ILL (for Books) and WorldCat
Use Interlibrary Loan (ILL) to request books and book chapters not held by our library. Chapters typically arrive within hours. Physical books take days.
WorldCat is a "union catalog" of millions of records for books held by thousands of libraries. Search WorldCat to find more books about your topic. Identify e-books available to read or borrow immediately by conducting an Advanced search. Look for the Library Code box toward the bottom of the page. Enter one of the following library codes:
- INARC (e-books from Internet Archive)
- HATHI (e-books from HathiTrust)
- NJT (books/e-books from our Gitenstein Library)
- OAPEN (open access e-books)
Find Books: Chinese History and Historiography
Use the search box on the Gitenstein Library homepage to find books about Chinese history. I recommend titles assigned to the Library of Congress Subject Headings (or LCSH) listed below. LCSH, typically just called subject headings, are essentially tags assigned by librarians to the records (or descriptions) of books in the library.
Unlike social media hashtags, LCSH are both precise and consistently applied. Librarians do not make up their own subject headings. Headings are instead chosen from a pre-approved list, carefully (by consensus) curated by professional catalogers. LCSH communicate to researchers what a book is about (e.g., Cultural Revolution) and the type of work it represents (e.g., encyclopedia, bibliography, or primary source, among many others).
- China — Economic conditions — 1949-1976 [Mao and the Cultural Revolution]
- China — Economic conditions — 1976-2000 [post-Mao China]
- China — Economic conditions — 2000- [21st century China]
- China — Economic policy — 1976-2000 [post-Mao China]
- China — Environmental conditions
- China — History — Revolution, 1911-1912
- China — History — Republic, 1912-
- China — History — Warlord period, 1916-1928
- China — History — May Fourth Movement, 1919
- China — History — Northern Expedition, 1926-1928
- China — History — Civil War, 1945-1949
- China — History — 1949-1976 [Mao and the Cultural Revolution]
- China — History — Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976
- China — History — 1976-2002 [post-Mao China]
- China — Politics and government — 1976-2002 [post-Mao China]
- China — Politics and government — 2002- [21st century China]
- China — Rural conditions
- China — Social conditions — 1949-1976 [Mao and the Cultural Revolution]
- China — Social conditions — 1976-2000 [post-Mao China]
- China — Social conditions — 2000- [21st century China]
- Cities and towns — China
- City planning — China
- Communism — China
- Economic development — China
- Economic policy — China
- Environmental policy — China
- New towns — China
- Rural-Urban migration — China
- Urban-Rural migration — China
- Urbanization — China
- Zhongguo gong chan dang [Communist Party of China]
Try persons or groups as subjects:
- Persons as subject...
- Groups as subject...
Use the search box on the Gitenstein Library homepage to find books about Chinese history. I recommend titles assigned to the Library of Congress Subject Headings (or LCSH) listed below. LCSH, typically just called subject headings, are essentially tags assigned by librarians to the records (or descriptions) of books in the library.
Unlike social media hashtags, LCSH are both precise and consistently applied. Librarians do not make up their own subject headings. Headings are instead chosen from a pre-approved list, carefully (by consensus) curated by professional catalogers. LCSH communicate to researchers what a book is about (e.g., Han Dynasty) and the type of work it represents (e.g., encyclopedia, bibliography, or primary source, among many others).
- China — Civilization — To 221 B.C.
- China — Economic conditions — To 1644
- China — Foreign relations — To 1644
- China — History — To 221 B.C.
- China — History — 960-1644
- China — History — Shang dynasty, 1766-1122 B.C.
- China — History — Zhou dynasty, 1122-221 B.C.
- China — History — Spring and Autumn period, 722-481 B.C.
- China — History — Warring States, 403-221 B.C.
- China — History — Qin dynasty, 221-207 B.C.
- China — History — Han dynasty, 202 B.C.-220 A.D.
- China — History — Sui dynasty, 581-618
- China — History — Tang dynasty, 618-907
- China — History — Liao dynasty, 947-1125
- China — History — Song dynasty, 960-1279
- China — History — Yuan dynasty, 1260-1368
- China — History — Ming dynasty, 1368-1644
- China — History — Qing dynasty, 1644-1912
- China — Social conditions — 1976-2000 [other dates]
Try historical persons as subjects:
The term historiography implies a concern for the examination of all aspects of historical scholarship including especially the writing of history and the methods of historical research. It can refer to a single work or body of historical literature (e.g., the historiography of the Cultural Revolution).
Historiographical works, typically book essays and journal articles, help researchers to identify influential historians, the important books they published, and how those scholars have interpreted the available evidence over time. Historiographical essays, in other words, summarize debates that have shaped scholars' understanding of the past.
Top recommendation:
A Companion to Chinese History by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9781118624548Publication Date: 2016-12-12
Also great:
Essays on Tang and Pre-Tang China by Call Number: DS749.3 .P85 2001ISBN: 086078858XPublication Date: 2001-04-28- Historians of China and Japan by Call Number: DS734.7 .B4Publication Date: 1961traditional Chinese historiography
Overt and Covert Treasures: Essays on the Sources for Chinese Women's History by Call Number: HQ1767 .O94 2012ISBN: 9789629964290Publication Date: 2012-10-23
Reinventing Modern China: Imagination and Authenticity in Chinese Historical Writing by Call Number: DS734.7 .L4565 2013ISBN: 9780824836085Publication Date: 2012-10-31
Zhou History Unearthed: The Bamboo Manuscript Xinian and Early Chinese Historiography by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9780231196628Publication Date: 2020-11-10
China's Market Communism: Challenges, Dilemmas, Solutions by Call Number: HC427.92 .R67 2018ISBN: 9781138125230Publication Date: 2017-09-21
The Chinese Economy by Call Number: HC427.95 .M67 2021ISBN: 9781788210812Publication Date: 2021-04-29"Provides a comprehensive analysis of China's unprecedented economic transformation and the specifics of its development, including issues such as well-being and human capital, inequality, ageing, urbanization and sustainability, consumerism, health, education and the environment" (book jacket).
Enterprise, Organization, and Technology in China: A Socialist Experiment, 1950-1971 by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9783030003982Publication Date: 2019"Given the near-silence in technological and business history about post-World War II socialist enterprises, this book gives voice to a generation of Communist China's managers, entrepreneurs, cadres, and workers from the Liberation to the early 1970s" (book jacket).
State Failure and Distorted Urbanisation in Post-Mao's China, 1993-2012 by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9783319921679Publication Date: 2018-08-03"This book examines failure in the urbanisation of Northwest China as a result of government industrial policies that have impacted on the economic development of the region" (book jacket).
Studies on the Chinese Economy During the Mao Era by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9811954097Publication Date: 2023-01-22"This book focuses on several specific features characterizing Chinas economy in the Mao era (19521976), and discusses whether and how they are related to the new economic strategy called "reforms and opening-up" under Deng Xiaopings leadership with the result of the aftermath of well-known rapid growth" (book jacket).
The Yellow River: The Problem of Water in Modern China by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 0674736109Publication Date: 2015-01-05Explores the environmental impact of economic development during the Mao and reform periods.
The following titles are about one of the most important historians of all time, Sima Qian (c. 145-86 BCE).
The Cambridge History of Ancient China by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 0521470307Publication Date: 1999-03-13
Herodotus and Sima Qian: the First Great Historians of Greece and China by Call Number: D56 .M375 2010ISBN: 9780312416492Publication Date: 2009-09-08
The Letter to Ren An and Sima Qian's Legacy by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9780295806389Publication Date: 2016-03-24- Reading Sima Qian from Han to Song by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9004372938Publication Date: 2018-11-22historiography
Rewriting Early Chinese Texts by Call Number: Gitenstein Library E-BOOKISBN: 9781423766216Publication Date: 2006-01-01
