive collection of archives and documents of the National People’s Congress, from the 1st Session of 1st NPC to present at both central and provincial levels OriProbe." Notes: Look for the little “click here" on the English introductory page to enter the actual resource. Also, only two simultaneous users are allowed at one time for this database.
"The collection includes: Deputy Lists, Agendas, Conference Updates, Documents and Reports, Resolutions and Statements, Leaders’ Activities, Selected Proposals, Suggestions of the Deputies, News Reports, Pictures, Press Conferences, Important Commentaries, Video Reports, etc. With complete, full-spectrum contents, it’s an authoritative database of NPC agendas, topics, resolutions and related reports.
Coverage: from the 1st NPC onward
Featured inclusion of "常委会公报" (Gazettes of the NPC Standing Committee), knowledge on NPC, NPC laws, and more.
Format: text, photo, video
Updated quarterly or in a real time manner (OriProbe)."
People's Daily - Renmin Ribao (1946 - Present) This link opens in a new window
People's Daily has been "the official voice of the central government of the People's Republic of China for the last 71 years." It provides "the single location where the central government and the Communist Party of China announce their respective policies and disseminate governmental, political, and economic messages to the public and the world (OriProbe)." Notes: Look for the little “click here" on the English introductory page to enter the actual resource. Also, only two simultaneous users are allowed at one time for this database.