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Chinese Studies: Books

Group of hanging red Chinese lanterns

The University of Manchester Library is home to a significant collection of books for Chinese Studies.

E-book Spotlight

Front cover of 1368 : China and the making of the modern world

1368 : China and the making of the modern world

With the goal of understanding China's future in a changing international landscape, this book offers a new picture of China's rise since the Age of Exploration and its historical impact on the modern world. The establishment of the Great Ming dynasty in 1368 was a monumental event in world history. A century before Columbus, Beijing sent a series of diplomatic missions across the South China Sea and Indian Ocean that paved the way for China's first modern global era. In 1368, Ali Humayun Akhtar maps China's ascendance from the embassies of Admiral Zheng He to the arrival of European mariners and the shock of the Opium Wars. In Akhtar's new picture of world history, China's current rise evokes an earlier epoch, one that sheds light on where Beijing is heading today. Spectacular accounts in Persian and Ottoman Turkish describe palaces of silk and jade in Beijing's Forbidden City. Malay legends recount stories of Chinese princesses in Melaka with gifts of porcelain and gold. During Europe's Age of Exploration, Iberian mariners charted new passages to China that the Dutch and British East India Companies transformed into lucrative tea routes. Among the ships' passengers were Italian Jesuits, whose linguistic skills facilitated book projects with local mapmakers and botanists published in Amsterdam. But there was a shift during the British Industrial Revolution, one that pointed to Europe's high-tech future. Across the British Empire, the rise of steam engines and factories allowed the export of the very commodities once imported from China. By the end of the Opium Wars and the arrival of Commodore Perry in Japan, Chinese and Japanese reformers called for their own industrial revolutions, one that would accelerate in the twentieth century. What has the world learned from China since the Ming, and how did China reemerge in the 1970s as a manufacturing superpower? Akhtar's book provides much-needed context for understanding China's rise today and the future of its connections with the West and a resurgent Asia (Provided by Publisher).

This title was acquired through the Library's Order a Book service.

Locating and borrowing books

You can use Library Search to search for both print and eBooks as well as a range of other resources including articles, journals, and databases.

Guide to printed collections

The Library uses the Dewey Decimal Classification scheme (Dewey for short) to arrange books and other resources on the shelves so you can locate them easily.

The vast majority of books relating to Chinese Studies and related subjects can be found in the Main Library.

The main East Asian Collection is located on Purple Area Floor 2 in the Main Library. The collection includes all Chinese and Japanese script materials in all subjects within the library plus the English language materials relating to Chinese Language and Literature. 

All the other English materials about Japan and China will be distributed into other subject areas. For example, Chinese history will be distributed into the history section; Japanese politics will be found within the politics section etc.

 

Subject Areas Classmark(s) Location
Languages of East and Southeast Asia 495 (specifically 495.1 - Chinese)

Main Library - East Asian Collection - Purple Area - Floor 2

Literatures of East and Southeast Asia 895 (specifically 895.1 – Chinese literature) Main Library - East Asian Collection - Purple Area - Floor 2
Pictorial material demonstrating Chinese and Japanese art and culture Classification No. begins with 375.495)

Main Library - East Asian Collection - Purple Area - Floor 2

History of Asia 950

Main Library - Blue Area - Floor 3

(History of) China and adjacent areas 951 Main Library - Blue Area - Floor 3
History of ancient world (China) 931

 

Main Library - Blue Area - Floor 3

Philosophy and theory of history 901 (specifically 901.51) Main Library - Blue Area - Floor 3
International migration and colonization 325 (specifically: 325.251) Main Library - Blue Area - Floor 2
Social situation and conditions 309 (specifically 309.51 - China) Main Library - Blue Area - Floor 2
General management (Business) 658

Main Library - Blue Area - Floor 3

The arts 709 (specifically 709.51 - Chinese art)

Main Library - Blue Area - Floor 4

More information: Locating books on shelves

For help with finding your way around the Main Library, please use our new Interactive Map.

Course reading lists

You can access your course reading lists in Blackboard: 

Access your Reading Lists

Reading Lists

E-book collections

The Library provides access to numerous e-book collections that host many titles relating to Chinese Studies and related subjects. Follow this link to browse different collections you can explore to find e-books relating to your studies. 

E-book collections

E-book collections

Order a Book

If the Library doesn't already hold a copy of the book you need, fill in the Order a Book form and we will get it for you.

University staff should use the Order a Book (Staff) form.

Order a Book

Theses and dissertations

Theses can be a valuable source of information for your research and are very useful points of reference for when you come to write your own thesis.

For detailed information on how to access theses from the University of Manchester, and from other universities in the UK and internationally, please visit our Theses Library Guide

 

Theses

 

 

Doctoral/Research Theses

  • Electronic versions of many open-access University of Manchester research theses, submitted from the 2010 session onwards, are available on Research Explorer, the University of Manchester’s research database.

 

Theses from other UK/International Institutions

  • ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global (PQDT Global)

    A searchable and browsable database of dissertations and theses from around the world, spanning from 1743 to the present day. It also offers full text for graduate works added since 1997, along with selected full text for works written prior to 1997. It contains a significant amount of new international dissertations and theses both in citations and in full text. Designated as an official offsite repository for the U.S. Library of Congress, PQDT Global offers comprehensive historic and ongoing coverage for North American works and significant and growing international coverage from a multiyear program of expanding partnerships with international universities and national associations.

Creative Commons Licence This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International Licence.

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