Historical Documents

China: Trade, Politics and Culture 1793-1980

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This database includes full-text English-language sources related to the historical interactions between China and the West during the period of 1793-1980 from the British Library, the University of London Library, Cambridge university Library, Duke University Library, Yale Divinity Library, the British National Archives, the National Library of New Zealand, the Church Missionary Society, and the Council for World Mission Library. 

China: Culture and Society Trade, Politics and Culture 

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The China: Culture and Society database is the digitized China Pamphlet Collection held in the Charles W. Wason Collection on East Asia housed in the Carl A. Kroch Library of Cornell University. The collection contains 1,215 pamphlets in 216 volumes, mostly in English and published between c. 1750 and 1929. The materials contained in the Wason Pamphlet Collection are extremely rare. Their writers were Western diplomats, government officials, missionaries, merchants, scholars, sailors, and travelers. Their works, in the form of letters, journals, reports, notes, records, meeting minutes, speeches, lectures, essays, and magazine articles, represent early Westerners’ observations of China, Chinese people, and Chinese culture. These materials touch on myriad aspects of China, including its philosophy, religion, governments, laws, taxation, trade, industry, commerce, transportation, communication, education, literature, language, social life, social upheavals, political struggles, and international relationships. They cover the vast expanse of the Chinese territory, from its political center in Beijing to its remote frontiers neighboring Himalayan nations and Russian Siberia and from its bustling treaty ports in the coastal areas to its rather isolated towns and villages in the heartland. As a whole they depict a vivid panoramic picture of Chinese society in the 19th century and the early 20th century. The collection also contains first-hand accounts of Western contacts with China during this period involving travels and adventures, missionary work, charitable activities, diplomatic maneuvers, military operations, foreign settlements, export and import trade, foreign investments, mining, opium smuggling, and the coolie trade. These materials possess an important research value of providing an excellent insight into the Western perception of China as the country made the slow transition from a traditional society into one of the modern time

Foreign Office Files for China 1949-1980

(FO371 and FCO 21)

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This database addresses a crucial period in Chinese history from the foundation of the People’s Republic in 1949 to the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976. It includes the complete British Foreign Office Files dealing with China, Hong Kong and Taiwan in this period. These files are particularly important because Britain was one of the first countries to recognize Communist China. The quality and depth of the Foreign Office’s reporting on politics, industry, trade and cultural affairs is formidable. These files allow scholars and researchers the opportunity to examine developments in China and to assess US, Soviet, British, European and Commonwealth relations with China from 1949 onwards. The documents combine eye-witness accounts, weekly and monthly summaries, annual reviews, reports and analyses with a synthesis of newspaper articles and conference reports, economic assessments and synopses on leading Chinese personalities. There is a constant exchange of information between London and the British Embassy in Beijing and its consular outposts and a continual dialogue on issues relating to East Asia between Britain and America as well as with European and Commonwealth partners. Sino-Soviet relations also become a very important consideration in the Cold War era. All files can be systematically searched using the full text search capability.

Digital National Security Archieve (DNSA)

China and the United States: From Hostility to Engagement, 1960-1998

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China and the United States: From Hostility to Engagement, 1960-1998 is one of the collections in the Digital National Security Archives database that provides public access to the declassified U.S. government documents. The over 2,000 original, full-text documents derived from a number of different sources, including the U.S. State Department, the CIA, the Commerce Department, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) daily reports 1974-1996 

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This database includes the United States’ principal record of political and historical open source intelligence covering the period of 1974-1996.