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 Databases on the History of Contemporary Chinese Political Movements (中國當代政治運動史數據庫) (NetID required)

  This digital resource contains primary sources on major political movements in modern Chinese history, including the Cultural Revolution, the Anti-Rightist Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the political campaigns of the 1950s. It includes 4 databases: 1) Chinese Cultural Revolution Database (中国文化大革命文库), 2) Chinese Anti-Rightist Campaign Database (1957–) (中国反右运动数据库 1957–), 3) Chinese Great Leap Forward–Great Famine Database (1958–1962) (中国大跃进–大饥荒数据库 1958–1962), and 4) Early–Mid 1950s Chinese Political Movements Database: From Land Reform to State-Private Partnership (1949–1956) (中国五十年代初中期的政治运动数据库：从土地改革到公私合营 1949–1956).

• 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

Events & Exhibits

• Tracking the Chinese Spy Balloon: How a Wisconsin AI company tracked the 2023 Chinese spy balloon across the globe
  Corey Jaskolski, RAIC Labs CEO and founder
  Sept 19, 3:00 pm
  @Institutes for Discovery
   
• The Early White Snake Tradition & Water Myth in the Cultural History of China
  Roland Altenburger, Chair of East Asian Cultural History at the University of Würzburg
  Sept 23, 4:00 pm
  @Ingraham Hall 206
   
• Illustrated Chinese Books and their Publics at Home and Abroad
  Julia K. Murray
  Sept 24, 5:30 pm
  @Chazen Auditorium