Chinese Studies

Set of Chinese newspapers in original format, first date included differs, most start around 2010.

Digital collections of historical material on many topics. Includes manuscripts, printed books and periodicals, and government documents. Material comes from the U.S. National Archives, the U.K. National Archives, and many other libraries and archives.

Database, largely full-text searchable database of 7,000 Chinese local gazetteers from the National Library of China.

All collected volumes of papers called pishu(皮书) from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), published by the Social Science Academic Press (SSAP). Useful for researchers in the economic, political and social sciences of China.

Chinese journals meant for foreign consumption. Includes Qiushi, Beijing review.

Detailed biographies of nearly 2500 Chinese leaders, searchable by name, institution, or location. Other tools allow identification of similarities in the backgrounds of officials and tracking of daily appearances of 200 of the most important officials.

English-language textual and visual sources relating to China and the West, with key documents relating to the Chinese Maritime Customs service, letters, diaries, color paintings, maps, drawings, photographs, and fully searchable missionary periodicals such as the Chinese Recorder, from mainly British libraries.

Full-text access to all traditional texts from the pre-Han (before AD 220) period up to the Six Dynasties (AD 581). More than 30 million characters. Authoritative editions.

Web-based GIS system with historical maps, integrated with full-text databases from the Academia Sinica. Can be used without registration, but personal registration (free to Princeton users) is recommended for saving and printing. Download of two special plug-ins is necessary before first use.

Chinese language transcripts of documentary films and newsreels from China, mainly from the Cultural Revolution.

Searchable index to the printed collection, which includes reduced copies of articles on China in less common Japanese academic journals.

Historical Chinese-language periodicals published in China in the humanities, social sciences, and the exact sciences, as well as popular journals.

A collaborative digitization project, sponsored by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation which includes Chinese rare books from four libraries: the Library of Congress, Princeton University, Harvard University, and the Fu Ssu-Nien Library of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan. Freely available.

Full-text of many major national and regional newspapers, including the full-text of the Wall Street Journal, Barron's, and the Nikkei Weekly. Some titles are abstracted only. Includes selected full-text and abstracts of many industry and general interest publications. For non-English, choose appropriate language.

Digitized images of British Foreign Office files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. 

Discovery and document delivery service specialized on Chinese rare books. Clicking on “Search” without a search term allows browsing the books by traditional Chinese classification.

Stone inscriptions dating from Han dynasty to the six dynasties collected from a variety of sources, full-text searchable, but copying of text is only possible via a pop-up that will show when a section of text is marked. Where available images of rubbings have been added and can be viewed side by side with the text.

Collection of British government documents on colonial Hong Kong.

Chinese newspaper with international focus, published under auspices of the People's Daily. Also known as Global Times. Use IE.

The database records information on all Jinshi degree holders throughout Chinese history and provides information about their regional and ancestral origin. Accurate and fuzzy searches by regional origin, dynasty, year of degree, last name, etc. are possible. Each entry lists historical sources for the recorded information. A number of options for statistical analysis are also provided (see the database help page).

Also known as Beida fabao, or pkulaw.cn.  Chinese laws, regulations and cases in Chinese (Chinalawinfo) and English/Chinese (Lawinfochina). One concurrent user only.

Searchable database of current popular non-academic Chinese periodicals in literature, general culture, news and politics, popular science, economics and law, education, health and lifestyle, history and finance management. For list see EAL pages.

17 full-text English-language periodicals published on late Qing and Republican China

Free access to high-resolution images and related description articles of art pieces (painting, documents, calligraphy, ceramics, jades, curios, rare books and bronzes) in the (Taiwan) NPM collections.

Comprehensive collection of archives and documents of the National People’s Congress, from the 1st Session of 1st NPC to present, including text, photos and videos. Updated regularly.

Published as the Daily Edition of the weekly North China Herald, this was the most influential foreign daily in East Asia.

The North-China Standard was Japan’s propaganda newspaper in China, influential through its distribution at international conferences.

Party and Government Documents in English (PGDiE) is a unique collection of official documents in English, covering various levels of Chinese government, Communist Party of China (CPC) and National People's Congress (NPC) from authoritative sources from 1921 onwards.

Records of this internationally staffed bureaucracy under Chinese control.

A collection of 200 volumes on geography, history and customs of Manchuria and Mongolia between late Chosen and 1945 published by Governor-General of Korea. Includes original text images in Japanese (searchable).

Fully searchable collection of 504 original and historical works (3134 volumes) published by the Commercial Press from 1919 to 1936. Original collection used photolithography, which resulted in better editions than the then-available typeset editions. Authoritative editions.

For 1993+, see the ProQuest Central.

Tang dynasty epitaphs collected from a variety of sources, full-text searchable, but copying of text is only possible via a pop-up that will show when a section of text is marked. Where available images of rubbings have been added and can be viewed side by side with the text.

English translations of official edicts and memorials from the Qing dynasty dating from Macartney Mission in 1793 to 1912. The translations are from contemporary English-language sources such as Indo Chinese Gleaner, the China Mail, or the North China Herald, and ultimately go back to items published in the Peking Gazette (Jing bao).

Collection of searchable Taiwanese full-text newspapers from the United Daily News group, including the Lianhebao from 1951.

Full text versions of post-1949 Chinese local gazetteers.

Comprehensive full-text articles from Chinese periodicals and journals, mostly post-2001.

Streaming video of international newsreels produced between 1929 and 1966. All are accompanied by transcripts, with those in foreign languages translated into English.

This database, published by Shanghai Jiaotong University Press, gives access to historical local resources (mostly in manuscript form). It include contracts, private and company ledgers, examination documents, medical prescriptions, local theater and opera material, court records, letters, family records, etc. The manuscripts mostly originate from private collections in provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, and Jiangxi. The material dates mainly from the Qing and Republican period, but there are also some Ming and PRC documents included. ACCESS NOTE: You will be prompted to IP authenticate and see this message: "Does the IP automatically log in?". Click "Sure" to continue.

Searchable database of Chinese epigraphical material.

An easy-to-navigate, well-organized site which brings together a large number of databases in Chinese studies available on the Internet (in many different countries). Most databases are free; some need individual registration; a few need individual registration and small payments.