Course:2021W-ASIA501

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Weekly Topics

Week 3: Research Guides

  • Chinese History: A New Manual. 2018. By Endymion Wilkinson. 5th ed (digital). A comprehensive guide for the study of Chinese history. (submitted by Leo K. Shin).
  • Classical Historiography for Chinese History. By Benjamin A. Elman. Updated periodically. Extensive lists of research tools and links to printed and electronic resources for classical Chinese studies. (submitted by Leo K. Shin)
  • chinaknowledge.de. By Ulrich Theobald, University of Tübingen. Updated frequently. An online encyclopedia for classical Chinese studies. Eclectic but much useful information. (submitted by Leo K. Shin)

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  • Wolfgang Franke, An Introduction to the Sources of Ming History (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 1968). This is an exhaustively prepared and detailed guide to the study of Ming history; despite being published many moons ago, it remains an authoritative and highly useful research guide in the field. Franke's An Introduction offers a preamble to introduce the reader to the aspects of Ming historiography and historical works, and then proceeds to investigate several hundred Ming-era texts. He provides bibliographic details on various editions of a given text (and where they're held), concise summaries of content, brief descriptions of the author, etc. Each section is organized thematically and, on occasion, chronologically. For instance, Section 2 is "Official and Private Historical Compilations in General" (and further contains 9 sub-sections), while Section 4 is "Various Notes Dealing with Historical Subjects" (e.g. 4.5 "Various notes concerning mainly the first part of the Ming period to circa 1500" - chronological!). An indispensable research guide for learning how to use, evaluate, and locate Ming sources. It also has a title and author index and is generously furnished throughout with Chinese characters. --- Submitted by Aaron Throness.
  • Wolfgang Franke and Liew-Herres Foon Ming, Annotated Sources of Ming History: Including Southern Ming and Works on Neighbouring Lands, 1368-1661 (Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya Press, 2011). This guide is an expansion of Franke's 1968 text, and essentially employs the same methodologies and formats as its predecessor. For a useful book review of the text by Roderich Ptak, see the enclosed hyperlink. --- Submitted by Aaron Throness.
  • Edward L. Farmer et al., Ming History: An Introduction Guide to Research (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1994). According to Farmer's introduction, this work is divided into sections to help graduate students of different backgrounds become more familiar with conducting close reading on Ming sources. Rather than directly introducing the readers to specific texts in different categories, Farmer directs their attention to collections and guidebooks that present information on these documents. For example, when discussing "Writings of Individual Authors" (Section B, Chapter 15), instead of providing a list of Ming authors who produced historical works, Farmer's guide gives details of contemporary compilations that address the said topic. The compilers also included texts and translations from sections of different sources, particularly Ming shi 明史 and Huang ming yong hua lei bian 皇明泳化类编, to help readers gain a better sense and give guidance in reading Ming historical sources, a feature that makes this guide quite outstanding. --- Submitted by Calvin Lin.
  • Xia Zhengnong 夏征农 et al., Da ci hai: Zhongguo gu dai shi juan 大辞海: 中国古代史卷 (Shanghai: Shanghai ci shu chu ban she, 2005). This large text is separated to two sections, with the first one focusing on recapturing the basic elements of Chinese imperial history. In this section (“Zhongguo gu dai shi” 中国古代史 Ancient Chinese History), the compilers list out information such as the reign titles of emperors, the bureaucratic and official system, significant historical events, short biographies of important people. The second section (“Zhongguo shi xue shi” 中国史学史 Chinese Historiography) presents a massive collection of historical texts, providing them with brief introductions and some comments about their values and detriments while ordering them by rough categories and chronology. A list of Chinese historians who were responsible for creating those texts and Chinese historiographers who contributed to the contemporary understanding of Chinese history is also included with brief summaries of their achievements. Overall a great guide to help students learn about prominent primary sources throughout the Imperial Chinese dynasties. While UBC Library holds the 2005 edition, a new 2015 edition seems to be its successor (accessible through Wechat Reading, though the reader needs a membership to read the entire book). --- Submitted by Calvin Lin.
  • Gu Cheng, The Hidden Land: The Garrison System and the Ming Dynasty (London: Routledge, 2019). While mainly focusing on the garrison and military system in the Ming Dynasty, the author dedicated chapters 4, "A guide to the study of the Ming history," and chapter 5, "Forty years of studies on the Ming history," to go over the most commonly referenced Ming texts as well as secondary sources on Ming history. The Ming texts collected in this work are selected to represent different categories more or less equally. Though some Western scholars like Ping-ti Ho and Frederic Wakeman were cited, Gu placed more effort in citing and mentioning the endeavors of Chinese historians. But the Chinese characters for the names of the sources and the authors, Ming or contemporary, are not included in Gu's work. --- Submitted by Calvin Lin.
  • Kazuo Okabe (岡部和雄) and Ryōshō Tanaka (田中良昭), eds., Chūgoku bukkyō kenkyū nyūmon 中国仏教研究入門 (Tōkyō: Daizō Shuppan, 2006). This guidebook is written for students who are preparing to write theses on Chinese Buddhism. Unlike many other introductory works that cover Buddhism in general, including the Oxford Bibliographies below, the specific geographical focus of this Kenkyu nyumon allows it to review and introduce works in crucial issues and major fields. The guidebook is divided in two parts; the first part generally introduces issues and sources and the second part delves into developments of Buddhism in (1) Han, Wei, and Jin Dynasties, (2) North and South Dynasties, (3) Sui and Tang Dynasties, (4) Song, Liao, and Jin dynasties, and (5) Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. Given the abundance of works focusing on Buddhism in medieval China, half of the book is devoted to the third section of the second part. Recent discussions in Yuan, Ming, and Qing have not come to the editors' attention, however. One thing should also be noted is that the book critically reviews surely Japanese as well as Chinese scholarship while including merely limited English sources. Excerpt. (submitted by Chien-Cho Chan)
  • Courtney Brunt et al., "Buddhism" in Oxford Bibliographies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010-). This website is an easily accessible source and it keeps updated and enlarged by prominent scholars in Buddhist studies. Most entries are composed of two sections, introduction and general overviews, while some new entries are more detailed (Take Masao Abe for example). Though not specific on Chinese Buddhism, this can be supplementary to the Kenkyu nyumon above. (submitted by Chien-Cho Chan)
  • Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, and Shih-shan Susan Huang, eds. Visual and Material Cultures in Middle Period China. Leiden: Brill, 2017. This ebook, available through the UBC library, is an edited volume which covers the Middle Period (mid-eighth century to the mid-fourteenth centuries). The introduction contains extensive footnotes introducing important scholarship on a wide variety of topics and acts as an excellent miniature state of the field. The introduction also contains an extensive bibliography which contains scholarship by historians, art historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, literary scholars, and religious scholars published in English, Chinese, and Japanese. (Submitted by Davin Luce)
  • Bush, Susan, and Hsio-yen Shih, eds. Early Chinese Texts on Painting. 2nd Edition. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2012. This reprint of a 1985 text provides an excellent introduction to Chinese art theory from the Tang to the Yuan dynasties. The volume contains texts which shaped art discourse in traditional China, some are translated in entirety, while others are excerpts. The intent of the book is to introduce a Western audience art theory and, as such, the texts are in translation (English) only. The volume provides an extensive list of biographies of painters, and an excellent annotated bibliography of the translated texts. The romanization used in the text is Wade-Giles. Even with the age of the text, this book is an important guide for anyone interested in painting history in Tang-Yuan China. (Submitted by Davin Luce)
  • Zhang, Zhidong, and Xizeng Fan, eds. Shumu Dawen Buzheng (書目答問補正). Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, 2010. This book, authored by Zhang Zhidong (張之洞) in 1870s, is a guidebook to the studies of Chinese classics. Chinese classics he introduced were categorized in the method of Four-Department Categorization (四部分類法), with a category of Book Collection (叢書) added. Each item is annotated with basic information including author, and editions worth referencing. Fan Xizeng (范希曾) revised the initial edition and added new contents in 1927. Copies published by other editions available in UBC library: Another version from the same publishing house; e-book of 1935 edition; rare book in Asian Library. (Submitted by Rui Ding).
  • Rong, Xinjiang. Xueshu Xunlian yu Xueshu Guifan: Zhongguo Gudaishi Yanjiu Rumen (学术训练与学术规范：中国古代史研究入门, Introduction to the study of Chinese Ancient History). Beijing: Peking University Press, 2011. This is a detailed guidebook for graduate students in pre-modern Chinese history. In the book, the author listed different categories of primary sources in pre-modern Chinese history including, basic knowledge of bibliology and collation, how to browse first and second-hand sources through online database, and introduction to different types of academic writing. (Submitted by Rui Ding)
  • Struve A Lynn, The Ming-Qing Conflict, 1619-1683: A Historiography and Source Guide. Ann Arbor: The Association for Asian Studies, 1998. Open access digital copy is available through the Indiana University ScholarWorks. This is a carefully curated guide to study the Ming-Qing transition. The author provides readers with historiographical exposition of the conflict and a selection of primary sources with useful annotations. Addenda for references are included in the digital copy. (Submitted by Sze Sze)
  • The Indiana companion to traditional Chinese literature / William H. Nienhauser, Jr., editor and compiler, Charles Hartman, associate editor for poetry, Y.W. Ma, associate editor for fiction, Stephen H. West, associate editor for drama. https://webcat.library.ubc.ca/vwebv/search?searchArg=The+Indiana+companion+to+traditional+Chinese+literature&searchCode=GKEY%5E*&setLimit=1&recCount=100&searchType=1&page.search.search.button=Search o   This guidebook is an overall guidebook for Chinese literature (at least quite helpful for research on premodern/medieval literature. Research on literature in other time period should also be benefited from this book). It is featured by its dual system—the Essay part includes detailed introductory essays on Chinese literature categorized by forms of literature, like poetry, popular literature or proses, etc., mainly according to timeline but also discussed specific and important elements separately under each category, like emotion for poetry. Furthermore, in the ‘Entry’ part, according to Name Index, authors in Chinese literary history are discussed in detail: biography, as well as the figure’s relationship with other literati or other relevant figures, are provided. Important studies on each author/work are also listed according to publishing time; so are important editions of a specific literature work or collection (if the author of a work is controversial or one work is co-authored, it could be found according to Title Index). Additionally, in its General Bibliography, abundant important collections and studies are also listed. Therefore, this guidebook is helpful especially for those who wanted to do research on specific authors, as this book could be a start point of both literature review and primary source exploration. o   Nevertheless, this companion was published about 35 years ago and the latest version is published before 2000. Therefore, it might missed new progress of literary historiography in 21th century. It is suggested that one could use this guidebook as a start point but, after reading this book, one should also trace more recent works after making clearer what his/her specific focus is. Submitted by: Chen Chen
  • Xie, Guozhen (谢国桢). Zengding wan Ming shiji kao (增订晚明史籍考). Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1981. This guide was finished when the author was working in Peking Library, which includes twenty-four volumes. The first volume is an introduction of general Ming history texts, and the later parts focus on the late Ming to the early Qing period. Thousands of texts are introduced in detail, and the author’s comments on the given texts are attached. (Submitted by Mengyuan Li)
  • Feng, Erkang (冯尔康). Qingshi shiliao xue (清史史料学). Beijing: Gugong chubanshe, 2013. This is an expansion of Feng’s Qingshi shiliaoxue chugao (清史史料学初稿). This guide is not only a catalogue; instead, the author intends to teach his reader how to use different historical sources in different projects. (Submitted by Mengyuan Li)
  • Carroll, John M. A concise history of Hong Kong. Rowman and Littlefield, 2007. This book explores Hong Kong's history from the early 1800s through the post-1997 handover, when this former colony became a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. (Submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • Li, Peide (李培德). Xianggang shi yanju shumu jieti (香港史研究書目解题，An nnotated bibliography of Hong Kong history). Xianggang Sanlian, 2001. This is a bibliography of about 3,000 books of the history of Hong Kong in Chinese, Englsih and Japanese, which published from 19 century to 1998. (Submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • Deng Xiaonan (邓小南) et al, chief eds. Zhongguo funvshi duben 中国妇女史读本（The Chinese women’s history reader). Beijing: Beijing daxue, 2011. This is a great reader for beginners to find a relatively important and main-stream research topic in chinese gender history. It includes 19 academic works, divided into 6 themes, namely Women's Status, Gender and Body, Women's writing, Construction of Women's Image, Media and Gender and Love and Marriage, written by different authors in this field. It's relatively new and it suggests the new scopes from which we could observe and annalyse the women's history in China. It's short and easy to read, but covers most of the worthy topics in this field. (Submitted by Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • Ge Zhaoguang(葛兆光). Lishi zhongguo de nei yu wai 历史中国的内与外(Inside and Outside of the historical China). Hongkong: The Chinese University, 2017. This is a book about the conception of "China". It talks about the cultural and geographical idea of China and how the insiders and outsiders consider of this conception. (Submitted by Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • Hawaii Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture. 2005. By Victor H. Mair, Nancy S. Steinhardt, and Paul R. Goldin, eds. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. Covers translations of source material ranging from the Shang dynasty to the 20th century. Preceding every translation comes a short introduction for contextualisation. Not only translates literary and classical works, but extends to topics like “In Praise of Martyrs: Widow-Suicide in Late-Imperial China” or “Schools and Civil Service in the Ming Dynasty.” Comes with suggestions for further readings and an index. Can be used in conjunction with the item below to find interesting research topics of Chinese culture and history. (submitted by Immanuel Spaar)
  • Chinese civilization: a sourcebook. 1993 (2nd ed., rev. and expanded). By Patricia B. Ebrey. New York: The Free Press. According to the compiler, the original goal was to offer translations of texts neglected in other sourcebooks. Therefore, the selection is less an authoritative canon than a panoramic view of greater topics. After the usual table of contents organized in historical periods (listing in total 100 items) comes another overview of the contents according to topics. Accordingly, the sourcebook includes nine topics, which are (i) Religion and cosmology, (ii) Confucianism, (iii) Government, (iv) History writing and historical genre, (v) Contacts with outside people, (vi) Family, kinship, and gender, (vii) Local social and economic activities, (viii) Upper class and intellectuals, (ix) Tales and fiction. Every entry has a short introduction by the translator for contextualisation. Has suggestions for further reading and a list of the original sources at the end of the book. (submitted by Immanuel Spaar)

Week 4: Locating Sources I

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  • Hervouet, Yves (ed.) and Etienne Balazs (init.). A Sung Bibliography (Bibliographie des Sung - 宋代書錄). Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1978. Yves and Balazs present in this monumental text the result of several decades of bibliographic research, international scholarly cooperation, and painstaking editorial work (80 individual authors contributed to its compilation). In essence, it may be viewed as a 'companion' to Franke's An Introduction to the Sources of Ming History, as it allows the reader/researcher to locate and familiarize themselves with important Song Dynasty ([[1]]) sources. This thick volume is organized based on genre, and thus allows its reader to quickly track down the type of source that they may be searching for; it also may assist the researcher in exploring a particular genre pertinent to their research, which would then lead them to more specific resources. For example Chapter 1 deals with Song works dealing with the various classical canon (Chunqiu 春秋, Classic of Documents 尚書, etc.); Chapter 2 deals with histories (dynastic histories 正史, annalistic histories 編年, official records 詔令奏議, biographies 傳記, bibliographies 書目, etc.); and Chapter 4 deals with various collections (general collections 總集 and fiction 小說, to name a few). Each source, moreover, is given an introduction that details such matters as its contents, the history of its compilation, and others. Each entry also closes with a list of recommended readings in English, Chinese, Japanese, and other languages. This work presumes, however, that its reader has multilingual capabilities - entries are variously written in English and French (or are translated from Japanese or other languages into a European script). It may therefore prove somewhat difficult to use if the entry with which one is concerned is written in a language unknown to the reader. --- Submitted by Aaron Throness.
  • Yong Rong 永瑢 (1744-90) et al., comp. Siku quanshu zongmu 四庫全書總目. Rpt., Beijing 北京: Zhonghua shuju 中華書局, 1965. This volume too bears a resemblance to Franke's and Hervout and Balazs' respective volumes on the Ming and Song. We have here an exhaustively compiled list of primary sources copied into the Siku quanshu 四庫全書 libraries during the Qianlong 乾隆 reign; they are organized by genre, as well. The volume includes everything from works dealing with the Spring and Autumn Annals 春秋; miscellaneous histories 雜史; frontier defense 邊防; and much, much more. For a reader or researcher who is uncertain about where to start looking for sources, then, Yong Rong et al.'s volume is a useful guide for locating sources pertinent to one's research interests. Each entry is moreover accompanied by a complete copy of the Siku quanshu editors' original submission abstracts 提要, which I might add are also punctuated in this modern reprint (very useful!). There are various editions accessible for UBC students, including a physical copy and an online copy accessible through the Chinese Classic Ancient Books Database, for which UBC has a subscription. I would much more strongly recommend the online copy, given that the text is searchable and thus far more convenient and easy to use! --- Submitted by Aaron Throness.
  • Chen Shiqiang 陳士強 (1949-). Dazang jing zongmu tiyao 大藏經總目提要. Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubashe, 2007-2020. This series of works, authored by Prof. Chen Shiqiang at Fudan University, includes four works, 10 volumes in total. They are the traditional Tripiṭaka (三藏), including Sūtra-piṭaka (Jingzang 經藏 sermons collection, 3 volumes, hard copy 2007; paper copy 2020), Vinaya-piṭaka (Luzang 律藏 rules collection, 2 volumes, 2015), and the Abhidharma-piṭaka (Lunzang 論藏 philosophical treatises collection, 3 volumes, hard copy 2019; paper copy 2020) as well as a newly created category, Wenshih zang (文史藏, 2 volumes, 2008). I have no access to this series so that I do not know exactly how they look like. Yet, based on comments on douban, we can see Sūtra-piṭaka collect only Hinayana classics, so probably there will be another volume(s) for Mahayana classics. Another comment writes that the author juxtapose different translations of the same classics, which is quite helpful for researchers. (Submitted by Chien-Cho Chan)
  • Lai Chi Tim, ed. Daozang jiyao tiyao 道藏輯要・提要 (The Companion to the Daozang Jiyao). Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2021. This is the first bibliographical work on Daozang jiyao, which was first compiled by Peng Dingqiu 彭定求 (1645-1719) and later by Jiang Yupu 蔣予蒲 (1755-1819), regarded as the most influential collection on Daoist classics in Qing China. This tiyao is a collective achievement by 74 scholars around the world. The editor, Prof. Lai at CUHK, is one of the most influential scholars in Daoist studies. According to the introduction on the website of CUHK Press, every tiyao includes five sections, (1) a note on the classic's title, length (number of volumes), author, and place in Daozang jiyao; (2) an introduction to the classic's title, author(s) or editor(s), related writings, content, and the relationship with other classics or traditions; (3) a summary of the classic's chapters and sections, key paragraphs, and terminology; (4) a discussion on its sources and editions; and (5) bibliography. (Submitted by Chien-Cho Chan)
  • Journal of Song-Yuan Studies Published once annually, The Journal of Song-Yuan Studies includes the most recent scholarship, by both established and emerging scholars, on Middle Period China (Five Dynasties, Song, Liao, Xi Xia, Jin and Yuan) in English. The editors seem to shift every few years, which has the advantage of bringing in varied perspectives to the journal. The current editor is Ari Daniel Levine (University of Georgia – Historian) and his predecessor was Don J. Wyatt (Middlebury – Historian). On occasion, the journal will spotlight a particular dynasty (See Volume 43, 2013 for an example of their Liao issue where they provide a generous bibliography). Each issue is also furnished with several book reviews making this an excellent repository for scholars. The Journal also provides summaries of Taiwanese and Japanese scholarship in English on various subfields in most recent issues. The most recent bibliography of English language sources of the Five Dynasties, Liao, Song, Xi Xia, Jin, and Yuan (1996-2002) was published in the 2009 issue and is attached here. Articles published include art history, history, literary studies, religious studies, among others, though art history and history seem to be most often published. (Submitted by Davin Luce)
  • National Palace Museum, Taipei Collection Information Retrieval System. See also The Palace Museum, Beijing collection website. (The Palace Museum, Complete Works of Song Painting (Beijing Song hua quan ji / Zhejiang da xue Zhongguo gu dai shu hua yan jiu zhong xin bian 宋畫全集 / 浙江大學中國古代書畫研究中心编) is also available in the Library in large folios.
    • For art historians, images are one of the most important sources. As such, I have included two collection search engines. The National Palace Museum, Taipei has a rich repository of pre-modern paintings, calligraphy, and artifacts. The collection search allows you to search by title, author (artist), dynasty, type of object, theme, and accession number. Searches much be done in traditional characters, and generally must be given names and not courtesy names. For example: searching Li Tang李唐 produces 51 results but searching his courtesy name Xigu 晞古 produces no results. Emperor Huizong 宋徽宗 on the other hand can be searched for using his personal name Zhao Ji 趙佶 or his regnal name. The characters must be traditional, however: 赵佶 produces no results. The search areas for title, author, and dynasty are free text, not drop-down menu. The Palace Museum, Beijing site works in a similar way to the NPM, Taipei but you must use simplified characters to search. Furthermore, you can only search by given name. For example, 宋徽宗, 徽宗, and 趙佶 produce no results, but 赵佶 produces 6. The search by dynasty function is a drop-down menu rather than free text, and the periods during the Ming and Qing periods are divided by reign period, i.e., Ming Xuande, Ming Wanli. Once you have chosen you object, both websites provide basic information about the artwork, but the NPM provides more details including seal identification, and often times transcription of the colophons or inscriptions, whereas the Place Museum often has written descriptions of the artworks with some historical of contextual information. (Submitted by Davin Luce)
  • Xu wen xian tong kao 续文献通考 [Continuation of Comprehensive Survey of Documents]. Taipei: Taiwan shang wu yin shu guan, 1987. Compiled during the reign of Emperor Qianlong, this source is the 8th book of Shi dian 十典 [Ten Encyclopedias], which collects ten encyclopedias composed from the mid-Tang era to the late-Qing early-Republican period, each of them updating the previous installment on topics relating to governance and statecraft. With a total of 26 sections, jing ji kao 经籍考 [Classics and Literature] is included, paying attention to documents produced mostly from the Song to the late Ming period that may be of political or historical significance and provide benefits. The sources here are separated via the Sibu 四部 [Four Categories] and via chronological order. Each entries include the author's name, the title of the work, the number of fascicles, a short biographical introduction of the author (usually including the courtesy name, place of origination, degree achieved in an era-specific civil service examination, and the most influential political office held) or a line referencing a previous point that already introduced the author, and sometimes a rationale from the compilers explaining why they included this document. The prologues of the documents or commentaries from other places are also sometimes incorporated to provide a bigger picture. ---- Submitted by Calvin Lin.
    • While this encyclopedia does provide a broad range of sources, readers should also consult its successors, Qing chao wen xian tong kao 清朝文献通考 [Comprehensive Survey of Qing Dynasty Documents] and Qing chao xu wen xian tong kao 清朝续文献通考 [Continuation of Comprehensive Survey of Qing Dynasty Documents] for either Qing sources or more supplemented Ming texts. Readers should also be aware of Ming Wanli xu wen xian tong kao 明万历续文献通考 [Continuation of Comprehensive Survey of Documents], compiled during Ming Wanli era by Wang Qi 王圻, which is actually the model of the addressed Xu wen xian tong kao in this entry.
    • All texts mentioned above are available in e-book version through Scripta Sinica 漢籍全文資料庫. UBC Library has a published version of the addressed Xu wen xian tong kao treasured in Pu ban cang shu 蒲坂藏書. Wang Qi's Ming Wanli xu wen xian tong kao is available in UBC Library in physical form.
  • Li Jinhua 李晋华, Ming dai chi zhuan shu kao fu yin de 明代敕撰书考附引得 [An Examination of the Sanctioned Composed Books with indices]. Beiping: Yan jing da xue tu shu guan yin de bian zuan chu, 1932. This source is composed of three parts. For the first part, the text follows through the sources, numbering to be around 200, that are approved by the emperor for production and completion. Each entry generally includes the title of the sanctioned text and the relating imperial decree that ordered the text to be published, often with a note indicating where the text is found (most are found, at a quick glance, in the Shi lu 实录 Veritable Records). The second part consists of two appendices relating to the sources, with the first one categorizing the collected sources using the Sibu method, and the second one containing the list of sanctioned sources that existed in the Nei fu 内府 [Palace Treasury]. Finally, the third part includes citations referring to the sources addressed and annotations on Chinese characters, pinyin, and strokes to solidify the basic knowledge on the language. This source is certainly interesting in helping readers understand how some texts are state-supported, but there are drawbacks. Published in 1932, this source presents a historiographical view that is rather a product of its time. For instance, the author attributes the lack of sanctioned books in the Wanli era to the phenomenon of Wanli's absence from politics leading to "lesser people" gaining control, which led to the decline of the dynasty. One typo is found on the contents page, which may lead the readers to believe that there are more hidden within the text. ---- Submitted by Calvin Lin.
  • Zheng, Tianting (郑天挺) et al., Zhongguo lishi da cidian: Mingshi juan (中国历史大辞典·明史卷). Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 1995. This dictionary is a part of the 14-volume Zhongguo lishi da cidian 中国历史大辞典 series, which is one of the most comprehensive dictionaries for Ming studies in China. Although a few mistakes exist in the dictionary (related discussion see here), it is still a helpful guide for beginner researchers. All the entries are organized according to the first character's strokes (bihua 笔画), and attached explanations are brief but clear. The appendix includes the Ming lineage (Ming shixi biao 明世系表 ) and the historical timeline of the Ming (Ming jinian biao 明纪年表.). (Submitted by Mengyuan Li)
  • Zhongguo shehuikexueyuan lishi yanjiusuo Mingshi yanjiushi (中国社会科学院历史研究所明史研究室) eds., Zhongguo jin bashinian Mingshi yanjiu mulu (中国近八十年明史论著目录), Nanjing: Jiangsu renmin chubanshe, 1981. This catalogue includes around 10,000 records of published articles and monographs related to Ming studies, which is a reliable guide to access the scholarship between 1900 to 1978 in mainland China. Now there is an updated version published in 2012, Bainian Mingshi lunzhu mulu (百年明史论著目录), is available. (Submitted by Mengyuan Li)
  • 全国漢籍データベース (National Database of Chinese Classics, 日本所藏中文古籍數據庫) is a bibliographical database of Chinese Classics collections in Japan, founded by Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University (京都大学人文科学研究所). It offers basic and advanced search of book titles, then the result contains the hole title, author, version, publisher and location. The location contains libraries, universities, and research institutions all over Japan, from government libraries such as National Diet Library (国立国会図書館), Imperial House Library (宮内庁書陵部), to Universities and research institutes such as Tōyō Bunko (東洋文庫), Seikadō Bunko (静嘉堂文庫), University of Tokyo, Waseda University, and Kyoto University. Not only these well-known institutes were listed, some Regional Universities with Classical Chinese collections were also listed. If physically doing research in Japan or having research tour in Japan, this database is an excellent reference. (Submitted By Rui Ding)
  • MHDB (Modern History Database, 近代史數位資料庫) is a website developed in Taiwan where you could search for conceptions or incidents from 19 different databases, including 3 databases especially for gender studies, namely Women's Magazine Database (婦女雜志資料庫)，Modern Women’s Journal Database (近代婦女期刊資料庫) and Research Platform for Female Journal Authors (婦女期刊作者研究平臺). It also has a powerful systme called Timelines Information System (近代春秋TIS系統) where you could easily find all things that happened in certain date(s) that are mentioned in The Journal of the History of the Republic of China (中華民國史事日誌) supplemented by contemporaries' diaries. When I was doing my undergraduate research on Zheng Yuxiu, an under-researched Chinese female lawyer who lived in late qing and early Repuclic of China, these databases really helped me to find so many primary resources related to her, for example the Chinese translation of her autobiographies and how contemporary people appraised or criticized her (Especially how Hu Shi criticized her in his diary). There are so many other databases linked to his website that I'm sure would be helpful in other researches of the given period of time, for example the system where you could search for the rice's price in the Qing Dynasty (清代糧價資料庫), but I haven't explored all of them yet. (Submitted By Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • CNBKSY (Late Qing Dynasty & Minguo Periodical Fulltext Database, 全国报刊索引) and Mordern Newspaper in China (近代报纸数据库) are two extensive collections that have covered almost all the periodicals published during late Qing(from 1833) and Repuclic of china(until 1949). I'm more familiar with the first one. It is established and maintained by Shanghai Librabry, and there are naturally more periodicals from the southern China. It contains several women's journals and magazines that advocated feminism and women's liberation. Another interesting aspect is that it contains the English newspapers published in China at the time. (If you want to find some French newspapers at that time, go visit Gallica. The French people has done a good job in reserving and organizing their historical and literary materials.) It also has the major novel journals as emerged during the great flourishing period of novels of the late Qing Dynasty, so it's quite enjoyable to read some interesting novels here. I also did my french translation course's paper by using the ancient translations that are published in that period when people started to introduce and interpret the outside world into China. The later one is established by National Library of China. It seems that there's more kinds of periodicals in this system (at least that's the case when I searched for the expression 母国), but it's probably under more sencorship and thus become more selective while picking up the periodcals and showing the results. Besides it has more periodicals published in the Northern China, including the one established in Manchukuo (满洲国) which really stimulated my interests. It doesn't have English or any other language's periodicals. There're also less articles or periodicals related to gender issues in this system. (Submitted By Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • Mingdai banke zonglu 明代版刻綜錄 (Comprehensive bibliography of Ming woodblock imprints). 1983. By Du Xinfu 杜信孚. 8 volumes comprising works published by either an official institution, or printed commercially/privately in the Ming dynasty. A preface by Zhou Caiquan 周采泉 points out how the Ming can be divided in three publishing stages, which in turn can be compared to different publishing stages of the Song dynasty. Du Xinfu’s own preface observes how knowledge of calligraphy style and aesthetics are a prerequisite for distinguishing the manifold editions of Ming publishers. After the preface comes “A cursory discussion of publishing in the Ming dynasty” (Mingdai banke qiantan 明代版刻淺談), providing helpful information on general trends and knowledge. After some impressions of notable publications comes the Convention (凡例). Most important, the entries are sorted according to the publisher, in the order of strokes number. Therefore, first entry is the publisher “Studio of the all-embracing beginning” (Yichu zhai 一初齋), a compilation by Li Panlong 李攀龍 (1514­-1570) of Tang poems. The bibliography does not include gazetteers. If ordering works under publishers appears not as intuitive as an ordering by book title, look at volume 8 with an index for book titles. This bibliography can be useful when approaching the Ming from a cultural historian perspective, as it gives an idea of the manifold publishing interests of the Ming people, though of course limited to the elite. The author mentions in the Convention that he was eager to correct mistakes of previous scholars, especially by giving notice to the style of calligraphy on the frontpage. Therefore, looking up one’s primary source in this bibliography can be helpful, especially when there are more editions extant from the Ming of one particular work. Ming scholars were enthusiastic about publishing particular works in new editions, and this guide can help to identify them. (Submitted by Immanuel Spaar)
  • An outline and an annotated bibliography of Chinese philosophy. 1969 (rev. ed.). By Wing-tsit Chan. New Haven, Conn.: Far Eastern Publications, Yale University. Last revision of an early attempt to provide a basis for the study of Chinese philosophy. Includes the bibliography beginning on page 64 and an index. Preceding the main part, Chan offers an outline that divides the subject matter in four historical stages, (i) The Ancient Periods: The Classical Schools, (ii) The Middle Period: The Development of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, (iii) The Modern Period: Neo-Confucianism, and (iv) The Contemporary Period: Westernization, Chinese Renaissance, and Communism. In the outline, Chan does not merely list publications under a topical heading, but gives reference to relevant parts of a publication, and includes his own conclusions of the reading. For example, “The Investigation of Things” (ge wu) is point five under XXVII. The Rationalistic Neo-Confucianism of the Ch’eng-Chu School: Chu Hsi (1130-1200). Chan refers to two publications and then concludes 1. Psychological prerequisite: seriousness (ching); 2. Inductive and deductive investigations of Principles to the utmost; 3. The necessity of genuinely and earnestly realizing truth; 4. Achievement of true knowledge. Works are cross-referred at multiple occasions in the outline. According to Chan, the outline should work as a program of study, amongst other goals. Chan’s bibliography marks in the entries whether it is essential, supplementary or optional reading. It has comments for every entry. The bibliography is limited by its early publication and must now be used in conjunction with new bibliographies in publications of current scholars in the field. However, Chan’s work can still be browsed as it provides a clear picture of the topics relevant in his time, especially in the outline. An earlier edition (1961) is fully available online through UBC library. (Submitted by Immanuel Spaar)
  • 明清檔案概論 Mingqing dang'an gailun (An introduction to Ming-Qing Archives). 1990. By Ni Daoshan 倪道善. The book is written based on the author’s “明清檔案[Ming-Qing Archives]”course materials compiled during the 1980s. The Ming-Qing archives preserve imperial governmental documents. It is useful for locating sources in terms of providing readers with an overview of the historical development of the archives and an introduction to the historical sources held in the various Ming-Qing archives within and beyond China. So, readers get a general sense of what sort of official materials are extant and where to access it. Table of content Related digitisation efforts and searchable databases see: the Grand Secretariant Archives Project and the First Historical Archives of China. (Submitted by Sze Sze)
  • Zhou, Nanjing (周南京), Dictionary of Overseas Chinese (世界华人华侨词典), 1993. This is an encyclopaedical dictionary with 7,093 terms that introduce and explain famous Chinese overseas migrants, the communities, political parties, and companies launched by overseas Chinese, significate events, Immigration Acts toward Chinese immigration, etc. Published in 1993 by Peking University Press, this dictionary was edited by experts from Peking University, Xiamen University, Sun Yat-sen University, the China Institute of Overseas Chinese History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Xinhua News Agency, etc. (Submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • Zhang, Qionghui (张琼惠) I'm Migrant: New Perspectives in the Studies of Overseas Chinese (移动之民：海外华人研究的新视野), 2018. This is a collection of 19 up-to-date theses about overseas Chinese, whose authors are scholars from the mainland of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United States, and Malaysia. This book was divided into 6 parts, including the history of overseas Chinese from the 16 century, social participation and cultural adaption of Chinese immigration in the new countries, jobs and economic involvement, educational strategies, changes of identity, and the literature creation of Chinese immigrations in English and Chinese. (Submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • Owen, Stephen, An Anthology of Classical Chinese Literature. New York : W.W. Norton, ©1996. o   A selected translation of pieces in classical Chinese literature, with detailed introduction and analysis. Pieces are selected and classified according to not only the basic time periods but also different themes and features. Main literati in each category are also introduced with their pieces selected separately. o   For beginners in classical Chinese literature studies, this book is useful as one could both learn the way of translating classical Chinese literature by comparing the translation with original texts, and also capture the specific features through close reading. The way of classification and interpretation based on close reading makes this book helpful as a guidance, relatively keeping its reliability. o   The limitation is also apparent.  Firstly, the original Chinese texts of selected pieces is NOT attached, so if you are a native speaker in Chinese, it is better to search for original texts while reading Owen’s translation so that you can get more by comparing the English and Chinese versions. Secondly, illuminative but not as comprehensive as encyclopedia, this book should be used together with classical Chinse literature dictionaries, and should be used as a beginning and a guarantee that you can get some basic but inspirational features of literatures in the specific field you are interested in. (Submitted by Chen Chen)

Week 5: Locating Sources II

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  • 大學衍義補 — sample 1 | 2
  • Hi everyone! I’ll lead the discussion by introducing the text which I used for my annotated translation - I will also enumerate and describe its various editions, in addition to the metrics I used to discriminate between them. To begin, the text I chose is entitled An Exposition on the Princes of the Imperial Family 同姓諸王表 by the famed late-Ming historian and erudite Wang Shizhen 王世貞 (js. 1547, 1526-90). In his exposition, Wang details a chronological history of how Chinese states in aeons past have managed their princely populations, and then details the various procedures undertaken in the Ming, from the dynastic founding to his own day and age; he decries the Ming’s poor management of the princely institution and suggests remedial measures for implementation. The primary text is not stupendously long, clocking in at 1,647 words. As for the various editions of his Exposition, which typically appear in his collected works, there are simply too many to cover here (Wang was a much-cited writer!), so I selected four. The first is a 1590 manuscript contained in the Yanshan tang bieji 弇山堂別集 held by the Harvard-Yenching Library; second is a 1614 recompilation of the Yanzhou shiliao qianji 弇州史料前集 held by the Chinese University of Hong Kong; third is a 1779 Siku quanshu 四庫全書 copy; and last but not least is a modern 1985 reprint of the Yanshan tang bieji published by the well-reputed Zhonghua shuju 中華書局. In my annotated translation, I ultimately opted to use two of the four editions while omitting two others: the two I omitted were the 1614 and Siku quanshu editions. The 1614 edition was laden with misprinted characters and phrases, which bespeaks rather haphazard editing on the part of the editor Dong Fubiao 董復表 (fl. 1614); the Siku quanshu edition, despite not being afflicted by such serious typographical issues, is essentially an exact duplication of the original 1590 manuscript, so I have favoured the earlier 1590 copy. This brings me to the two editions I elected to follow: the 1590 edition served as my base 底本 (it was published the same year Wang Shizhen died, so it may be ascertained that this edition passed through the least amount of editorial hands and best represents Wang’s own writing), while the modern 1985 reprint served as a reference point for diction and punctuation (and, as a result, interpretation!). The editor, Wei Lianke 魏連科, worked on the prestigious Mingshi 明史, also published by Zhonghua shuju - so we can be sure that the editorial work on Wang’s essay was done with care and expertise. In essence - while there do not emerge any alarming differences between the different editions I evaluated, ultimately the metrics of differentiation relied on quality and chronology. Having a manuscript that is as close as possible to the original (if it is not already the original!) is ideal, and having a modern punctuated original edited by a professional scholar ensures that any mistakes or issues in the original can be corrected. --- Submitted by Aaron Throness. (I have produced a few PDF comparisons between editions, taking stock of areas where characters are mistyped and such. I will bring them to class for 'show-and-tell', as I don't want to transgress upon any copyright issues by uploading the images to the Wiki.)
  • The text I have chosen is Yijian zhi 夷堅志 (Record of the listener) by Southern Song scholar official Hong Mai 洪邁 (1123-1202). The work is generally accepted as belonging to the zhiguai 志怪 genre (recordings of the strange) and is composed of collections and recordings completed throughout the authors life. The instalments run in chronological order and feature stories recorded by Hong from merchants, peddlers, doctors, landowners, literati, aristocrats, etc. The text was originally 420 juan, but only 208 survive. Because of the age of the text, there are several extant versions. This post will focus on the copies here at UBC and try to give a short summary of how those editions came to be. I will also bring a print-out of a very helpful graphic from an article published in 2007 by Alister Inglis (also I have linked the article here). The most recent and widely used version was compiled, edited, and annotated by He Zhuo 何卓. It was published in 1981 by Zhonghua Shuju. This edition has an index of personal names featured in the book and includes variant character present in many of the versions he consulted. This version is largely based on an earlier 1927 recension by Zhang Yuanji known as the Hanfenlou 涵芬樓 (205 chapters; not held by UBC). Hu Zhuo’s edition contains 208 chapters gleaned from various earlier versions. UBC also holds a 1937 reprint published for Congshu jicheng chubian 叢書集成初編 (A corpus of works from collectanea, 1st series) by Shangwu, Shanghai. Though I have not yet consulted this version, Wilkinson notes that books published as part of the Congshu jicheng chubian series often have printing errors (Wilkinson, page 3828). This version has 80 chapters which suggests it was based a Yuan imprint published by Shen Tianyou 沈天祐. Shen’s version was mostly printed from Song woodblocks, though some were added to fill in gaps. Shen’s edition is now held at the Seikado Bunko in Tokyo. UBC also holds a 1968 reprint of an 1879 publication. The 1879 text was published by Lu Xinyuan 陸心源 and is sometimes known as “House of a hundred Thousand Scrolls” edition十萬卷樓叢書 Shi wan juan lou congshu. This edition has 80 chapters and is based largely on Shen Tianyou’s Yuan edition. It follows the Yuan format and does not camouflage missing sections. Lu’s edition was used in the compilation of the 1927 Hanfenlou edition. There is a 50-chapter version of this text published in the Siku quanshu 四庫全書. This version is rarely discussed by scholars who study Record of the Listener, leading me to believe its not a reliable source for this specific publication. A 51-chapter topicalized edition was compiled and published in the Ming (1546) by Hong Pian 洪楩, therefore I would imagine this was the source for the Siku. The Siku, though labelled jia甲, yi 乙, bing 丙,  ding 丁, wu 戊 (the first five instalments of Hong's original edition), they are actually instalments 10-15 (zhijia支甲, zhiyi 支乙, zhibing 支丙, zhiding 支丁, and zhiwu 支戊). The Siku version is also available on the Kanseki Repository. Different Version of the text are also available on Diao long (Submitted by Davin Luce)
  • 大明一統志 (Great Ming United Records) is a general geographical gazetteer edited by Ming central government, introducing all the 149 prefectures (Fu) in Two capitals and thirteen provinces (兩京十三布政使司) , and foreign territories in addition. The composing of Daming Yitongzhi started in Hongwu period, but finally finished in Tianshun fifth year (1461). Different versions listed as below:
  • Zhuzi Wannian Dinglun 朱子晚年定論(Master Zhu's Final Conclusions Arrived at Late in Life), authored by Wang Yangming 王守仁 (陽明, 1472-1529).
    • Published as a single work. The book was first printed as a single volume in Nangan 南贛 (nowadays Jiangxi 江西). According to Prof. Nagatomi Seiji 永冨 青地, Qian Dehong 錢德洪 (1496-1574), Wang's disciple, noted that there was a reprinted edition, expanded to three volumes by Qian, at Jiayi Academy 嘉義書院 at Nanjing. While the first two versions are now nonextant, one other edition printed at Huaiyu Academy 懷玉書院 at Jiangxi is now preserved in Anhui Museum 安徽省博物館. The one at Anhui has two prefaces by Qian that do not exist in other circulating editions. Besides, in this edition, Wang's own preface does not include 陽明子序曰, the first five characters can be seen in other editions.
    • Published as an addition to Chuanxilu 傳習錄. In 1572, Wang Wencheng gong quan shu 王文成公全書 was compiled and printed, which has become the most authoritative edition and most later editions are reprint from this 1572 edition. Some files include the 1572 edition (Harvard), 大學疏略 (六府文藏 via Diao Long), 王文成公全書 (六府文藏 via Diao Long), 陽明全集 (續四部叢刊 via Diao Long), 大學疏略 (續修四庫全書 via Diao Long), 王文成全書 (四庫全書 via Diao Long). (submitted by Chien-Cho Chan)
  • Daxue wen 大學問 (“An inquiry on the Great Learning”), a text of less than 4000 characters, recorded by Wang Yangming and his disciple Qian Dehong. The text is located in juan 26 of the Wang Wencheng gong quanshu (in total 38 juan). Wang Wencheng gong quanshu is reproduced in Siku quanshu under Jibu, Bieji lei, Ming Hongwu zhi Chongzhen. There are extant historical prints of the Wang Wencheng gong quanshu, which became the basis for the modern editions of Wang Yangming’s works. The latest punctuated, collated and annotated of these is Wang Yangming quanji, edited and collated by Wu Guang, Qian Ming, Dong Ping, and Yao Yanfu. It is published in four volumes (Fanti shengji ban), Shanghai Guji Chubanshe, 2018. The Library of Congress holds the facsimiles of a historical edition of Wang Wencheng gong quanshu from 1572, with notes, punctuation, and underlines by Qing scholars in red (https://lccn.loc.gov/2014514295). Images of the first page from three different editions (submitted by Immanuel Spaar)
  • Text: Jing hai ji lue 靖海紀略, Cao Lütai 曹履泰, late-Ming period.
    • A collection of letters and memorials regarding the activities of late Ming pirates along the coasts. At the moment, this text is only found in the Collectanea of the Studio of Avoiding Descent 別下齋叢書 (Xie Guozhen 謝國楨 has also confirmed this in his Zeng ding wan ming shi ji kao 增訂晚明史籍考). Jiang Guangxu 蔣光煦 / Jiang Guangxi 蔣光熙 was the main contributor listed for this collection (there is a difference in the person's name, but they refer to the same person. How this became a thing, I have no idea). The re-organized table of contents in the year of 丙辰 Bingchen (1856) during Qing Emperor Xianfeng's reign, many of which present books and works that "out of the many collectanea consulted, this [work] is the only copy" 所選百部叢書僅有此本. Jiang's collection is quite beneficial, in that it claims to not only collect the books that Bao Tingbo 鮑廷博 left out in his Collection of Know your deficiencies studio 知不足齋叢書, but also books that were written by people comparable to the virtuous scholars of the past but were not yet printed 今生沐於古人之書網羅放失皆鮑氏之所遺而並世之人有著述媲美於前賢而未及梓以行世著亦采錄 (Notes on the Treasured Books of the Studio of Avoiding Descent 別下齋藏書記). Jing hai ji lue most likely falls into the latter category, given its lonely status.
    • While the above description paints a seemingly easy picture, the overall situation is a little bit more complex. First, Cao's Jing hai ji lue is not to be mixed up with the Jing hai ji lue 靖海紀略 written by Zheng Mao 鄭茂 in the Jiajing era. Second, there are 4 available versions (that I have tracked) of this text, all of which are based on the Collectanea of the Studio of Avoiding Descent but vary slightly in formatting and seals - no differences spotted in the texts / messages so far.
      • Ctext: Two seals on the first page of Prologue that are unrecognizable. One character on the bottom right seal indicates "國". Additionally, biographic information for Cao is inserted right after the Prologue, which is a unique decision. In this version, and through online search, the author's name is Jiang Guangxu 蔣光煦.
      • Collection of Chinese Unofficial Histories 中國野史集成: One seal on the title page with seemingly "西大學" as the only recognizable characters, two seals on the first page of the Prologue that have unrecognizable characters. One part of the text in the first fascile is for some reason blobbed out by ink.
      • A reprinted version in February of 1935 中華民國二十四年二月重印. Available through UBC online. Text font was changed to type-set characters. No seals found.
      • UBC Library also has a physical copy of this text by Bai bu cong shu ji cheng 百部叢書集成 published in 1965. No seals found. Legible characters. Will most likely use this version with the above version in tandem for consultation. In this version, however, the author's name is Jiang Guangxi 蔣光熙.
  • Bai Yun Ji 白雲集, Xu Qian 許謙 (1270-1337)。 List of different versions. There are basically four major editions: the Chenghua (四部叢刊續編 via 雕龍database), Zhengde (蒲坂藏書 via UBC digitized rare books open collection), Siku and Yongzheng (金華叢書 via ctext.org open access) editions. Overall, the book’s main content seems to be about the same for all editions. That said, the Chenghua edition is the first published edition and probably the most authoritative edition because of its relative completeness as compared to the other editions. The primary differences are as follow: 1) In the strictest sense, the 蒲坂藏書edition is a Jiajing edition. However, since it is based on the Zhengde edition, I classified it under the Zhengde edition. The main issue with the Zhengde edition is that there are few missing pages, making it slightly less complete than the Chenghua edition. 2) As for the Siku edition, the editor deleted most of the prefaces and a passage–deemed to be a wrong insert. Moreover, a minor error mentioned in the Siku collection note is not present in both Chenghua and Zhengde editions. 3) Again, in the strictest sense, the 金華叢書edition is a Tongzhi edition but it is based on the Yongzheng edition and the Yongzheng edition is likely to follow the Jiajing edition. However, this edition warrants attentions because it differs the most from earlier editions in terms of style and sequence. The compiler changed how different genres were arranged. Other than adding in Xu Qian’s epitaph, the compiler also included all prefaces and colophons of previous editions. Hence, it is useful in making sense of the circulation and reception of this book. (Submitted by Sze Sze)
  • Zhongzhou renwu kao 中州人物考 (Studies of historical figures in Henan province) The text was finished in 1657 by the Ming remnant subject Sun Qifeng 孙奇逢 (1587-1675), which was a biography collection of respectable historical figures born in Zhongzhou 中州 (Henan province) from the late Yuan to early Qing period. Around 400 people were recorded, and the whole collection was organized according to people’s virtue and contribution. The Siku Quanshu edition adopted the manuscript which was collected from the noted bibliophile Bao Shigong 鲍士恭 but deleted the preface& colophon （序跋）, convention （例议）and categorization （分类）. Some terms include anti-Qing sentiment, were altered or deleted. (For example, all the “夷” was replaced with “番”) In 1844, descendants of Sun Qifeng published another edition which was based on the manuscript stored in the Sun family, and this edition is seen as closest to the original text. A modern version was published in 2003 in Sun Qifeng Ji 孙奇逢集. This edition adopted the 1844 edition as the base text (底本), while the Siku edition and other books, such as Benchao fensheng renwu kao 本朝分省人物考, were texts for collation purposes (校本). At the end of each volume, the record of collation (校勘记) was attached, helping readers compare different editions. (Submitted by Mengyuan Li)
  • Zhushu Jinian 竹書紀年 is a chronicle of ancient China. It records historical events from the earliest legendary time to 299 BC. The original text was found in the grave of King Xiang of Wei (died 296 BC) in 281 AD. The original text may have been lost during the Song dynasty, and the text is known today in two versions, a "modern text” and an incomplete "ancient text". 《竹书纪年》, 时代文艺出版社, 2009; 《竹書紀年義證》, [清] 雷學淇, 藝文印書館股份有限公司,1966; 《古本竹书纪年辑校订补》, 上海古籍出版社, 2011. (Submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • Daxue Yanyi Bu 大學衍義補, Qiu Jun丘濬（1421~1495）Vol.81 Chong Jiaohua 崇教化- Jin Haoshang Yi Shuaimin 謹好尚以率民. It's a text written by Qiu for adding his idea on how to rule the people using the confucianist classical Daxue大學. In this particular volume he argued on how the governor should be aware of what the people like or hate and adjust his own behaviour accordingly to have a positive influence on his people. It emphasizes that the people would naturally follow what the governors do because the relationship between them are just like the relationship between parents and children. The original version is printed in the second year of Hongzhi reign 弘治初年 and the other most used version is the one re-edited in Wanli Reign 萬曆 which has a prefave written by the emperor Zhu Yijun 朱翊鈞. There are several other digital versions available such as the version printed in the first year of Zhengde正德 as well as the one in the 38th year of Jiajing嘉靖. Apart from the Siku version and the Siku Huiyao version, there's also Chen Renxi 陳仁錫 and Xu Shi 徐栻 version. (I haven't read them all and don't really know the difference... They are pretty much similar to each other for me until now...Sorry I'll certainly work harder on it...) (Submitted by Zoe Yuhe Zhang）

Week 6: Thanksgiving (No Class)

Week 7: Locating Sources III

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  • CrossAsia Fulltext Search. Hosted by xasia (belongs to Berlin State Library – Prussian Cultural Heritage, a German library with collections of East Asian literature). A relational databank built from internal resources, which should grow in the future (Beta version). The user can select between two basic searches, (A) Guided Fulltext Search and (B) Explorative Fulltext Search. Both search engines display hits across many different sources, ranging from pre-modern books (classics, series [congshu], gazetteers, etc.), journals, and current academic monographs. (A) lists hits according to books and applies an internal ranking (number of pages with hits). (B) lists hits according to an index score, and uses fulltext and metadata at the same time. In terms of web design, (B) looks more like the search results from Diaolong (I prefer B). But both (A) and (B) let the user apply many filters, which can be helpful. Further, CrossAsia Fulltext Search is open to all users. The search results will show a small clipping of the original text. Once you want to open the original source from where the text is taken there are of course limitations. But still, if you come up with good keywords, this fulltext search can help you identify a wide range of sources related to your subject matter. (submitted by Immanuel Spaar)
  • Caigui ji才鬼記, edited by Mei Dingzuo 梅鼎祚. 明萬曆三十三年蟫隱居刻三才靈記本. via 四庫全書存目, accessible via Erudition-全四庫 database. Currently for the one edited by 梅鼎祚, there are no other versions.
    • This is a collection of stories about talented ghosts from late Zhou Dynasty to late Ming Dynasty.
    • It it noteworthy that this collection of ghost stories is significantly comprehensive for it is not limited within the range of love stories or other themes. In other words, it shows some less noticeable aspects of ghost stories in Classical Chinese literature, like the sarcasm on official circles, the loneliness deep inside travellers, etc. The huge volume of stories also makes reading it a good way to capture the styles and features of Chinese ghost stories. (submitted by Chen Chen)
  • Souyun搜韻https://sou-yun.cn/QueryPoem.aspx a multifunctional database for classical Chinese poetry
    • There are a lot of collections of poems/poetry criticism. The sources are usually from Internet Archive (which I may also recommend for research).
    • When doing translation, you can search for the meaning and content of literary allusions that appear in the classical Chinese text. The reference is also included for convenience of doing annotations.
    • You can also review/search for poems in different themes or feature in Souyun, but I haven't tried that. (submitted by: Chen Chen)
  • https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/Lindict/ The online version of the Chinese-English Dictionary edited by Lin Yutang 林語堂《當代漢英詞典》電子版.
    • It includes English translations of not only characters but also words in classical Chinese.
    • It is better to use it with a Classical Chinese-Modern Chinese Dictionary to ensure that you do not miss any possible meaning of a character, which does happen a lot. (submitted by: Chen Chen)
  • Veritable Records of Ming, Qing and Joseon Korea: Institute of History and Philology, Academica Sinica (中研院史語所) access; Access from National Institute of Korean History (국사편찬위원회, 國史編纂委員會) Both database based on the same printed version of Veritable Records of Ming (明實錄) from National Peking Library red block had-copied version, printed by Sinica in 1962, while Veritable Records of Qing (清實錄) is digitalized from Zhonghua Book Company Printed Version in 1986, while Veritable Records of Joseon Korea (朝鮮王朝實錄) is based on Gyujanggak Collection (규장각, 奎章閣). Please notice that in National Institute of Korean History database, Veritable Records of Joseon Korea is in different website: http://sillok.history.go.kr/main/main.do (Rui Ding)
  • Erudition For the purposes of my research guide, I find Erudition the most intuitive. You can search by title, author, dynasty etc. For Middle Period, there are 1727 Song titles, 3 Liao, 45 Jin, and 609 Yuan. I was able to find texts relating to art, such as works by Zhou Mi 周密, Deng Chun 鄧椿, Guo Ruoxu 郭若虛, and Guo Xi 郭熙.. A drawback I have noticed, in comparison to Diao Long, is that Erudition does not always immediately tell you what version the title is. I find the full-text format and the download function easy to use.
    • For the purposes of my translation, the only place I was able to find the 1981 puntuated and annotated version of Yijian zhi was on 华经典古籍库 / Chinese Classic Ancient Books. Though, I have not yet figured out how to download the text from this site. ost other databases have the 1879 Lu Xinyuan 陸心源 version.
    • One database (though not necessarily text-based) I would have liked to have looked at was Apabi Tupianku (image) database which I found through the Princeton Library. Unfortunately UBC does not subscribe. (Submitted by Davin)
  • Scripta Sinica: It is easy to access the database across the world (for free), and the search tools are helpful, such as the 以文找文 function. However, the included materials are limited, so that it would be a good database for general history materials, but not for comparatively rare collections or gazetteers. Besides, it is difficult to access the original edition of each material through the database.
  • Ctext: A free digital library includes a considerable number of traditional Chinese texts. Many rare books are digitalized, which are available for researchers all around the world. Though OCR is not entirely accurate, the quality of scanned pictures of most rare books is good.
  • Chinese Classic Ancient Books Database 中华经典古籍库: The included materials are much more than Scripta Sinica, and the link within the texts directs the reader to the certain page of the printed book, which is convenient for citation. However, many materials are not accessible for the UBC library.
  • Diao Long Database of Chinese and Japanese Ancient Books 雕龙: This database includes sources stored in the mainland, Taiwan, and Japan. The gazetteer collection is one of the most comprehensive ones among these databases. The “image” (影像) button allows readers to access the base edition conveniently.
  • Chinese Ancient Books Database 中华古籍资源库：This database is operated by the National Library of China, which has been updating fast lately. Although full-text search still has not covered all the sources, the edition and the quality of the scanned materials are reliable. Most sources are available for free users. Besides the collection based at the National Library of China, it also provides Chinese member libraries’ digitalized sources. Harvard–Yenching Library, Institute of Advanced Studies on Asia and National Library of France also offer their collections to the database. (Submitted by Mengyuan Li)
  • CBETA (中華電子佛典協會（Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association): This is the most useful and comprehensive database of Buddhist texts, not only Buddhist canon but also related sources. In the database, one can easily locate key terms in paragraphs of different texts and access the original sources through DILA Digital Image Archive; in most texts there is a small bottom showing "p xxx," by clicking which you can access DILA directly. Texts collected in the database are transcribed and punctuated (by AI, so some mistakes happened). There is a function called 原書換行 that you can see sentences in the original format, in the same length of sentences as those in the original text, in the database (regular vs. 原書換行, submitted by Chien-Cho Chan).
  • Guoxuedashi (国学大师): A free acess database where you could find a surprising amount of texts. Its UI is probably the ugliest one among all those databases but it's quite useful. It also has the full-text search engine and the comparision reading of the full text with its original photo. I won't say it's the most authoritative one or the one with the widest reach, but it's quite helpful for me so long as I could use it either as the first step of a reasearch or as a complementary database for those other authorotative databases. (Submitted by Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • In addition to Davin and Mengyuan's entries, for my research purpose, if I find my texts exist in different editions, Erudition (中國基本古籍庫) would be my first stop to check because it allows reader to view all editions available in its database at a glance. Sample. Chinese Ancient Books Database 中華經典古籍庫 would be the next I would consult as it includes modern (punctuated) edition of pre-1949 texts in the database. In some cases, the modern edition appends additional passages and useful editorial notes. Sample. So, a search in the Chinese Ancient Books Database would complement the search results in Erudition. (Submitted by Sze Sze)
  • Duxiu Database 读秀 is a database includes more than 3 million Chinese bibliographic entries and 2 million full text scholarly resources in all subjects and formats, such as books, journal articles, conference papers and video clips. Most of Chinese publications covered by Duxiu were publishded from the early the 1930s to the present. And many of the articles have fulltext available. (Submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • Guji yu tecang wenxian ziyuan 古籍與特藏文獻資源 - Guojia tushu guan 國家圖書館 (Taiwan). My apologies for joining this discussion late - better late than never, I suppose! The resource that I would like to raise for review is a lesser-known but especially useful database hosted by the National Central Library in Taiwan. The National Central Library is of course home to scores of primary pre-modern Chinese documents difficult (if not impossible) to locate in other collections in East Asia or around the world; a substantial number of these works are available online for open access via the Guji yu tecang wenxian ziyuan database. The interface is simple and user-friendly - simply enter into the relevant search query your desired work or author and click search/查詢. Rare works like the Fanxian ji 藩獻記 (a collectanea of biographies for Ming princes) and the Huanyu tongzhi 寰宇通志 (a geographical treatise produced during the Jingtai reign, and which served as the base for the later Da Ming yitongzhi 大明一統志, an essential duplication) are available for viewing - but not downloading - here. Often times various different editions will be presented to the researcher, but only certain editions, often the ones with an image appended to the search result, can be accessed. Nevertheless, I cannot more warmly recommend this resource for the researcher of pre-modern China. Should one ever encounter the scenario in which a rare manuscript is located in another library but which is only available in microfilm/not available whatsoever digitally, look in the Guji yu tecang wenxian ziyuan. As well, in many late-Ming collectanea of biji 筆記 and rare works, like the Lidai xiaoshi 歷代小史 or the Shuofu xu 說郛續, a particular work one is interested in may be preserved but unfortunately abbreviated truncated. The Guji yu tecang wenxian ziyuan database may have the complete edition (like the Fanxian ji, a source I use extensively in my own work). (Submitted by Aaron Throness)

Week 8: Language

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  • Paul W. Kroll. A Student's Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese: Revised Edition. Leiden: Brill, 2017. This work is the first and more broadly useful dictionary that I would like to raise for consideration here. While I only discovered it recently, I find it difficult to imagine how I ever got by without it before! For all intents and purposes, Kroll's dictionary is an exhaustive Chinese-English dictionary of classical and medieval Chinese vocabulary - from more arcane usages to commonplace diction choices, you will rarely have difficulty finding a translation in the text. Each diction entry is accompanied by the following features: a) a medieval Chinese pronunciation guide; b) various different English translations (also based on more generic or specific literary usages - the seemingly innocuous character he 合 for instance has at least 30 English definitions supplied), disyllabic combinations with commonly-seen phrases, examples, etc.; c) alternative pronunciations and their alternative translations. The dictionary is organized alphabetically and according to tone, making for remarkable ease of use for the modern student. There is a reference copy available at UBC in the Koerner Library (c.f. the hyperlink above), but I would highly recommend that anyone seriously interested in Classical Chinese studies purchase a personal copy. I cannot emphasize how useful and practical Kroll's dictionary is - I would be happy to bring it to class! (Submitted by Aaron Throness)
  • Charles O. Hucker. A Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1985. (There is also a reprint edition published in Taipei by SMC Publishing, Inc., in 1995, which is the edition I own.) While Hucker's magnum opus is generally useful for the student or scholar working in late imperial history, it is of especial utility for the historian who deals with issues of politics, administration, and governance in their research, and the historian who in so doing comes across with great frequency bureaucratic titles both familiar and obscure. Supplied in the dictionary are English-language translations of 8,291 official titles that were used across the span of imperial China's history. Each entry is organized as follows: a) an index number, pinyin, and the Chinese title in Traditional Chinese text; b) generic English translation of the title; and, most importantly c) description of the titular incumbent's rank/salary, and their responsibilities according to dynastic period (many official capacities, of course, changed throughout the course of time; Hucker reflects these changes in both his descriptions and, when necessary, his translations. Indeed, some entries are accompanied by different suggested translations according to different dynastic usages). Hucker's volume is thus useful in a variety of ways: it not only allows the researcher to easily translate tricky official titles into English, but also allows the researcher to generally acquaint themselves with the functions of that particular title and the ways in which it changed over time. Of course, while this works as a more general characterization for Hucker's dictionary, the user should not assume that each entry is afforded the same amount of space and nuance: some official titles are afforded thick paragraphs of description, while others a mere number of sentences. Regardless, it is an indispensable and still universally used work in the sinological field. (Submitted by Aaron Throness) P.S. I discovered today a completely digitized, OCR-searchable copy of the Dictionary available from the Projects at Harvard website. Use with utmost caution, though: the reproduction is severely marred by typographical and typesetting anomalies/errors. It also lacks the preface, introduction, and user's guide.
  • 王力古漢語字典 Wang Li gu han yu zi dian. Beijing: Zhong hua shu ju chu ban she, 2000. (Asian Library has one copy but it is reference-only. Electronic copy is available on Z-Library if necessary, but it is better to use the hard copy :)
    • A Classical Chinese-Modern Chinese dictionary, with relatively comprehensive explanation of characters in Classical Chinese.
    • Quick and easy to use as it is a one-volume dictionary. But also because of this, it is better to use it for translation of relatively common contents/characters. Using it together with 林語堂當代漢英字典 and A Student's Dictionary For Classical And Medieval Chinese could be appropriate for not-too-hard contents.
    • Nevertheless, this is a very basic step and I have noticed that some rare meanings of characters are missing. So I personally suggest that, mark out all the characters if you thinks there is anything that is not well explained, and look them up later in either professional dictionaries or multiple-volume dictionaries. (Submitted by Chen Chen)
  • Plecohttps://www.pleco.com/products/pleco-for-iphone-ipad/
    • Electronic dictionary app. You can download it and use the basic version for free, which could be used for simple transition of some words.
    • More importantly, in the home page you can choose 'add-ons' to buy professional dictionaries, including Han yu da ci dian, so that you won't have to carry them and be locked in the Library all day long when doing translation. Price for Han yu da ci dian is around CAD 60. Price for Gu han yu da ci dian is around CAD 25.
    • Their database includes dictionaries for Idioms/Proverbs, Medicine, Military, Buddhism, etc. (Submitted by: Chen Chen)
  • 明代職官中英辭典 Chinese-English Dictionary of Ming Government Official Titles is an open-access project coordinated by librarians and participated by scholars in this field. The first edition is published on UCI library website at 2017, and the most recent version is at 2020. Besides extracting related entries from Charles Hucker’s Dictionary of Official Titles in Imperial China, the translation was under a Crowd-translation System by Ming scholars around the world and the contributions were peer-reviewed and checked by other translators and scholars invited. The titles are categorized by each hierarchical structure, rather than in alphabetical order, which provides an overview of the political system besides English translation. This project also collaborated in China Biographical Database Project (CBDB). For more information, please see this introduction by project organizers. (Submitted by Rui Ding)
  • 教育部異體字字典 MOE Dictionary of Variants is organized by Ministry of Education, ROC, and under maintenance of National Academy for Educational Research (國家教育研究院). Characters can be browsed by its number of strokes of each part, and the search result shows the standard form and all the known variants of the character in Chinese classics, and simplified form (簡體字) as well (誦 as an example). (Submitted by Rui Ding)
  • zdic 漢典 . Zdic is useful in the sense that it is very accessible and the layout is clear. When you type in a character, it displays the following information: Translations to English, German, and French (the accuracy is fine, but not often the greatest for a reason), Basic and Detailed explanation (into Modern Chinese, but it provides examples from historical sources to provide context for the meanings), Entries from Taiwan-produced Ministry of Education Mandarin Chinese Dictionary 國語辭典, Kangxi Dictionary 康熙字典 and Shuo wen jie zi 説文解字 (Generally I don't use these parts, but they might be useful for those interested), Pronunciation in different dialects, and a history of how the character has been written. It accepts searches from both simplified and traditional forms, and often provides the varying forms of said character (異體字). You can also type multiple words in to see if they connote a certain meaning (this includes chengyu 成語). Its origins, however, does deserve some attention, as it was developed as a web resource from internet users (who may be academics but are hidden in the internet pseudonyms). Nonetheless, I find it a useful place to start looking for definitions of words if I want to get it quick. ---- Submitted by Calvin Lin.
  • Jia, Yanzhu 賈延柱, Chang yong gu jin zi tong jia zi zi dian 常用古今字通假字字典 (Liaoning ren min chu ban she 遼寧人民出版社, 1988). Zhang, Heng and Xu, Menglin 张桁, 许梦麟, 通假大字典 (Heilongjiang ren min chu ban she 黑龍江人民出版社, 1998). These two dictionaries are useful if one wants to confirm the suspicions of whether a character used in a manuscript is a "通假字" (Borrowed word), but they function a bit differently. In Jia's dictionary, one would be able to look for the character both ways, meaning that a character can be searched either through its variant form or its "original" form. Once clicking into the entries, one is able to see the examples, with explanation in modern Chinese as well, that the editors picked from certian historical texts that illustrate their uses. In Zhang and Xu's dictionary, however, one can only search information through the original form of the character, but once finding the entry, all meanings and uses of the variant forms will be revealed. For a quick and dirty use, Jia's dictionary might be a place to start, but if one knows the original form from the start, then Zhang and Xu's dictionary might be a better alternative. The weird thing, however, lies in their decisions on when to use traditional or simplified characters. Jia's dictionary does not include any traditional characters, while Zhang and Xu's dictionary require one to use traditional characters to search (but ends up giving the explanations in simplified form any way). I attach here a Google Docs to show what I mean. ---- Submitted by Calvin Lin.
  • Schuessler, Axel, ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese (University of Hawai'i Press, 2007). I only found it recently, but realized its usefulness as well. As it is an "etymological" source had to address the origins of each word, it results in lines that observe the word's different pronunciations, a gloss / rough definition of the word / character, and morphological derivation and or relation to other characters (some lead to varying characters 通假字). It is organized by pinyin alphabetically, so it's relatively easy to go through and find your character. There are small downsides to this dictionary, however, with one being that while Schuessler provided when a character was first seen used in which text, the specific context is not provided (unlike Zdic or other Chinese-Chinese dictionaries). Furthermore, there is the layout issue where if one is not interested (yet) in the pronunciation of words apart from its modern day pinyin form, the different symbols demonstrating their alternative pronunciations might confuse and add difficulty for reading. ---- Submitted by Calvin Lin.
  • 郭尚兴 Guo Shangxing et al., A Dictionary of Chinese Philosophy with English Annotations, Zhengzhou: Henan daxue chubanshe, 2002. This dictionary includes 3135 entries related to Chinese philosophy from ancient times to 1949. The primary consulted sources are two authoritative dictionaries, Zhexue da cidian (published in 1985) and Zhongguo zhexue da cidian (published in 1994). All the entries are organized according to the stroke number of the first character of the entry. There are three appendixes at the end of the dictionary: Alphabetized List of the Translation of Entries, English-Chinese List of Names of Persons and Places, and Chinese Phonetic Alphabet and Wade System. Many entries include several translations. It is not an entirely comprehensive dictionary, and the included entries reveal that the editor pays more attention to Confucianism, but it is still helpful for researchers interested in Chinese philosophy and intellectual history. An updated version published in 2010 adds around two hundred new entries, and all entries are organized according to pinyin.
  • Wu Yi, Chinese Philosophical Terms, Boston: University Press of America, 1986. The author chose the fifty most fundamental terms in Chinese philosophy to translate and interpret in this book. One of the main aspirations of writing this book is that when the author was teaching Chinese philosophy in the US, he found the available translated texts of important works vary widely and inconsistent, confusing many beginners, so it is necessary to explain some basic terms in a consistent context. All the terms are explained in detail, and if the term has several meanings in specific philosophical contexts, the author provides example sentences from different philosophical works to help readers further their understanding. For example, under the entry 人, the author cites sentences from Record of Rites, Zhuangzi, and Platform Scripture by the Sixth Patriarch to illustrate that this term has various meanings in different Chinese philosophical traditions.
  • Ch'en Ch'un, Neo-Confucian Terms Explained (The Peizhsi tzu-i), trans. Wing-tsit Chan, New York: Columbia University Press, 1986. This book is translated from Chen Chun's (陈淳, 1159-1223) Beixi ziyi [Peizhsi tzu-i] 北溪字义. As a follower of Zhu Xi (朱熹, 1130-1200), in Beixi ziyi, Chen Chun mainly adopted Zhu Xi's philosophy to interpret basic terms in Confucianism, and the dictionary is based on the Cheng-Zhu orthodoxy. The selected entries show distinct overlap between Chinese Philosophical Terms and Neo-Confucian Terms Explained, but the aimed readers are different. Wu’s book is suitable for beginners interested in Chinese philosophy but have not been very familiar with the classics, while Neo-Confucian Terms Explained is a helpful dictionary when readers focus on the Cheng-Zhu orthodoxy, for example, when they are reading the Four Books with Zhu Xi's commentaries (Sishu zhangju jizhu 四书章句集注 ), the dictionary would be useful. (Submitted by Mengyuan Li)
  • Cncorpus 语料库在线. (I know it sounds more like an irrelevant linguistic stuff but plz hear me out.) I normally use zdic too and one thing annoys me is its examples. As an non-academic online dictionary, it really doesn't show much examples accompanying the items, and the longer the item is, the fewer examples it shows. But in certain cases we couldn't really understand the expression by reading its definition, and it becomes a lot more conprehensible if we put it back into more related contexts to make a sense from it. Hence, my solution is to use this cncorpus as a complementary resource to search for more examples and contexts. It has 2 search engines, one for ancient chinese and one for mordern chinese. It has some other tools like lexical catagory analysis and word frequency analysis which can be quite useful for annotated translation too. Its limitation: made by 教育部语言文字应用研究所计算语言学研究室, which means a high level of censorship, especially for the mordern chinese part. (Submitted by Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Another online dictionary/encyclopedia where you could find quite some well-explained philosophical items, and that includes a lots of terms related to Chinese intellectual history as well. The super cool thing about this dictionary is that you could search the chinese characters/words directly and it would returns a thorough explaination in english, which probably includes a long history of this item and lots of its representative people and events. EG. 法家. It really puts the item you search into if not the whole framework, at least a wider scope where this item is situated and explains the whole system to you. (EG. Search for Wang Yangming and you'd find items inlcuding "wangyangming" and "song-ming confucianism") Another advantage is that it directs you to its orginal resources, cited works as well as the way to contact the author of the article. Limitations: 1. Too much to read for a single item, especially if you were in a hurry - use Ctrl F! 2. Not developed for Chinese researches so the relevant item you could find here might be limited if it's too specific. 3. Certain returns can be random. (Submitted by Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • ChinaKnowledge, was found and edited by Dr. phil. Ulrich Theobald 田宇利, the Senior Lecturer of the Department of Chinese Studies of University of Tübingen, Germany. Found in 2000, this is an online encyclopedia that provides information on a wide range of topics in Chinese history, literature, art, religions, and philosophy. You can search in Chinese characters, Pinyin and English. It’s also friendly to people who are not able or not good enough to read Chinese. (submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • Lexicon of Confucianism 儒學詞典, an electronic lexicon of Confucian philosophy based on an ongoing manuscript of Professor Lao Sze-kwang of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. This dictionary provides explanation for texts, commentaries, personalities, and concepts of Confucianism in Chinese. (submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • Far East Chinese-English Dictionary 遠東漢英大辭典. 1993. Main editor Zhang Fangjie 張芳杰. Taibei: Yuandong. Originally edited by the famous prose writer and anglicist-lexicographer Liang Shiqiu 梁實秋 (1901–1987). Modern dictionary arranged by radicals, though it also has a stroke index in the beginning and Zhuyin/Pinyin charts at the end. Helpful to determine one or two authoritative English translations of Chinese characters and words. For researchers of Song-Ming discourse records (yulu 語錄) that at times show diglossic characteristics, this dictionary can be useful as long as their is no specialized, bilingual dictionary for Song-Yuang-Ming literary and colloquial Chinese yet. Guoyu huoyong cidian 國語活用辭典. 2008. Main editors Zhou He 周何 (1932–2003) and Qiu Dexiu 邱德修 (1948–2017). Taibei: Wunan. Modern Chinese dictionary, but entries include the graph in small seal script (xiaozhuan 小篆) and start with definition according to the “six classes” (Liushu 六書) from the Shuowen jiezi. Zhou and Qiu were professors of National Taiwan Normal University, so the definitions can be regarded officially sanctioned. Entries cover multiple meanings, cross-references, easy confusions or minor distinctions from similar words, and locus classicus (diangu 典故) for literary words. Wide range of lexicons due to print on bible paper. For example page click here. (submitted by Immanuel Spaar)
  • Robert E. Buswell Jr. and David S. Lopez Jr., eds. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014; Oxford Reference, online, 2017). The editors, R. Buswell at UCLA and D. Lopez at U-Mich, are two of the most prominent Buddhist scholars in North America. This dictionary they co-authored/edited is, as the PUP website suggests, "the most comprehensive dictionary of Buddhism ever produced in English" that contains "more than 5,000 entries totaling over a million words." Each entry usually starts with listing terms/names in different languages/traditions, mainly in Sanskrit, Pali, Tibetan, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean and sometimes in Thai, Burmese, Vietnamese, Lao, Khmer, Sinhalese, Newar, and Mongolian. For example, a recent figure I work on is shown in the dictionary as below "Daguan Zhenke. ( J. Takkan Shinka; K. Talgwan Chin’ga 達觀眞可‎) (1543–1603)", with its Japanese and Korean names/pronunciations; or dharma. ( P. dhamma; T. chos; C. fa; J. hō; K. pŏp 法‎). (submitted by Chien-Cho Chan)
  • Xiaoxuetang 小學堂. Xiaoxuetang is a dictionary platform created by the Department of Chinese Literature at National Taiwan University and Academia Sinica. The main function of this platform is to search characters, and users can do the searching through various clues including 字號, 字形, 部首, 筆畫, 部件, 國語注音, 漢語拼音, 中古聲調, 中古韻目, 中古字母, or 反切上古韻部. Most of time we know how many strokes or what 部件 a character has without knowing how to pronounce or type it, to which you can probably find an answer on Xiaoxuetang, which will direct you to other related online dictionaries compliled/ccreated by Taiwanese institutions, like 教育部異體字字典. For those who cannot find variants in other dictionaries, Xiaoxuetang might be a place to give another try. Besides characters in regular scripts, one can also look for characters in 甲骨文, 金文, 戰國文字, or 小篆 (the database is maintained by experts in Chinese paleography.)
  • Zhongguo xiangzheng cidian 中國象征辞典 (Dictionary of Chinese Symbols) (1991) According to Wilkinson, this dictionary contains 2900 symbols from both book knowledge and archeological findings. The dictionary provides illustrations and a 140 work bibliography. Arraged alphebetically by pinyin, but also indexed by stroke count. I have not consulted, but will pick it up and bring to class. (Submitted by Davin)
    • I know these aren't language necessarily but I thought a dictionary or encyclopedia of seals might be of intereted: Zhongguo lidai jiancangjia yinjian shujuku 中国历代鉴藏家印鉴数据库 (Database of Seals of Chinese paintings collectors) Dynasty list on the left hand side. When you click that you can scroll through the names. When you click on a name it pulls up an introduction to that person. At the bottom fo the screen you can click "请点击查看" and it will take you to a full list of the seals, how to read them, and a source. Here is an example of Huizong's seals. Drawback: if you don't know the owner of the seal the database would not be all that useful. Here is anther: Zhongguo jian canjia yinjian daquan 中国鉴藏家印鉴大全 (Encycloedia of Chinese Collectors Seals) ebook available through UBC library. It is arranged alphabetically by pinyin and stroke order. (Submitted by Davin)

Week 9: People

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  • Guoli zhongyang tushuguan 國立中央圖書館, comp. Mingren zhuanji ziliao suoyin 明人傳記資料索引. Taipei 臺北: Guoli zhongyang tushuguan 國立中央圖書館, 1978. This is a two-volume compendium of biographical information for noteworthy Ming individuals, and is perhaps one of the single most indispensable tools for conducting biographical research - regardless of whether one is studying politics, social history, fine arts, etc. The MZZS contains entries for approximately 10,000 people who lived during the Ming, and in each entry lists a number of sources in which biographical information can be found; an aggregate of roughly 600 primary sources were consulted in the compilation process (they are listed in the frontmatter of the print copy). Typically, an entry for a particular individual will contain a number of epitaphs (muzhiming 墓誌銘, mubiao 墓表), appreciations (xiangzan 像贊), records of conduct (xingzhuang 行狀), biographies (zhuan 傳), and other similar resources. Citations are provided for each text in which the data is found (usually an individual's collected works, or other noteworthy collectanea like the Guochao xianzheng lu 國朝獻征錄 and Mingshan cang 名山藏), in addition to a (usually shortened) sub-title of the record's title. For example: under the entry for Qiu Jun 邱濬 (js. 1454, 1421-1495), one will find some 29 works in which biographical information can be found: one is an epitaph entitled "Qiu gong muzhiming 邱公墓誌銘", which can be found in He Qiaoxin's 何喬新 (js. 1454, 1427-1502) collected works Jiaoqiu wenji 椒丘文集. The MZZS is of tremendous utility for Ming historians: rather than painstakingly combing through collected works and primary sources, often at random, or at least with little sense of direction, you can simply look up an individual in the text and find a number of texts with primary biographical data - it is convenient and reliable! But it does have its drawbacks: for instance, just because a particular source is listed in the volume does not mean that you will actually be able to access it (e.g. if the source is only available on microfilm at a different institution); as well, one must always be careful with biographical writing in the late imperial tradition, owing to the fact that writers often glossed over the less idyllic and rosy aspects of their subject's life. Fortunately, the UBC Asian Library is equipped with a copy of the 2-volume set in the reference section; as well, there is a text-searchable online version held in the Scripta Sinica database - using the work can thus be done remotely and more efficiently. The work is exceptionally rare, at least it seems, and is almost impossible to procure in the west in print copy, so the online copy is of even greater value. (Submitted by Aaron Throness)
  • L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds. Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368-1644. New York: Columbia University Press, 1976. The DMB remains a relevant and useful resource for the contemporary sinologist, despite its being published over four decades ago. 125 scholars from around the world, under the close editorial oversight of Goodrich and Fang, contributed over 600 biographical entries for individuals who lived during the Ming. While scholar-officials comprise the majority of the biographies in the DMB (making it highly useful for the historian of Ming politics), its coverage includes a surprisingly wide array of individuals from different social, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds. For instance, Mongol chieftains, Jesuit priests, and noteworthy Korean figures are included in addition to the roster of important Chinese figures one would expect to encounter. Moreover, the reader of the DMB will benefit greatly from the analytical nature of its biographies - rather than offering merely dry chronologies of Ming personages' lives (as in the sometimes useful but otherwise uncritical nianpu 年譜 genre), DMB authors often integrate their subjects' lives into broader historical and social developments, allowing the reader to situate individual lives in historical time and space and even in relation to the lives of other individuals. That being said, the user still needs to exercise caution when dealing with controversial personalities. The DMB is very much a product of its own time, and because of that, Confucian biases and the distortions of traditional Chinese historiographies have infiltrated some of the DMB's biographies: Charles O. Hucker's biography of the Wanli 萬曆 Emperor is most exemplary of this phenomenon, while other biographies of controversial personalities like the Jiajing 嘉靖 Emperor follow a distinctly 'praise-and-blame' (baobian 褒貶) format, with more emphasis on the blame than praise. But this is of course inconsistent - the biography of Yan Song 嚴嵩, a reviled figure from the Ming period, is unmistakably revisionist and even apologetic. For students and scholars who use the DMB, they should ensure to rigorously cross-reference DMB entries with more recent (revisionist) scholarship, if available. The UBC Asian Library has a reference copy of the DMB; there used to be an online edition available through Hathitrust during the throes of the pandemic, but it appears to have been taken down since campuses opened up again. The Asian Library staff are always glad to photocopy biographies, though! (Submitted by Aaron Throness)
  • An index of early Chinese painters and paintings : Tʻang, Sung, and Yüan by James Cahill (1980)
    • This work provides a chronological list of painters and their paintings from the Tan to the Yuan. The work lists known painters and their works first, followed by anonymous works divided by genre. Known painters are in alphabetical order following Wade-Giles conventions. For each artist Cahill provides first the family name, then the given name, the style name, and lastly sobriquet. Cahill provides the painter’s birthplace, birth date and death date where available, or active period. Cahill also provides the painters specialization, and brief biographical notes and bibliographic references. Next, Cahill provides a list of extant artworks, and where they are held. Each artwork marked with specific symbols to suggest the authenticity of the work. As Cahill notes, however, this his opinion and should not be taken as fact. I will bring in some examples from Cahill's work. Because of the age of the book, I would suggest this source is a good place to get basic biographical information, become familiar with the oeuvre a specific artist, and see where certain works are held, after which you could consult more recent scholarship. (Submitted by Davin)
  • Sung biographies: painters, edited by Herbert Francke (1976).
    • Contains 35 biographical entries of Song painters by prominent scholars. An extension of Franke's larger Sung Biographies project. The entries are much more detailed than Cahill's (though Cahill wrote several of the biographies in this editions), but do not provide a list of extant works. There are short notes at the end of each entry to point the reader to publications where works by the artist are discussed or reproduced. I will bring in examples of artist's I am workin on for my thesis.
  • 明遗民传记索引https://webcat.library.ubc.ca/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=957370 Edited by Xie Zhengguang谢正光
    • An Index of biographies of Ming remnants. Under each entry, most of the biographies in different local chronicles or personal recordings are listed, quite comprehensive. It just lists the biographies/recordings. No comments and other words.
    • I found it useful to use it to do comparative studies between different biographies/recordings of the same person. The nuances between texts or different perspectives always tells something--the relationship between the writer and the figure, the attitude of the writer, and then the validity of a piece of biography, etc., through which we could not only find a valid portray of the figure, but also sketch out some parts of the mental world of of people in the same period (or a bit later) through the biography writing. (Submitted by: Chen Chen)
  • Yang Tingfu 杨廷福 and 杨同甫 Yang Tongfu eds., Mingren shiming biecheng zi hao suoyin 明人室名别称字号索引，Shanghai: shanghai guji chubanshe, 2002. According to the preface, there are 50,000 entries in the index, including more than 23,000 Ming figures' study name 室名, further name 别称, courtesy name 字, and alternative name 号. All the entries are organized by the number of the first character of the term. There are two volumes. If readers only know one of the figure's alternative names, they may use the first volume (甲編) to figure out the figure's first and second names. After that, readers may use the second volume (乙編) to check the figure's native province (籍贯), other alternative names, and the sources of the information. Most primary sources are gazetteers, and the detailed edition information is listed in the appendix, which is helpful to locate the particular figure. (Submitted by Mengyuan Li)
  • L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang, eds. Mingdai Mingren Zhuan 明代名人传, re-eds. Xiaolin Li, Jinpeng Feng. Beijing: Shidai Huawen Chubanshe, 2015. It is a Chinese translated and annotated version of DMB (Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368-1644) published in 1976. This re-edition corrected some mistakes in the previous version, including "周家谟" should be "周嘉谟", and 《五经亿说》should be《五经臆说》, etc.（Rui Ding, to be continued）
  • Arthur W Hummel, Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644-1912) (United States G.P.O, 1943) (Also available as an e-book through here). This book, as the title suggests, covers the people active during the Qing dynasty, so Qing historians would find this source undoubtedly very beneficial. But this work is also actually useful for searching up late Ming people like Cheng Chih-lung / Zheng Zhilong 鄭芝龍, Ku Ying-t'ai / Gu Yingtai 谷應泰, Chu Kuo-chen / Zhu Guozhen 朱國楨 (who technically lived before the Qing reign, which is pretty cool), and Chu Yu-chien / Zhu Youjian 朱由檢 (better known as the Chongzhen 崇禎 emperor). Each entry is written by a prominent scholar at the time, including L. Carrington Goodrich, Fang Chao-Ying (both of whom are responsible for the creation and publication of the DMB), John K. Fairbank, Arthur Hummel (the author of this text) and many more). For each entry, the Chinese name, the courtesy and literary names (字 & 号), the birth and death years, place of origin, and brief description of their places of origin are provided. The entry would then continue to narrate the facts relevant to these figures in generally a chronological sense, and provide the relevant sources they produced or ones that share significant relations with them. The authors of those entries would then supplement their information with short bibliographies, providing the places where they obtained information on this person. There are just a few flaws. To find a name, one has to navigate through Wades-Giles system. As the title suggests, it is the "Eminent Chinese" that are selected in this collection, meaning smaller figures like Cao Lütai 曹履泰 (one of my focus in my study) are not featured. Lastly, there may be some typo errors involved if one looks careful enough. For instance, Zheng Zhilong was awarded the title "Earl of T'ung-an (Tong An)," but the Chinese transcription was turned into 同安伯 instead of the more widely known 同安侯. Nonetheless, this source is useful for not only useful consulting what the scholars of early twentieth century had to say about these late-Ming to Qing figures, but also developing a reading list according to one's interests. ---- Submitted by Calvin Lin.
  • Wu Yanxie 吳延燮, Ming du fu nian biao 明督撫年表 (Beijing: 中華書局 Zhong hua shu ju, 1982). This work tailors to a specific group of scholars who wish to understand the actions of dufu 督撫 (Referring to Governors-general (Zongdu 總督) and Governors (Xunfu 巡撫). Though these political offices existed since early Ming, their presence did not become a staple until after Jingtai 景泰 / mid-Ming) in the various districts (Liaodong, Shanxi, Ningxia, Fujian, Yunnan and Tianjin to name a few examples). For each area it lists, it provides an outline of the areas that the dufu holds jurisdiction over (without visuals - meaning one should consult this source with a Ming dynasty political map) and the related military positions that maintain regional order within the district. It follows a chronological order, with the years listed in both the emperors' reign years and the Gregorian calendar. It then supplies the name of the dufu (or the person equivalent to that rank), and uses sources like Ming Huidian 明會典, Ming Shilu 明實錄, and Wanli ding wei jin shi ti ming 萬曆丁未進士題名 to illustrate the actions, appointments, biographical introductions, movements and other relevant information related to said official and region. However, according to the editor Wei Lianke 魏連科, the citations from the primary documents are generally shortened to save space, so readers should be prepared to head back to the primary sources to read the extracted information in full length. Additionally, not all relevant information is supplemented: Xiong Wencan 熊文燦, a Governor in Fujian, was credited to have played a role in persuading Zheng Zhilong 鄭芝龍 to surrender himself to the Ming government, but this information is not mentioned in Wu's work. Still, it is a great source if one wishes to study a particular region's history and focus, at the top level, what the officials in charge had to contribute to the activities of the region - at least at a general, chronological order. This work is available electronically through Chinese Classic Ancient Books Database / 中華經典古籍庫 ---- Submitted by Calvin Lin.
  • Mhpeople 近现代人物资讯整合系统. A super helpful database under the Taiwan Sinica system. It collects a variety of data such as the name lists, biographies, official posts, archives, oral history, etc, in chinese, english and japanese. It begins from the middle Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China and claims that there are currently data of more than 133,000 people there. The search engine supports both traditional Chinese and Pinyin (You have to seperate the names totally by character). Its advanced research section allows us to do certain very interesting seaches such as finding all the women born in certain province. EG. Anhui women Apart from the search, you could also read the fulltext or catalog of cergtain biographical works or archives. (Submitted by Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • Ming Qing jinshi timing beilu suoyin 明清進士題名碑錄索引 [An index for recorded presented scholars in the Ming and Qing, with names and commemorative writings]. 1980. By Zhu Baojiong 朱保烱 and Xie Peilin 謝沛霖 (main editors). Shanghai: Shanghai Guji Chubanshe. Also reprints of other publishers. 3 vols. A reference work good to start once your research has identified one or more scholar-officials of interest to your subject matter. Naturally, this is all elite research. Readers can access information on the roster of presented scholars from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Because the ordering principle is strictly chronological, it is useful to identify in what “year group” your scholar-official “graduated.” Coming to Beijing for the exams meant that scholars hailing from all over China were to stay at the capital for several months. Important bonds were forged amongst the members of such year group, so it is of interest to know with whom a particular scholar might have affiliated. Once you dig into the biography of a particular scholar, you will probably realize that amongst his coterie, there are always scholars who took the exams in the same year as him. So, this index allows you to quickly access this information, but of course it is only one step of your work flow. At first this is only data that we need to interpret and contextualize. Entries include different names, short biographies in an official style, and there are other indexes for quick access (if I remember correctly). Hard copy available at UBC Asian Library. (submitted by Immanuel Spaar)
  • Lexikon der chinesischen Literatur. 2004. By Volker Klöpsch and Eva Müller (main editors). München: C. H. Beck. A handy reference work in German for Chinese literature. Entries include people, works, genres, and topics (in total around 400 entries). Written by German specialists. Entries are rather concise, and among the conventions is the virtue modeled upon the Indiana companion to traditional Chinese literature that not only translations but also reference to recent scholarship is included at the end of an entry. Naturally, such work is heavily constrained in its breadth, so be prepared to only find the crème de la crème of literati. Still, it is a good starting point, and as mentioned above by other classmates, conducting a quick comparison of biographical information can yield some interesting overlap or discrepancy. Not available at UBC library. (submitted by Immanuel Spaar)
  • Geschichte der chinesischen Literatur. 2002. By Wolfgang Kubin (main editor). München: Saur. 10 vols. An ambitious history of Chinese literature, edited under the auspices of the German sinologist Kubin, somehow a celebrity in China for his strong opinions on modern Chinese literature. In a way, it is complementary to the small work above, because Kubin’s history is broad in scope, dedicating every genre of Chinese literature the due attention it deserves. Of course, an aficionado of Tang poems, the volume on Chinese poetry is written by Kubin himself. It might not be too useful if your German reading ability is limited, but with the large index in volume 10 you should be able to find at least chunks of useful information (I am happy to have a quick look if it could be useful to you). For biographical research, volume 9 (Biographisches Handbuch chinesischer Schriftsteller: Leben und Werke, editey by Marc Hermann, Weiping Huang, Henriette Pleiger, and Thomas Zimmer) is a possible research tool. Available as hard copy at UBC Koerner library. (submitted by Immanuel Spaar)
  • Dictionary of Hong Kong Biography 香港歷史人物誌，was edited by May Holdsworth and Christopher Munn and published by Hong Kong University Press in 2011. It collects more than 500 men and women from Hong Kong history, including governors, admirals, film stars, taipans, writers, revolutionaries, etc. It also includes ordinary people who illustrate some aspect of Hong Kong history, gangsters, and scoundrels. (submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • Renming guifan ziliaoku 人名規範資料庫 (Buddhist Studies Person Authority Databases). This database is one subdatabase of Buddhist Studies Authority Database Project run by Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts 法鼓文理學院. Users can search by names, birth and death year, and other database-designed information. The searching by names is useful because the database contains as many as possible alternative names of Buddhist figures, so users can use style name or other alternative to find a figure. Another strength of this database is that it includes the master-disciple relationship, so that one can easily see which lineage the figure belongs to. Some related secondary researches are also included, mainly Chinese and Japanese (by far I haven't seen English ones). We can find a bibliography of the database here, which itself is pretty helpful as well. (Chien-Cho Chan)
  • Qing dai zhuan ji cong kan suo yin 周駿富編，《清代傳記叢刊索引》（臺北：明文書局，1986）This is an index to a full text collection of 150 biographical reference sources, covering 46,955 individuals living in the Qing dynasty. List of reference sources. There are three volumes of the index. The first volume is for search using courtesy, alternative or posthumous name of an individual. The remaining volumes are for search using family and given name. All names are arranged according to the first character stroke number. For footnoting purpose, it should be noted that the page numbers given in the index for each individual entry refer to the page number used in this collection. Sample. Both the index and full text collection are available in UBC Library. There is a Ming dynasty series compiled and published by the same compiler and publisher in 1991. (submitted by Sze Sze)

Week 10: Time, Place, and Institution

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  • Chen Yuan 陳垣. Ershishi shuorun biao 二十史朔閏表 (Tables for the First Day of Lunar Months and the Intercalary Months of the Twenty Dynastic Histories). Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company (中華書局), 1962. Originally published in 1926. it includes tables throughout for converting Chinese dates given in the official dynastic histories into modern western dates with reference to the old Roman calendar and Islamic calendar. Understanding the timetable may seems tricky at first, but it is very useful after measuring out how to look up. Still, we need to "calculate" on the historical date based on this book. Example（Rui Ding）
  • Zhang Dexin 張德信：Mingdai zhiguan nianbiao 明代職官年表 (Timeline of Ming Government Officials). Four volumes. Hefei：Huangshan shushe 黃山書社, 2009. Volume 1: officials in Beijing (Cabinet 內閣, Ministries 六部, Censorate 都察院). Volume 2: Supervising Secretary 六科給事中 and Nanjing officials. Volume 3: Military Officials. Volume 4: Regional Officials. Example（Rui Ding）
  • Wang Tianyou 王天有. Mingdai guojia jigou yanjiu 明代國家機構研究. Beijing 北京: Gugong chubanshe 故宮出版社, 2014. Wang Tianyou was one of the foremost contributors to Ming political history in the People's Republic; he authored a number of short but important essays, for instance, on the Jingtai 景泰 Emperor's suspicious death in 1457 in addition to the Duomen Incident 奪門之變, which brought Jingtai's elder half-brother to power that same year. This particular work is a consummate descriptive overview of the political institutions that sustained the Ming in both central and local contexts. As concerns the central court, Wang examines the strengthening of imperial autocracy during the Ming as well as important civil, military, and censorial organs of the court. He also studies, albeit with less detail and coverage, the instruments of local governance in Ming China, including even the operations of princely estates 王府. For researchers who want to acquire a descriptive and substantive understanding of how Ming institutions functioned, Wang's work is indispensable and fairly rich in detail. Also praiseworthy is the general lack of Marxist and other ideologically-related distortions that so often blemish Chinese scholarship on Ming China. Nevertheless, in my own view at least, Wang's work still suffers from some issues. For instance, the work relies overwhelmingly on a small number of Ming-era (e.g. Ming shilu 明實錄) and Qing-era primary sources (e.g. Mingshi 明史), and it is not clear to me the extent to which Wang engaged meaningfully with secondary scholarship in Chinese or other languages; in a review of Wang's text, Uwe Frankenhauser explicitly notes that Wang failed to cite or even mention a single western work. As well, if I may be very picky for a moment, Wang's work is on at least one occasion tarnished by the infiltration of 20th/21st century ethnic politics, which have consistently attempted to paint a teleological, anachronistic, and Marxist-esque picture of unified, national ethnic harmony ("明朝...對我國家的統一和多民族國家的發展有着重要意義" p. 268). Wang forces Ming history in this context at least to bow to the mandate of ethnic politics (although, as mentioned earlier, the work overall is fortunately apolitical). The volume's abysmal mechanics also must be addressed: there is no bibliography and no index, making the volume somewhat difficult to use for either further reading or in-text searching. As concerns accessibility, there is a copy available in the UBC Asian Library. In spite of its problems, the volume is still a valuable descriptive overview of Ming institutions. (Submitted by Aaron Throness)
  • Academia Sinica 中央研究院. Liangqian nian Zhong Xi li zhuanhuan 兩千年中西曆轉換. Academia Sinica offers with this resource a highly convenient online tool for converting lunar Chinese dates into Western dates (and vice versa); any particular date 11 February 0 to 29 January 2101 can be converted with ease. It can also reconcile intercalary months (run 閏), which makes the tool all the more useful and precise. Scripta Sinica's conversion system is, of course, only as useful as the data that the researcher has on hand: often, one will find themselves with only a year, or only a year and a month. Or, even more discouragingly, some sources will record time using ambiguous reign title markers (like Tianshun chu 天順初, or 'early in the Tianshun era'). The conversion system will be of little use in these contexts, given that a precise date cannot be generated from imprecise source data; nevertheless, it can still generate approximate date ranges: for instance, if you input the reigning dynasty, the reign era, the emperor, and the year and month, the conversion system will give you an approximate month-long range. Overall, this is a very useful resource - and far easier to use than Keith Hazelton's exhaustive yet cumbersome A Synchronic Chinese-Western Daily Calendar 1341-1661 A.D. (Minneapolis: Ming Studies, 1985). (Submitted by Aaron Throness)
  • Tan Qixiang 谭其骧, Zhongguo lishi dituji 中国历史地图集, Beijing: Zhongguo ditu chubanshe, 1982. This is one of the most authoritative historical atlases published by modern scholars. There are eight volumes in total, which are organized in chronological order: (1) pre-Qin (2) Qin-Han (3) Wei-Jin (4) The Northern and Southern Dynasties (5) Sui-Tang- Five Dynasties (6) Song-Liao-Jin (7) Yuan-Ming (8) Qing. At the beginning of each volume, the compiling principles (bianli 编例) illustrate each map's scope, time, and scale and also introduce some important local institutions in the particular dynasty. For each period, there are general maps (quantu 全图) and followed by province maps (fensheng tu 分省图). The appendix is the geographical name index, which can help locate a certain place in the atlas. (Submitted by Mengyuan Li)
  • Shen Qiwei 沈起炜, Zhongguo li shi da shi nian biao gu dai juan 中国历史大事年表·古代卷 (Shanghai: Shanghai ci shu chu ban she 上海辞书出版社, 2001): This source, presented to readers in simplified Chinese characters, acts as a chronology of events that occurred in Chinese history. To be more specific, Shen's work is published in three volumes: Volume 1 (the text hyperlinked here) covers the years from the ancient past to 1839 (ancient 古代), volume 2 January 1940 to May 1919 (near-modern 近代), and volume 3 May 4 1919 to the year 1994 (modern 现代). Volume 1 is the best for scholars on pre-Qing dynasties (Qing scholars can also use this source, but again, up until 1839). In this text, the entries follow this format: In the first line, there is the year in A.D. / Gregorian calendar form, the year represented in its sexangery cycle 干支, and the reign year(s) that are applicable to that year (so 1629, for instance, would have its reign years in both 崇祯 and 后金). The compiler then provides a list of important events that happened during that year in chronological order in a paragraph format. When names of famous figures are mentioned, their birth and death years are included, as well as a short biographical introduction and relevant works they published (mini-biographies, if you will). An index is provided at the back of the book for readers to have an easier time to search for these mentioned, famous figures. The events that the compiler included are actually quite extensive, as it was, as a case example, able to record a riot that took place in Linqing 临清, 1597, when its locals expressed their discontent through physical violence against the tax eunuch 馬堂 at that place. That being said, the compiler does not mention where he obtained these pieces of information to create these entries, so that can be considered as a flaw (I am speculating that the Twenty Four Histories 二十四史 is the main source(s) of information). Additionally, one might argue that the absence of contemporary global events is also a disadvantage of this book. Still, it is a good text to have if you want a rough understanding of the chronology of Chinese historical events. (Submitted by Calvin Lin)
  • Wang Ziqiang 王自强, Ming dai yu tu zong lu 明代輿圖綜錄 (Beijing: Xingqiu di tu chu ban she 星球地圖出版社, 2007). For Ming historians who wish to get their hands on ancient maps or dive into the field of cartography, these six volumes are I believe quite essential, for they contain maps carrying significance in Ming politics, military, and transportation and so on. The first half of volume 1 acts, in some ways, like a source guide, as it provides contextual introduction to the atlases produced during the Ming dynasty - the name of the map (Kun yu wan guo quan tu 坤輿萬國全圖 / Da ming yi tong zhi jiu shi juan 大明一統志九十卷), the people responsible for its creation (Matteo Ricci / Li Xian 李賢 Wan An 萬安), the edition introduced in this collection (1602 Li Zhizao 李之藻 inscribed / 1461 Palace Treasury copy), relevant biographies of the creators, the maps included in the atlas, and sometimes its current state. The atlases contained in this section can be broken into the following categories: World maps; Chinese general maps; defenses along the coasts, rivers and borders; and regional maps. At the end of this section, a short bibliography (7 sources, to be exact) is listed to demonstrate where the compiler obtained the information. Following this section, the maps contained in four sources are revealed in great details: Tu shu bian 圖書編 from Zhang Huang 章潢 (the compilation was finalized in 1577); Guang yu tu 廣輿圖 from Luo Hongxian 羅洪先 (reprinted by Zhangxuelian 章學濂 in 1797, but Luo's edition was first available in 1579); Huang ming zhi fang di tu 皇明職方地圖 from Chen Zushou 陳祖綬 (Chongzhen edition); and Di tu zong yao 地圖綜要 from 吳學儼 (1645, LangRunTang 朗潤堂 edition). There are a few typos here and there, like saying the 21st year of Wanli is in 1539 instead of 1593, but these small errors do not affect the benefits of this collection in informing scholars the political values of the Ming literati and how these Ming cartographers situated themselves in the world through their cartography. (Submitted by Calvin Lin)
  • Guancanghai 观沧海（发现中国） A free public website opened and operated by volunteers to provide all kinds of maps and share relevant knowledges. It has several different sections. On the professional and academical side, it has the main chinese historical maps collection based on Tan Qixiang's Zhongguo lishi dituji 中国历史地图集, which allows you to do the basically map reading. (In such case I'd recommend you to use another private website which doesn't really has a name tho) Good thing about this website is that you could search for any modern location to see where it was on the certain period of time and what was its name at that time. You could also change the base map and filter map as much as you want according to your need. EG. Compare the territory and administrative division of Song period and Qing period. It also has a section called Chinese Old Maps 中国古旧地图 which inlcudes lots of nice non-interactive old maps of good quality. EG. 1918 Shanghai Map in english. On the other side it is also an internet forum where the people interested in history, GIS technology or maps exchange their experience and knowledge together, so you could trace most of the maps and resources to the real people behind it as well as suggesting them to make certain changes or even ask their help to make a specific map that is relevant to your need. It can also be quite entertaining at times. EG. Jinyong map. Limitation: It takes a while for me to explore how to use this map, and it seems like some of the maps are not as good as they claimed. In such cases, use the Osgeo it linked to as a comlimentary resource. (Submitted by Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • Digital Atlas 數位方與 A more academical oriented website for chinese historical maps opened and maintained by the all-mighty Taiwan Sinica. It provides a certain amount(which means not too much) annotated maps that are mostly in surprisingly good quality. (Submitted by Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • 中国历代纪元表 A weird wesite that I came into randomly and find it surprisingly informational. According to my limited research and knowledge, this site is a personal website of professor Guo Gang 郭刚 who is teaching in the Department of Political Science of The University of Mississippi. It contains the Nianhao 年号 of each emperor and its corresponding year in sexagenary cycle 干支纪年法 as well as certain events or maps. I won't say it's of great authority, but it can be useful for beginners for quick infos. Also I find the idea inspiring that we should probably make our own timeline of certain period, containing relevant events and resources and include it in the guide & share it with researchers of this field. (Submitted by Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • Hong Kong Historic Maps. This website is dedicated to the discovery and display of historic maps of Hong Kong to track the changes and development in the infrastructure. This site provides a collection of these maps along with overlays of key features and the comparison with modern mapping. Many of the maps were produced for the UK Government prior to June, 1997. (Submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • Hong Kong Map Collection. The website was developed by Hong Kong Public Libraries. This collection focuses on the early maps of Hong Kong since the 19th century, including maps of the whole territory, district plans, street maps, geological maps, topographic maps, street naming plans and other thematic maps. Collecting more than 300 maps, it greatly facilitates researches on the boundary history, landscape changes, district development and street names in Hong Kong. (Submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • Mingdai zhishiejie jiangxue huodong xinian 1522-1602 (A chronology of the lecturing activities amongst intellectuals in Ming China) 明代知識界講學活動系年1522-1602. 2003. By Wu Zhen 吳震. Shanghai: Xuelin Chubanshe. This book is interesting if you study Confucian philosophy of the Ming dynasty, but more in regards to the social lives of the Neo-Confucians. It is a research guide due to the chronological organization of its material (you can look up what happened in a certain year). Wu has culled data from the collected writings of literati, snippets of texts that are reproduced throughout the entries. This data most often concerns what a certain philosopher has done during a year, for example where he traveled, where he stayed, whom he met, what infrastructure he built, what he wrote. Because the reader will encounter the who is who of Ming Confucians, the effect of perusing a string of entries year by year gives you an understanding of how people at the high-end spectrum of society (with plenty of leisure time) spent their lives. Wu Zhen has also published specialized books on philosophy and thinkers of this period, so in some entries his comments or further observations are introduced after an 案. In conclusion, this is a collection of manifold original sources (each entry displays the name of the source, the original text, and the pages; so it becomes traceable for you) that places persons into a referential frame defined by time and place. It can help you when you want to clarify the actions of a thinker (the aspects of his works “beyond” the text, the “public” life of a thinker). Example of a random page; available at the Asian Library. (submitted by Immanuel Spaar)
  • I was unable to find a single source which explained the titles/institutional status or painters and artisans, so I have posted a few different sources which could be consulted to get a good contextual grasp after which one could consult a more canonical sources such as official histories etc.
    • Ho, Wai-kam, ed. Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio : Bloomington, Ind: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press ; Distributed by Indiana University Press, 1980.
      • Discusses the difference between Hanlin painters and Hanlin academicians and the basic stucture of the Hanlin Painting Bureau and some changes over the course of the Song.
    • Jang, Ju-yu Scarlett. “Issues of Public Service in the Themes of Chinese Court Painting.” Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1989.
      • Jang provides a good overview of the status of painters from the Tang to the Ming. The section of the Yuan is based on another dissertation which focuses solely on Yuan painting --> WEIDNER, MARSHA SMITH. “Painting and Patronage at the Mongol Court of China, 1260-1368.” Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley. Accessed November 8, 2021.
    • Liu, Heping. “Painting and Commerce in Northern Song Dynasty China, 960-1126.” Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1997.
      • discusses the distinction between professional court painters and artisans
    • Ebrey, Patricia. “Court Painting.” In A Companion to Chinese Art, 27–46. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2015. See also Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. Accumulating Culture: The Collections of Emperor Huizong. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008. For a discussion of the make up of the Imperial Library which houses the Imperial Collections at Northern Song court (i.e., the ranks of officials who worked there)
    • Pang, Huiping. “Southern Song Freelance Painters (1127–1279): Commerce Between the Imperial Court and the Lin’an Art Market.” Journal of Chinese History 中國歷史學刊 5, no. 1 (2021): 23–58.
      • discusses the shift on the Southern Song to a less centralized Painting academy (Submitted by Davin)
  • Dushi fangyu jiyao 讀史方輿紀要 by Gu Zhuyu 顧祖禹 (1631-1692) An empire-wide geographical text compiled during the Ming-Qing transition period. The book laid out the topography of the empire with military concerns in mind. The author arranged his reflections and the geographical information into three main sections: 1) dynastic-based (from the Three Dynasty to the Song) 2) “provincial”-based 3) maps. Wilkinson quoted Qian Mu that the Japanese consulted this book carefully in their campaigns in China. There is an index Dushi fangyu jiyao suoyin: zhongguo lidai diming yaolan 讀史方輿紀要索引: 中國歷代地名要覧 compiled by Aoyama Sadao. With the index, it makes finding information of a particular locale in this book convenient. Sample. ( Submitted by Sze Sze)

Week 11: Recent Scholarship, Top Journals

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  • Journal of Song-Yuan Studies
    • Most recent issue: 50th anniversary issue which has a number of interesting features. First, they reprinted (and re-type set from Wade-Giles to pinyin where appropriate) six influential articles published in the journal’s 50-year history and commissioned a major scholar to write an appreciated of each article’s impact. The 50th anniversary volume also includes three new research articles, two research notes, a bibliographic essay, and several book reviews. The reprinted articles, the book reviews, and new articles all discuss a variety of topics on material culture, textual history, painting, history, and religious studies, which reflects the mandate of the journal as a whole. The current issue was the last for editor Ari Daniel Levine, so it will be interesting to see what the new editor brings to the table and how the journal’s content may shift. Overall, issues seem to be grouped around a theme or conference proceedings which is explained in editorial notes. For example, see Volume 48, 2019 editorial note.
  • Archives of Asian Art
    • According for the journal’s mandate, the Archives of Asian Art publishes two volumes each year with articles related to art and architecture from across Asian which consider both contemporary and pre-modern content. Each fall issue also publishes a list of recent acquisitions of Asia art by major collections and museums. The journal is published by the Asia Society. The current editor in Chief is Patricia Berger, Professor Emerita of Chinese Art at UC Berkeley, whose expertise was in Qing dynasty art. Because the mandate covers a massive temporal range, the content for Middle Period art and visual culture is less frequent than the Journal for Song-Yuan Studies, but the broad temporal range has the benefit of diversity. The issues are not put together around specific themes, making each issue unique in its scope and content.
  • National Palace Museum Monthly of Chinese Art 故宮文物月刊 and National Palace Museum Research Quarterly 故宮學術季刊
    • The National Palace Museum Monthly (also at the NPM link) began in 1983. The topis vary by issue but can include painting, cultural relics, conservation, exhibtion design, curatorial pratcies etc. The articles are based on the collection at the NPM. The website had the issues from 2021-2011. You most recent downloadable issue is 2020-09, so I think there must be a 1 year embargo on downloads for the Monthly magazine. Except for the two most recent issues, the articles have abstracts.
    • The Research Quaterly is a successor to the NPM Quarterly (1966-1983) and collectes 151 issues and 733 articles and idssertations from 1983 to the present. At the link provided you can read abstracts (from 2004 until the 2020 issue -- issues before 2004 just provide titles and authors) and download articles from most issues (like the abstracts, downloadabl articles being in 2004 and go until the 2020 issue i.e., the newest issue is not yet downloadable). The emphasis is on historical relics, art history, archeological studies and museology.(Submitted by Davin)
  • Journal of Chinese Religions
    • The journal claims itself as "the longest-standing journal in the field of Chinese religions" (from 1973) and publishes twice a year (May and November) since 2013 under the auspices of the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions. Articles published in this journal are of various 1) topics, Buddhism, Daoism, popular religions, Christianity, Islam, or also Confucianism, 2) time frames, modern and premodern, 3) methodologies, history, anthropology, religious studies, sociology, literature, etc, and geographical location, take the latest issue for example, China, Austria, and Taiwan. Philip Clart at Leipzig University, Germany serves as the current editor (according to many acknowledgements I read, he is quite helpful in the submitting & revising process). (Submitted by Chien-Cho)
  • Studies in Chinese Religions (published by Routledge, UK)
    • Launching from 2014, this journal published its first volume in 2015 under the auspices of and funded by the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The journal publish four issues a year and normally each issue includes 3-5 articles (most article are about 20 pages while the journal sets "no more than 50 pages" as its limit). Although it is a relatively new journal, the advisory and editorial boards includes the most prominent scholars in Buddhism, Daoism, Confucianism, folk religions, etc., half of which are in China and others base in the US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, HK, Taiwan, and for sure Japan. Xiaoyun Zheng 郑筱筠 at the CASS serves as the editor-in-chief and Prof. Jinhua Chen also serves as one of associate editors. That the latest issue includes an article discussing two Japanese monks Kukai and Saicho also suggests that the scope of the journal is wider than geographical sense of "Chinese religions". (Submitted by Chien-Cho)
  • Philosophy East and West: A Quartely of Comparative Philosophy. Current editor Franklin Perkins, University of Hawaii at Manoa. An academic journal for research papers on philosophical traditions beyond the West, especially China and India. The papers range from more “traditional” approaches, like textual studies of entire works or certain passages; to more “eclectic” approaches, in which the author engages dialogue across many philosophers (e.g., what has the 20th century female philosopher Hannah Arendt that could help us read the differences between Mengzi and Xunzi). The journal also includes book reviews and “meta-discussions,” when a paper and a response to the paper are printed. (Submitted by Immanuel)
  • Journal of Ming Studies明代研究. Taiwan-based biyearly journal, published by The Association of Ming Studies 中國明代研究學會. Gathers research papers on all aspects of Ming dynasty in Chinese language. From time to time, the editors set a larger research field for one entire issue (e.g. Ming China and Korea). Includes book reviews and yearly bibliographies of Ming research in Taiwan (doctoral and Master dissertations). This is convenient to keep track on topics that enter the research field “bottom up.” Also publishes conventional bibliographies of current Ming research, undertaken in and beyond Taiwan. (Submitted by Immanuel)
  • Global Intellectual History. This journal was founded in 2016 and focuses on intellectual history studies within the global world. It published one volume each year with three to five issues, and each issue includes articles, review articles, and book reviews. All the published articles are not organized chronologically in different issues, but the "latest articles" part manifests the most recent research. Some issues have a topic. For example, issue 1 in volume 6, published in 2021, is about “Interdisciplinarity and Methodological Pluralism: The Practice of Intellectual History and Conceptual History," and issue 2 is a special issue on "James Poskett's Materials of the Mind." Readers may feel a bit overwhelmed since the journal "encourages submissions that cross disciplinary boundaries, that are comparative and transnational, that are concerned with long-term ideological movements and significant turning points in the history of ideas, with the relationship between nations and cultures and continents, and from ancient to modern times." However, the perspective it provides is illuminating for considering the role of Chinese intellectual history in the world. (Submitted by Mengyuan Li)
  • 思想史 Intellectual History: The first volume was published in 2013 and contributed by leading intellectual historians from different fields worldwide. Each volume comprises several research articles and a "forum" 论坛 with a particular topic. The latest volume 10 was published in November 2021, and the umbrella topic is “political thought and action in modern world” 近代政治思想与行动. (Submitted by Mengyuan Li)
  • 中国人民大学复印报刊资料 CSSE: This database comprises three main sub-databases: Full-text Database (From 1995 to the present), Digest Database (From 1993 to the present), and Index Database (From 1978 to the present). The content in the full-text database is selected by editors and experts from around 4,000 kinds of newspapers and journals in mainland China. Accepted articles are organized and edited by experts and scholars from related fields, keeping the database top quality. The Digest Database does not provide full-text, but it manifests the main arguments and essential materials of each accepted article. If readers are looking for research published before 1995, the Index Database would be a helpful tool to locate the physical material in the library. The "Monographic Studies" part is based on the Full-text Database, but all the articles are reorganized under a certain topic, which is helpful to know about the trends in the particular field. (Submitted by Mengyuan Li)
  • Ming Studies 明史研究. Founded in 1975 by the foundational Ming scholar Edward L. Farmer, Ming Studies is a biannual periodical featuring English-language scholarship on all aspects of Ming history; it is indeed a go-to platform for any and every scholar in the field. The journal accepts and publishes scholarship from a wide gamut of sub-fields and disciplines within the umbrella of Ming history, including art history, political history, military history, legal history, and the list could go on. Suffice it to say here that most scholars will find a number of articles that appeal to and benefit their research specializations. In each issue of Ming Studies, a number of different pieces are published: a preamble of sorts introducing the volume and assessing the state of the journal; typically two research essays approximately 25-30 pages in length; interviews with prominent Ming scholars (Craig Clunas was recently featured!); book reviews (our very own Aaron Molnar recently published a review essay with Ming Studies); and an article on Ming News detailing events, conferences, and other noteworthy items that scholars in the field might be interested in knowing. All this being said, the journal is not only cross-disciplinary, but also demonstrates active global engagement with developments in the field. It is an indispensable resource for every Ming student and scholar. It should also be mentioned that the journal accepts graduate scholarship - I had an essay published in the spring 2021 volume! (Submitted by Aaron Throness)
  • T'oung Pao 通報. This particular journal remains one of the most prominent in the field of Chinese history more broadly - it was founded in 1890 and is published in six issues annually. Like Ming Studies above, T'oung Pao features interdisciplinary scholarship covering a broad spectrum of subjects and in various different time periods in China's history. Essays tend to be much longer and more thoroughly-developed in this journal, and thus is of especial utility for the researcher looking for exhaustive scholarship. It should be mentioned that the general lack of disciplinary consistency and openness to the expanse of Chinese history render T'oung Pao less useful for the researcher looking for a centralized hub tailored to their own discipline. Nevertheless, it is still highly recommended! (Submitted by Aaron Throness)
  • 東洋史研究 (The Journal of Oriental Researches) is founded by The Society of Oriental Research (東洋史研究会), Kyoto University, since 1935. It is one of the most famous periodical in Asian history (except Japanese history) and in Japanese (with abstract in English), and publishes in four issues annually (March, June, September, and December). Previous issues and articles are accessible through their website. (Rui Ding)
  • 東洋学報 (The Journal Of The Research Department Of Toyo Bunko) is a quarterly issued by Toyo Bunko (There are other periodicals published by this institute, see Toyo Bunko Repository). Both 東洋史研究 and 東洋学報 contains research papers related to historical studies related to historical studies of Asia, but both two pay more attention to East Asian history. (Rui Ding)
  • The Journal of International Migration and Integration. Published once a quarter, the Journal of International Migration and Integration (JIMI) is a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed scholarly journal that publishes original research papers and policy discussions. The aim of this journal is to enhance the understanding of immigration, settlement, and integration to contribute to policy development. The subject areas covered by this journal include adaptation strategies of immigrants; labor market integration; racial and gender variations in migration; the role of social work in the integration of new citizens; and retention of ethnic and older national identities in new environments. (Submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • The Journal of Chinese Overseas. Published twice a year by the Chinese Heritage Centre of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Brill, this is a cross-disciplinary journal dedicated to promoting the study of Chinese overseas. Under the auspices of the International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas,this journal publishes research articles, empirical reports, theoretical essays, and book reviews on topics and issues relevant to Chinese overseas and their communities throughout the world. It also examines “Chineseness” in its many forms and diverse settings and contributes to diaspora studies, transnational studies, and research on people of Chinese descent and their communities in specific national settings. (Submitted by Jingyi Wu)
  • Modern China (MCX) An important journal regarding history and/or social sciences on late-imperial, twentieth-century, and present-day China. It is published bi-monthly for over 30 years. It pays attention to the multi-disciplinary studies regarding the modern China and tries to crosses over the old "premodern/modern" and "modern/contemporary" divides to regard China as a whole field for social and historial researches. Its most recent issues pay attention to the political shpere of modern and contemporary china and posts certain critics and reflection on CCP policies. (Submitted by Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • Journal of Modern Chinese History. This journal is published twice a year to talk about historical topics in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It aims to promote research on modern Chinese history by advancing discussion of political, economic, intellectual, cultural, and military history. It claims that the main force for research into modern Chinese history has been Chinese scholars, but they don't have a Western outlet for their scholarship. Issued by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, This periodical seeks to re-dress this with its international publication by providing a platform for Chinese and foreign scholars to exchange ideas directly. Its current issue has several topics about the pandemic and other social hospots but also includes regular researches like local history. (Submitted by Zoe Yuhe Zhang)
  • Late Imperial China.
    • It is currently a biannual journal published by the Society for Qing Studies, Johns Hopkins University. It started as a bulletin of the Society Ch’ing Studies––Ch’ing shih wen-t’i 清史問題 after the Society was founded in 1965. It was later renamed as Late Imperial China in 1985. The change was made to reach out to wider audience beyond the Qing-specialists and to propose a more organic periodization of Chinese history. While it calls for article contributions concerning China’s Ming and Qing dynasties, the issues in the last decade featured predominantly studies of the Qing period. Nonetheless, it is a useful journal to go to in keeping abreast of the scholarship on late imperial China. (Submitted by Sze Sze)
  • Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies.
    • This is a biannual journal published under the auspice of the Harvard-Yenching Institute since 1936. In general, it features works concerning East and Inner Asia. For the last ten years, the journal is mainly divided into three sections: original research articles, review essays and book reviews. In addition, the journal is also informative and interesting as it dedicates space for cover page introduction since 2015. The cover page features East and Inner Asian artworks from the collections of the Harvard Art Museums and the Harvard-Yenching Library. (Submitted by Sze Sze)
  • Ming Qing Yanjiu: This periodical is founded in 1992 and, as the name suggests, focuses on topics that are related to Ming and Qing dynasties and Ming-Qing transition period (there are occassionally some topics related to the Song and Yuan dynasties). It publishes annually, and topics range from art, literature, politics, and of course history, with varying lengths in the articles. As it is a journal based in University of Naples in Italy, some of its early issues feature Italian texts, but the more recent ones are written in English. One difficulty: UBC does not have access to this journal, so one can only look at the table of contents of each issue to get a sense of what topics were discussed (but not necessarily their arguments) and some of the free samples they have out until December 31st 2021. (Submitted by Calvin Lin)
  • Chinese Literature Essays Articles Reviews https://clear.wisc.edu
    • Started in 1979. Published annually with both articles and review essays.
    • It is useful to use this journal as an indicator of new trends in the research of Classical Chinese literature. Recent academic focus on gender, sentiment and material culture is noticeable in articles in this journal.
    • Library has access until 2017 volume. Further subscription is needed. (Submitted by Chen Chen)
  • Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture https://www.dukeupress.edu/journal-of-chinese-literature-and-culture
    • Two issues annually.
    • Each volume has a topic. You can choose a specific volume on your research focus to read.
    • Academic trends is shown more clearly as it has provided a specific topic in each volume. (Submitted by Chen Chen)

Week 12: Topic to be determined

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Week 13: Presentations

Week 14: Presentations

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