HIST 347: China and the Early Modern World Order, 1500-1700 (HC): Primary Sources

This site presents extensive lists of texts, both primary and secondary, in English and in Chinese. Note in particular the sections
Other Sources for the Ming Dynasty
Qing Dynasty sections.

To find additional primary sources, historical studies in books and journal articles will often offer the best recommendations. Check footnotes and bibliographies for references to material written in the early modern period.

Some primary sources will be listed in Tripod and WorldCat under a variety of subject terms including "sources" and "early works to 1800"
Combine one of these terms with a time period, such as ming or "17th century," or with the geographic area or national group ("china" "portuguese") and "history."

Example: china and early works to 1800 [subject] and 1600-1699 [publication date]
Results: 48 titles including

Memoirs and observations topographical, physical, mathematical, mechanical, natural, civil, and ecclesiastical
Made in a late journey through the empire of China, and published in several letters. Particularly upon the Chinese pottery and varnishing; the silk and other manufactures; the pearl fishing; the history of plants and animals; with a description of their cities and publick works; number of people, their language, manners and commerce; their habits, oeconomy, and government. The philosophy of Confucius. The state of Christianity, and many other curious and useful remarks.
By Louis Le Comte Jesuit, confessor to the Dutchess of Burgundy, one of the royal mathematicians, and lately missionary in the eastern countries. Translated from the Paris edition, and illustrated with figures
Published: London : printed for Benjamin Tooke at the Middle Temple Gate in Fleetstreet, 1698. The second edition very much corrected, with the addition of a map of China, and a table.

Presents three first-person narratives by Portuguese and Spanish travelers, including sailors and missionaries.

These informal essays come from 16th and 17th century writers. Written primarily to amuse and entertain the reader, hsiao-p'in reflect the rise of individualism in the late Ming period and collectively provide a panorama of the colorful life of the age.

"This fascinating book presents eyewitness accounts of a turbulent period in Chinese history: the fall of the Ming dynasty and the conquest of China by the Manchus in the mid-seventeenth century. Lynn Struve has translated, introduced, and annotated absorbing testimonies from a wide range of individuals - Chinese and Europeans, missionaries and viceroys, artists and merchants, Ming loyalists and Qing collaborators, maidservants and eunuchs - all telling stories of hardship and challenge in the midst of cataclysmic change."

These poets, from the Han dynasty to the early 20th century, include empresses, imperial concubines, courtesans, grandmothers, recluses, Buddhist nuns, widows, painters, farm wives, revolutionaries, and adolescent girls thought to be incarnate immortals.

One of the most important law codes in Chinese history, The Great Ming Code represents a break with the past, following the alien-ruled Yuan (Mongol) dynasty, and reflects the flourishing of culture under the Ming (1368-1644), the last great Han-ruled dynasty. It was also a model for the Qing code, which followed it, and is a fundamental source for understanding Chinese society and culture."

This account from 1585 represents the first comprehensive description of China since that of Marco Polo. It had a strong influence on Europeans' view of the country.

"A selection of Qing Dynasty scholar Gu Yanwu's general writings from his Rizhi lu (Record of Daily Knowledge) and his Tinglin Shiwenji (Collected Poems and Essays). Gu Yanwu is regarded as the progenitor of the dominant scholarly trend of late Ming and early Qing-era China, known as Han Learning or Evidential Learning, which placed emphasis on practical learning instead of theory...The writings were composed during Gu's years of travels around China after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, and are based on personal observation and wide reading in the classics of Confucian thought."

Contains digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700 - from the first book printed in English by William Caxton, through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War. For enhanced searchable texts, use the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership.