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Chinese Archives |
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This site has two purposes: to serve as a place to collect and exchange information on actual experience doing research in Chinese archives, and to provide information on Chinese local archives. The first section will depend largely on contributions from users. Those who have had experiences in Chinese archives that would be of use to other potential users are encouraged share those experiences with others. The second section is a supplement to Ye Wa and Joseph W. Esherick, Chinese Archives: An Introductory Guide (Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1996). It provides information on local archives (city, county and prefectural) gleaned from local gazetteers. Both sections of this site are still under construction, so users are encouraged to return for future visits to see additional information as it is added.
Professor Huaiyin Li of the University of Missouri, Columbia has generously shared a guide to finding information on Chinese archives on the world wide web.
ARCHIVE USERS’ EXPERIENCES
Scholars who have had experience in Chinese archives all realize that the conditions governing archives use are constantly in a state of flux. The ease and extent of access to Chinese archives vary from place to place, and change over time for any given archive. Some archives are open to all, and require only a letter of introduction from the scholar’s host institution in China. Others require prior approval of access by the provincial or even national archives bureau. Sometimes catalogues are readily available; sometimes one is required to specify one’s research topic and an archivist will decide which records are relevant. Charges for the use of archives also vary. It has recently become the practice to charge for each record called from the archives, whether that record proves useful or not. The rate and negotiability of such charges vary from place to place. Regulations governing photo-copying or microfilm reproduction also vary radically. An increasingly common regulation is the prohibition on reproducing all of a given record – especially if the record is fairly extensive. Sometimes there is a limit on the total number of pages that can be reproduced during a stay at the archives. And of course, the charges for photo-copying vary from archive to archive.
The purpose of this section of the site is to gather information from archives users that can be shared with others, and to encourage the exchange of information among archives users. Scholars with experience in Chinese archives are encouraged to submit a brief report by e-mail to jesheric@ucsd.edu. Please specify the archives where you did research, the date of your visit, and summarize your experiences with respect to access, availability of cataloguing, fees, photo-copying regulations and any other matters that might be of interest to other scholars. If you found particularly exciting or previously unknown or unused materials that would be of interest to others, and that might exist at other archives, please let us know. Professor Esherick will review the information, perhaps edit it slightly to ensure suitable and uniform format, and have it put on the Web Site as quickly as possible. Please specify clearly whether or not you would like your identity revealed to others who may wish to contact you, and provide an e-mail address if you so choose. Thank you for your contribution to the site.
CHINESE LOCAL ARCHIVES
As noted above, this section is a supplement to Ye Wa and Joseph W. Esherick, Chinese Archives: An Introductory Guide (Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1996). The format follows that of the Ye and Esherick guide, and the information will be most useful to those familiar with the guide. Any researchers interested in purchasing a copy of the guide may visit the Web Site of the U.C. Berkeley Institute for East Asian Studies at: http://ieas.berkeley.edu/publications, or they may e-mail easia@uclink.berkeley.edu specifying author and title, CRM 45.
Also, as noted above, the section of the site is still very much "under construction." At present only six provinces’ local archives (about 200 archives in all) are listed. It is hoped that during the course of spring 1999, the total will increase to close to 1000 local archives. Added to the 597 archives covered in Ye and Esherick, this will extend our coverage to almost half of the 3,522 archives reported in 1990. In the future, as more local gazetteers (the source for the information below) are published, the data will be added to this site.
This section of the site would not have been possible without the able research assistance of Brett Sheehan (now of the University of Wisconsin, Madison), Ye Wa (UCLA), and Zhou Guanghui (UCSD). Their contribution is gratefully acknowledged.
