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HIST 281: Imperial China (Rocks): Primary Sources

Fall 2025

Successful Searching

Who(se Voices)?

Similarly to academic articles, there are some very general tools that you can use to search primary sources broadly. However, it is usually more productive to work out in advance....

Who do you want to hear from...

This could be a perspective, a category of people, a specific group/organization, a geographic area or country, etc.

...And where are they? 

Next, figure out where your voices "live" in the historical record. For example: 

  • The perspectives of an individual (usually a wealthy and/or powerful, educated individual) could live in correspondence; works of art; or in a personal memoir, among others. 
  • Perspectives from the ruling class could show up in records of proclamations and other official documents. 
  • Religious perspectives are likely to live either in religious texts or works of art, as well as in personal sources. 
  • etc. 

Remember: not all perspectives are represented equally in the historical record! 

Where Are They?

Now, you need to determine where we have access to that part of the historical record. 

Most primary source collections are categorized by some combination of...

  • Date
  • Geography
  • Genre, and/or
  • Topic

For example, if you are hoping to find sources pertaining to religion in the Shang Dynasty, not just any source will do! You need a resource that: 

  1. Provides access to religious texts or other sources that might shed insight on the topic;
  2. Includes resources published in China, ideally in the Yellow River Valley; 
  3. Contains sources dating to the Shang Dynasty (16th century - 11th century BCE) 

(and, of course, your resource needs to include English translations!) 

This page of the guide is designed to give you some starting points -- but you can also ask Jennifer or Prof. Rocks for a recommendation! 

Searching

  • Keep your searches simple, and be creative with your search terms. How did people in the period you are researching speak and write?  What words would they have used to describe events or ideas? Are there specific names or organizations that you can focus in on? 
     
  • Work with, not against, your search tools. Databases designed for primary sources often will let you narrow your search by features like publication date, geographic location, or type of source. 
     
  • Pay attention to the order of search results.  If your search is very broad or you get a lot of results, sorting by relevance can help you find starting places. But when looking at newspapers or other sources that might build on each other and create a story over time, you may want to sort Oldest to Newest instead! 
     
  • Don't just search -- browse! Keyword searching for primary sources can be imprecise, especially if you don't know exactly what you're looking for. Give yourself time to click in and out of sources you're unsure of, browse through the pages, and look at the context of sources like newspaper articles (what other stories appeared on the same day? what advertisements?) for maximum information. 
     
  • Pace yourself. Primary sources can take longer to find than academic articles. You may also need more time to decipher, digest, and interpret the content of your primary sources. Leave yourself plenty of time to do this work, and ask questions or for assistance earlier rather than later! 

Analyze:

Collections of Primary Sources

Collections of Documents & Ephemera:

Books & Other Literature:

Print Resources in Dinand: 

Although we often think of primary sources as being located online, some primary sources can also be found in the library. This includes both stand-alone texts and compilations of texts which have been transcribed, translated and re-published for the purpose of study and research. 

In general, it's useful to keep in mind the language and names of the time period, as well as different transliterations of names from the original Chinese characters. 

Sections to Visit: 

  • Chinese Religions: BL1790-BL1975
    • Confucianism: BL1830-BL1883 
    • Taoism:  BL1899-BL1942.85 
  • History of China: DS701-DS799.9
  • Chinese Language & Lit: PL1001-PL3208 

Online Resources:

Photographs, Art & Material Culture:

Other Web Resources:

You may wish to use a Google site search to browse Chinese websites. Note, though, that many of these websites will not be available in English. 

site:*.cn will find your keywords on all Chinese websites;
site:*.gov.cn will find your keywords on Chinese government sites; 

[ Video tutorial: Navigating websites in other languages. ]