Dr Dan Knorr of the Faculty of History explains the significance of a huge new Chinese acquisition.

It is no secret that the study of China, especially in the premodern period, is heavily conditioned by the availability of source material. Both the opening of archives and the digitization of archival materials have opened up exciting new avenues for research in recent decades. However, concerns about both physical and digital access to these materials temper optimism about this trend stretching endlessly into the future. Moreover, the uneven regional and chronological distribution of historical materials available to and appreciated by scholars continues to impose limits on our understanding of China.

Against this backdrop, the University Library’s recent acquisition of the 200-volume collection Shandong wen xian ji cheng 山东文献集成 offers exciting opportunities for scholars of China across the premodern and modern periods.

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