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Chinese Studies: Databases

Group of hanging red Chinese lanterns

Databases provide access to high-quality peer-reviewed journal articles, conference proceedings, book chapters, dissertations and many other resources. 

These databases have been especially selected for this subject area. When carrying out your research for a piece of work, you will need to search more than one database to find all of the journal articles relevant to your topic, as each database covers different journal titles.

Database Spotlight

Image from pamphlet: illustration of a pagoda

China : Culture and Society : the Wason Pamphlet Collection, Cornell University

China: Culture and Society contains the pamphlets held in the Charles W. Wason Collection on East Asia. Mostly in English and published between c.1750 and 1929, they amount to around 1,200 pamphlets in 220 bound volumes.

The Wason Pamphlet Collection has been digitised in its entirety in full colour and the documents are full-text searchable. Many are illustrated and feature lavish cover art. Types of content within the pamphlets include:

  • Addresses and speeches
  • Annual reports
  • Assessments
  • Catalogues
  • Essays
  • Examinations
  • Guides and manuals
  • Inquiries and studies
  • Journals
  • Lecture notes
  • Letters
  • Magazine articles
  • Minutes of meetings
  • Notes and records
     

The scope of the Wason Pamphlet Collection is astonishingly broad. Together, the pamphlets provide an insight into a wide variety of topics concerning Chinese culture, history, religion, everyday life and foreign involvement in the country. It should be noted, however, that the pamphlets were largely written by Western academics, diplomats, merchants, missionaries and travellers who encountered China over several centuries. They depict a Western perception of China, representing the initial means by which foreigners would have learnt about China in the period. As a result, some of the pamphlets do include offensive language, othering stereotypes and terminology which we would not deem acceptable today (Provided by Publisher). 

Essential databases

The following are important databases for this subject area, however if you don't see what you're looking for, please go to the Database Directory for Chinese Studies to browse a wider selection.

 

  • China Academic Journals Essential
    Full-text electronic versions of 5,300 Chinese academic periodicals in 9 series: science-engineering (A-C), agriculture, medicine/hygiene, literature/history/philosophy, economics/politics/law, education/social science, and electronics/information science. The database includes current issues as well as archives of back issues of journals, and is reproduced with original pagination.
  • Sinica Sinoweb Essential
    Sinica Sinoweb is a collection of key journals with deep archives from the Academia Sinica in Taipei. Journals included in the resources have been published as early as 1928 (varies by title). Offers universal full-text search/retrieval of core Sinica Academa journals on sinology.
  • MLA international bibliography Essential
    Produced by the Modern Language Association The MLA International Bibliography is the definitive index for the study of language, literature, linguistics, rhetoric and composition, folklore, and film, covering scholarly publications from the early 20th century to the present. International in scope, it includes citations to journal articles, books, articles in books, series, translations, scholarly editions, websites, and dissertations, with links to full text in JSTOR, Project MUSE, and other resources. The database also includes the MLA Directory of Periodicals and the MLA Thesaurus, a proprietary, searchable collection of thousands of subject terms, and personal names used in indexing the bibliography.
  • China: Trade, Politics & Culture Essential
    The China : Trade, Politics & Culture database is based on collections of manuscript materials held at the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and the British Library in London, supplemented by additional sources from Cambridge University Library, the Church Missionary Society Archive, the Council for World Missions Library, Duke University, the National Archives at Kew, the Alexander Turnbull Library at the National Library of New Zealand and Yale Divinity Library. In addition it includes a range of printed materials including missionary periodicals, atlases and books which help to contextualize the other sources. The source material details China's interaction with the West from Macartney's first Embassy to China in 1793, through to the Nixon/Heath visits to China in 1972-74. It provides multiple perspectives from politicians, diplomats, missionaries, business people and tourists, and documents many of the key events that happened in this period. With documents encompassing events from the earliest English embassy to the birth and early years of the People’s Republic, this resource collects sources from nine archives to give an incredible insight into the changes in China during this period.
  • China: Culture and Society Essential
    Spanning three centuries (c.1750-1929), this resource makes available for the first time extremely rare pamphlets from Cornell University Librarys Charles W. Wason Collection on East Asia. The resource is full-text searchable, allowing for the collection to be comprehensively explored and studied. In addition, China: Culture and Society features a host of secondary resources, including scholarly essays, an interactive chronology, mini guides, and editors choices from the collection.
  • ProQuest Historical Newspapers : Chinese Newspapers Collection (1832-1953) Essential
    This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time. Contains full text of various Chinese newspapers. This collection of 12 English-language Chinese historical newspapers, which offers coverage of 1832-1953, provides valuable insight into political and social life of China during this turbulent 120-year period in modern Chinese history.Advertisements, editorials, cartoons, and classified ads are also included in the resource, as they illuminate as much history as the articles.
  • Shen Bao Digital Archive Essential
    The Shen Bao Digital Archive gives a unique insight into the transition of China from the nineteenth century until Mao. This archive presents the complete collection of all issues, from the newspaper's founding in 1872 to 1949 and contains more than two million articles. Both the full text and the full image are retrievable in a single search.
  • Taiwan Electronic Periodical Services Essential
    Taiwan Electronic Periodical Services (TEPS) is an on-line database which offers the largest number of full-text Taiwanese periodicals in the world, covering Humanities, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Applied Sciences, and Medical and Life Sciences. Additional titles are added regularly.
  • Translations of the Peking gazette online Essential
    "Translations of the Peking Gazette Online is a comprehensive database of approximately 8,500 pages of English-language renderings of official edicts and memorials from the Qing dynasty that cover China's long nineteenth century from the Macartney Mission in 1793 to the abdication of the last emperor in 1912. As the mouthpiece of the government, the Peking Gazette is the authoritative source for information about the Manchu state and its Han subjects as they collectively grappled with imperial decline, re-engaged with the wider world, and began mapping the path to China's contemporary rise. The Peking Gazette was a unique publication that allows contemporary readers to explore the contours, boundaries, and geographies of modern Chinese history. Contained within its pages are the voices of Manchu emperors, Han officials, gentry leaders, and peasant spokesmen as they discussed and debated the most important political, social, and cultural movements, trends, and events of their day. As such, the Gazette helps us understand the policies and attitudes of the emperors, the ideas and perspectives of the officials, and the mentality and worldviews of several hundred million Han, Mongol, Manchu, Muslim, and Tibetan subjects of the Great Qing Empire."

Key database categories

Database Directory

You can use our Database Directory to browse a broader range of databases that are relevant to Chinese Studies as well as other subjects. The directory also allows you to identify databases that provide access to specific types of resources (e.g. Full Text Articles, Streaming Video, Patents, Theses and Dissertations, and much more).

Database Directory Chinese Studies

 

Research at the University of Manchester

The University of Manchester's research is internationally recognised. Go to Research Explorer, Manchester's research database, to discover the breadth of research produced by staff across the University.

Browse research publications from the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures - Chinese Studies (please note: whilst many of the publications listed are available to access/Open Access, some records are for forthcoming titles awaiting publication).

 

Research Explorer Search Interface

 

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