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Chinese Studies and Language

Your guide to Chinese Studies and Language resources at the University of Melbourne Library.

Introduction

This subject guide highlights some key discipline resources to get you started with study and research. 

Chinese Language Learning

Expand the following sections to view some resources you may find useful in your Chinese language studies.

 

 

Dictionaries & Reference Works

 

 

Journal Articles

Chinese studies-specific databases:
First of all, try searching in one of these subject-specific databases.
Core Arts and Humanities databases:

The databases below are multidisciplinary so you can expect lots of results from different subject areas.

Browse eJournals on Browzine:

For Chinese language journals, please visit the China Academic Journals full-text Database, and browse journal titles by clicking the Journal Navigation button.

You can view a selection of online Chinese Studies eJournals (English language) that the Library holds by clicking on the button below (this will open in a new window). For a more comprehensive list of eJournals please visit our A-Z eJournals page.

 

Books

Contemporary eBook databases:
Classical text databases:
Books within the General East Asian Collection

 

The East Asian Collection is divided into two parts: the Rare East Asian Collection (housed in Baillieu Library and are available via the Baillieu Library Reading Room) and the General East Asian Collection (able to be borrowed from the ERC Library). The General East Asian Collection consists of both print and electronic research materials in Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages. This collection mainly covers the areas of arts and humanities, social sciences and architectural history. 

Tips on searching for books within the East Asian Collection:

When using the UniMelb library Catalogue:

  • search for Chinese language materials by using Chinese characters (simplified and traditional) or Pinyin Romanisation. If you search with Pinyin Romanisation, please refer to the Library of Congress' Chinese romanization guidelines.
Tips on searching for books in English language
 

To find English language books for your topic in library Catalogue, use a keyword search. For example:

 

Chinese cinema

Cultural Revolution

Confucianism

legal reform

 

Keyword searching often retrieves a large number of results. These four techniques can help you focus your search:

 

AND

Narrows your search

E.g. Chinese AND cinema

OR

Expands your search

E.g. legal OR law OR judicial

 

" "

Searches for an exact phrase

E.g. "Cultural Revolution"

*

searches for variant endings

E.g. Confuci* = Confucius, Confucianism, Confucianist

 

The video below (3:47 mins) explains how you can use these advanced search techniques to quickly find relevant books and ebooks in the catalogue:

 

You can also find books on similar topics through the subject headings in item records. Click on  these headings to view related subjects around your area and the all the books that the library has related to that subject. The image below shows where you can find subject headings.

 

 

Screenshot of how to use subject headings in the library catalogue. Features a list of subject headings, including

Looking for a book we don't have or is not on our shelves?

 

Inter-Library Loans

University of Melbourne staff and students can request resources through the Library’s Inter-Library Loans service. For more information visit the ILL web page, or you can access the request forms.

 

Logo of CAVAL

A CAVAL card allows you to borrow from other universities and TAFEs. Visit the CAVAL website to find out how to sign up for a CAVAL card.

You can then use the Trove website to see which library has the book you want.

Theses

 

 

Statistics / Yearbooks

Chinese statistics and yearbook databases

You can also utilize the following website:


Search tips: finding more statistics and yearbooks
For print sources, try keywords search in our library Catalogue with the following:

Click on the button below to view more statistical resources that the Library holds/has access to (this will open in a new window). 

Newspapers

For more information about finding news, click on the button below (this will open in a new window).

Visit the News and Newspapers Library Guide

Chinese Historical Newspapers in Microform

Visit the Baillieu Library for on-site access to the University of Melbourne Library's Chinese Historical Newspapers in Microform Collection (this will open in a new window).

 

 

Primary Sources

The Rare East Asian Collection and microforms

 

The Rare East Asian Collection houses more than 20,000 volumes of titles ranging from the 17th century to the 21st century.

Collection items can be requested for viewing in the Special Collections Reading Room at Baillieu Library, Level 3. 


The University of Melbourne Library holds a significant Chinese Microform Collection containing a wealth of primary and secondary source material. For example, 红卫兵资料 OR 申報大公報. For more information about accessing the microforms collection, click on the button below (this will open in a new window).

 

Selected primary source databases:

Below are selected China-related primary source databases, you can find more by visiting the A-Z eJournals and Databases website.

Browse all primary source databases

Click on the button below to browse all online primary source databases the Library subscribes to (it will open in a new tab).

You can sort the list by searching with China in the search box.

 

Chinese Legal Research

Click on the button below to view a selection of resources on Chinese legal research that the Library holds (this will open in a new window). 

To find more Chinese language resources on Chinese legal studies, try a keyword search in our library Catalogue with:

 

 

Referencing and Citing

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