Research Guides: HIST 292: Material Culture in China (HC): Background Information

Handbooks and Histories

The following sources provide overviews of Chinese history and culture. They are a quick way to find out the basic facts and recent scholarly interpretations.
When using an article in an encyclopedia or handbook, always check the bibliography for further reading at the end of the article. It will provide a selective list of the books, articles, and, frequently, Web resources considered to be the most up-to-date and reliable.

Cambridge history of China
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This multiple-volume history provides detailed analyses of pertinent social, political, and economic issues.
A Companion to Asian Art and Architecture
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Includes such relevant essays as:
"The Icon of the Woman Artist: Guan Daosheng (1262-1319) and the Power of Painting at the Ming Court c. 1500"
Chinese Painting: Image-Text-Object"
A Companion to Chinese History
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This book offers a comprehensive overview of the latest intellectual developments in the study of China's history with scholarship by top historians from both China and around the globe. Essays present information on Chinese historiography while covering such topics as China's changing position in global and world history and the current state of the field from European, Chinese, and Japanese perspectives.
Also available in Tripod as an ebook.
A Companion to Chinese Art
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A comprehensive volume that includes two dozen essays spanning the theories, genres, and media central to Chinese art and theory throughout its history. Of special interest is "Part IV: Objects and Persons" with essays such as:
"Ornament in China - From Song to Qing"
"Garden Art"

Literature Reviews and Bibliographies

History Compass
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Offers interpretive essays highlighting recent scholarship. Titles of interest among the literature reviews include:
"The California School and Beyond: How to Study the Great Divergence?" -Peer Vries (2010)
"Digital humanities and East Asian studies in 2020" - Paul Vierthaler (2020)
"Late Qing Multilingualism and National Linguistic Practice in the Qing Borderlands" - Jiani He (2017)
"Repositioning History for the Future - Recent Academic Debates in China" - Ines Eben v.Racknitz (2014)
“'Writing History in the Digital Age': The New Qing History Project and the Digitization of Qing Archives - Liping Mao and Zhao May (2012)
Oxford Bibliographies Online Chinese Studies
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Extensive annotated bibliographies on specific topics in different subject areas written by scholars in the field. New entries are added twice a year. Some selected essays of interest are listed below. BMC students connect to the Haverford icon rather than the linked titles. Login with your BMC credentials to access essays from the Chinese Studies collection.
"Calligraphy" in the Chinese Studies Section
"Ceramics" in the Chinese Studies Section
"Late Imperial Economy 960-1895" in the Chinese Studies Section
"Literati Culture" in the Chinese Studies Section
"Local Elites in Ming-Qing China" in the Chinese Studies section
"The Marketing System in Pre-Modern China in the Chinese Studies Section
"Material Culture" in the Chinese Studies section
"Printing and Book Culture" in the Chinese Studies section
Chinese History: A New Manual
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This new edition features informed introductory essays, side bars and tables, and comments for nearly every title cited, those written in Chinese and other languages as well as English. See Chapters 32 (Fine Arts) and 33 (Architecture), pages 415-430, for information and resources. Check the subject index for additional topics.

Biographies

Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women
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This is a four-volume set covering women from antiquity through the 20th century.
Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368-1644
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Includes biographical entries for 659 individuals including some well known artists.
Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, 1644-1912
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Ebook copies from 2010 of the biographical dictionary first published in 1943-44. Valuable for its coverage of 817 officials, writers and other figures.