Primary Sources in Print
Primary sources--such as original documents, letters, diaries, interviews, works of art, and oral histories, can often be found collected in print volumes. Tisch Library has a wide array of print primary sources in its collection. Below is a sample of some of the resources that you can find but remember, this is only a sample, so use JumboSearch to find more or Ask a Librarian for help!
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Ta Hsüeh and Chung Yung
Call Number: Book Stacks PL2478 .M75 2003Ta Hsueh and Chung Yung are two of the central texts of early Chinese thought, encapsulating Confucian philosophy on the Way of moral cultivation and spiritual attainment. Traditionally held to be the work of two of Confucius's closest disciples, the books were compiled in their present form late in the second or first century BCE and have occupied a central position in educational and political life for almost a thousand years throughout the East Asian cultural sphere. -
The Journal of Wu Yubi: The Path to Sagehood
Call Number: Book Stacks B128.W844 A3 2013In this rare firsthand account of an individual's pursuit of sagehood, the early Ming dynasty scholar and teacher Wu Yubi chronicles his progress and his setbacks, as he strives to integrate the Neo-Confucian practices of self-examination and self-cultivation into everyday life. -
Robert Hart and China's Early Modernization: His Journals, 1863-1866
Call Number: EBookAs the Ch'ing government's Inspector General of the Maritime Customs Service, Robert Hart was the most influential Westerner in China for half a century. -
The I. G. in Peking: Letters of Robert Hart, Chinese Maritime Customs, 1868-1907
Call Number: EBookRobert Hart's forty-five year administration of China's customs service was a unique achievement. In these letters Hart speaks to us directly from a time long past in China. The result is a primary source for the history of modem China and the era of foreign privilege there. -
Sources of Chinese Tradition
Call Number: Book Stacks DS721 .D37 1999For four decades Sources of Chinese Tradition has served to introduce Western readers to Chinese civilization as it has been seen through basic writings and historical documents of the Chinese themselves.
Online Primary Sources
There is an increasing amount of digitized primary source materials available in library databases and on the web from libraries, museums, educational institutions, and more. Explore these resources to find texts, images, and much more on this topic.
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Chinese Newspapers Collection (1832-1953)Select Chinese newspapers in English
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Eighteenth Century Collections OnlineECCO aims to deliver a digital copy of every significant English and foreign-language title printed in Great Britain during the Eighteenth Century, along with thousands of important works from the Americas, including literature, memoirs, monographs on all subjects, directories, Bibles, legal materials, manuals, sheet music, sermons, advertisements, etc.
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Asia for Educators - ChinaAn initiative of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University, this site includes a large number of primary source materials on China dating from 4000 BCE to the 20th Century.
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East Asian History SourcebookFrom Fordham University, this site contains information and primary sources on Buddhism, Confucianism, and the countries of East Asia throughout their history.
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The Rise of the Chinese Meritocracy: A Digital Approach to the Study of Cultural Change in Tenth-Century ChinaUniversity of California, Berkeley: "This project explores the sudden appearance in the 10th c. of a meritocratic culture that transformed Chinese elite society and constituted the ideological foundation of China's famous civil service exams."
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East Asian CollectionFrom University of Wisconsin-Madison, the East Asian Collection includes historical images that present a visual archive of 20th century East Asian cultural heritage. Currently, the collection consists of images that document early 20th century China including the the Sino-Japanese Conflict (1937-1945), a visual history of Buddhist practices and temples in China, and other images of daily life in both rural and urban China.
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The National Palace Museum of Digital ArchivesProvided by the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, this site contains a variety of image and text databases; many covering biographical studies, historical archives, digital images of relics and paintings from Taiwan and China.
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New York Public Library Digital CollectionsThe Digital Collection provides free and open access to over 800,000 images from the Library’s collections. These digital images include photographs, posters, documents, maps, manuscripts and other source materials in many academic fields. These resources can cover China and other countries in Asia as well.
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Digital Public Library of AmericaU.S. project aimed at providing public access to digital holdings (maps, manuscripts, monographs) as a public digital library.
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Asia at Work - Asia CollectionHamilton Library, University of Hawaii at Manoa: This site features digitizing photographs, drawings, and paintings in books published from the early 20th century and before.