China in the SOAS Library
- The China Studies section contains material on China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Mongolia, Eastern Siberia and East Asia in general.
- The coverage of the collection is very wide and reflects the range of subjects taught in the School and the library’s national role.
- The collection consists of some 170,000 volumes of printed material and many items in microform, some 5,000 periodical and newspaper titles, 1,100 pre-1949 local histories, and 600 congshu (collectanea)
- A rich resources for modern and contemporary China studies and a solid working basis for the study of pre-modern Chin
Strengths of the Collection
The strengths of the collection are in vernacular languages, politics & government, foreign relations, anthropology and ethnic minorities, business, finance & economics, law, modern Chinese literature, modern Chinese language, military, overseas Chinese, press & media, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tibetan, women's studies and the Chinese Communist Party.
Language
The bulk of the collection is in Chinese with other materials in English, other European languages, Mongolian, Tibetan, Manchu
Selection of key journals
- China quarterly
- Modern China
- Social sciences in China
- Journal of contemporary China
- China report
- Issues and studies
- China journal (previously: Australian journal of Chinese affairs)
- Beijing review
- Far Eastern economic review
- China law and practice
- Chinese literature
Key reference material
Reference materials, such as bibliographies, dictionaries and indexes, are kept in the China Reading Room (C20):
General:
- China facts and figures annual. 1978-
- Historical dictionary of the People’s Republic of China: 1949-1997. Lawrence R. Sullivan with assistance of Nancy Herst. Lanham, Md : Scarecrow Press,1997
- Information China: the comprehensive and authoritative reference source of New China and its historical background. Oxford: Pergamon, 1988. - 3v.
- Information Mongolia: the comprehensive reference service of the People's Republic of Mongolia (MPR).Oxford: Pergamon, 1990
- Kumar, Anand: Tibet: a sourcebook.[New Delhi]: All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet, 1994.
- Hoffmann, Helmut: Tibet: a handbook. Bloomington.: Indiana University Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, 1986.
Encyclopaedias:
- The Cambridge encyclopedia of China / general editor: Brian Hook. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1982.
- The encyclopedia of the Chinese overseas, edited by Lynn Pan. Singapore : Archipelago Press,1998
- Encyclopedia of China: the essential reference to China, its history and culture. Chicago: London :Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999
Directories:
- China directory = Chugoku soshikibetsu jinmeibo. Tokyo: Radiopress, 1975- Text in English, Chinese and Japanese.
- The Directory of British organizations with a China interest.4th ed. London: Great Britain-China Centre, 1999.
Bibliographies:
- Early Chinese texts: a bibliographical guide. edited by Michael Loewe. Berkeley, Calif. : Society for the Study of Early China, 1993
- China bibliography: a research guide to reference works about China past and present, by Harriet Thelma Zurndorfer. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995.
- Clio Press:World bibliographical series: Macau, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Tibet, Taiwan
- Islam in China : a critical bibliography by Raphael Israeli, with the assistance of Lyn Gorman. Westport, Conn :Greenwood Press, 1994
- The cultural revolution: a se bibliography, 1966-1996 . Harvard-Yenching Library, 1998
- Manchu studies: an international bibliography. Wiesbaden :Harrassowitz, 1990 3v.
- Western books on China published up to 1850 in the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London: a descriptive catalogue. John Lust. London :Bamboo Publishing, 1987
Subject Dictionaries:
- A dictionary of official titles in Imperial China by Charles O. Hucker. Stanford, Calif :Stanford University Press,1985
- An ethnohistorical dictionary of China. James Olson, 1998
- Historical dictionary of Guangzhou (Canton) and Guangdong. 1999
Catalogues:
- China Library Group: Chinese union list of serials. London: British Library, Oriental Collections, 1992.
- Catalogue of the Morrison Collection of Chinese books. Andrew West. London: SOAS, 1998
Biographies:
- Who's who in the People's Republic of China. 1991.
- Who’s who in Hong Kong. 1995
- Who’s is who in the Republic of China. 1998.
Librarian contact information
Wai Hing Tse
Librarian, China & East Asia General Section
SOAS Library
School of Oriental and African Studies
University of London
Thornhaugh Street
London WC1H OXG
Tel: +44 020 7898 4176
Fax: +44 020 7898 4159
E-mail: wt1@soas.ac.uk
Special Collections
- Morrison Collection: More than 800 titles of Chinese books, mainly 17th & 18th century blockprints, collected by the first missionary to China Dr Robert Morrison (1782-1834)
- Johnston Collection: some 1,600 volumes books in English and Chinese, from the library of Sir Reginald Fleming Johnston (1874-1938), once the
- English tutor of the last Emperor of China and SOAS Professor of Chinese (1931-37). Includes gifts from the Emperor.
Some 4,000 volumes of Chinese ancient books and manuscripts, including Yong le da dian. - Yearbooks: some 400 titles of yearbooks and annual statistical compendia covering provinces, cities, economic zones and individual industries as well as other economic and social developments.
- Hong Kong Collection: Some 800 volumes of western books and periodicals on Hong Kong and 228,000 pages of newspaper cuttings held on microfiche, given by the then Hong Kong Government Office in 1997.
- Japanese Sinology: some 5,000 volumes of Japanese material on China (shelfmarks:DBC).
- Local Chinese newspapers of the 1950’s and 1960’s in microform, some kept up to date.
- Maps & Atlases: some 2,000 pre-war surveys, covering the Beijing area, parts of Shangdong & the Yangtse delta region. Some 19th & early 20th century atlases.
