Chinese Studies : Home
Welcome! 欢迎! 歡迎!
This research guide will support you in discovering Chinese Studies resources at UW-Madison and beyond. The Chinese Studies Collection at UW-Madison contains over 300,000 physical volumes and other digital resources in the Chinese language. The collection also consists of large volumes and electronic resources in non-Chinese languages related to Chinese Studies.
The Memorial Library at UW-Madison started to collect Chinese materials in 1917. In that year, a Chinese student donated some books and journal titles to our libraries. In 1965, the Memorial Library hired the first Chinese Studies Librarian.
With the development in over one century, the Chinese Studies Collection has emphasized Chinese history, literature, art, linguistics, and frontiers. The collection also developed the Women's Studies, economics, and foreign relations associated with Chinese Studies. The primary Chinese Studies books and periodicals are located on the 4th floor, Memorial Library. The Chinese rare books are located at the Special Collections. Other significant collections of Chinese materials are accessible at the College Library, Law Library, Mills Music Library, Steenbock Library, Kohler Art Library, as well as the Wisconsin Historical Society Library.
What's New
Digital Resources
- new Oxford Research Encyclopedias - Asian History (NetID required)
This platform offers continuously updated entries that summarize current research and scholarship on an expanding array of topics. The Asian History module presents a valuable reference source for students and researchers seeking reliable background and context on key historical subjects, figures, and developments in Asian studies.
Trial period: 4/11/2025-7/10/2025
- new Press Resources Service Platform of RUC (人大当代报刊资源服务平台) (NetID required)
The service platform provided by Renmin University focuses on contemporary Chinese periodicals. It offers access to various levels of party newspapers, comprehensive news publications, and industry-specific professional newspapers.
Trial period: 3/13/2025-6/11/2025
- new Oxford Bibliographies - Chinese Studies (NetID required)
A comprehensive reference tool offering authoritative research guides for Chinese studies, combining in-depth analysis of an annotated bibliography with the scope of an encyclopedia.
- new CathayPlay (NetID required)
Streaming video collection of 700 independent films and documentaries from China, presented in their original language with English captions or subtitles.
Monthly New Books
- The Book of Secrets : A Personal History of Betrayal in Red China (eBook) by Xue, Xinran
- Covert colonialism governance, surveillance and political culture in British Hong Kong, c. 1966-97 (eBook) by Mok, Florence
- New Selection Books - please submit a request for the temporarily unavailable copy if necessary
Need something? - Request a purchase

University of Wisconsin-Madison
728 State St.
Madison, WI 53706
Events & Exhibits
- Feather Satins and Orangutan Felts: A Material History of English Woolens in Qing China
Rachel Silberstein, Princeton University
April 25th, 2:30 pm
@Elvehjem L140
- China's Natural Rubber Plantation in the 1950s: A Global View
Yu Yao, East China Normal University
April 28th, 4:00 pm
@5233 Mosse Humanities
- Xuanzang in Picturebooks: A Buddhist Exemplar for Modern Children
Natasha Heller, cultural historian of Chinese Buddhism
April 29th, 6:00 pm
@Elvehjem Building