We wish to express our appreciation to Professor Cora Agatucci of Central Oregon College for the original design and links of this page, as well as her commentary and annotations, which we have edited and rearranged for Belmont's needs.

See Belmont's, Dr. Ed Fenton's China Page. and Belmont's History Department World History Electronic Links and Texts.

China Maps & general resourcesEast Asia, political map of China, and detailed map of modern China (CUNY-Brooklyn); Physical Map of China (Washington State Univ.), and a larger detailed Map of China (Univ. of Maryland) Map: The Han Empire; Maps of Asia (Univ. of Texas, most from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency): Map: China in the 6th century; maps of Asia, of southern Asia, and of East Asia; and more...with links to 26 maps of China (The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, Univ. of Texas-Austin), including maps of Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao; Map: Effects of Western Imperialism in Qing China.

The China WWW Virtual Library: Internet Guide for China Studies -China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and Singapore (Hanno Lecher; Dept. of Chinese Studies, Vienna University; and Institute of Chinese Studies, Univ. of Heidelberg)

Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) Syllabus & Bibliography Collection Online: click Resources on Asia for College Courses, select a subject area you'd like to know more about, and browse the topics, reading lists and bibliographies (Kapiolane Community College, the East-West Center and the Univ. of Hawai'i at Manoa)

Chinese Section: British Library Oriental and India Office Collections (beautiful images)

Facts on China

China: (Dr. Robert Crowley, Univ. of Illinois-Springfield) links to General Information, Culture, Economy, Religion and Education, Government, History, Land and Resources, Politics, Foreign Relations

Chinese languages & writing

The Human Languages Page: Chinese links (Willamette Univ.)

From Brooklyn College's Core 9 online course, Chinese Culture, taught by Paul Halsall: The Chinese Language and Writing , The Chinese Language and Pronunciation; Pinyin/Wade-Giles [romanized] Names, and Chinese Ethnic Groups

Map of Chinese Linguistic Groups (Univ. of Texas-Austin)

Pronunciation Notes and A Brief Chronology of China (Michael D. Gunther, 1997)

Learn Survival Chinese via auto-tutorial from Haiwang Yuan & Remy Guo.

Examples of Chinese Calligraphy by the Masters from China the Beautiful

Chinese historyChinese History in General, Council on East Asian Libraries: including links to timelines, essays, journals, special topics

A Good Place to Start: Condensed China: Chinese History for Beginners (Paul Frankenstein)

See also Timelines of Asia: China, India, Japan

H-GIG: World Wide Web Links to History Resources (Dept. of History, University of California, Riverside)

Univ. of Calif./San Diego's Chinese History Research Site

A Brief Chinese Chronology - by dynasty (with discussion of the problems with this form of historical periodization), by political frameworks, and economic basis

Outlines of Early Chinese History (by Li Ung Bing, Eds. Joseph Whiteside of Soochow Univ. and Snow N. Snow), Image of Yu the Great, legendary founder of the Xia (Hsia) dynasty. "Yu is best known for his organization of massive dike-building and irrigation projects to counter the floods which periodically devastated the north China plain. The authoritarian, highly centralized bureaucracy presumably necessary to execute and maintain large-scale irrigation and flood-control systems has led some scholars to label early China a "bureaucratic-hydraulic society." (From Paul Brians' Lecture 20: Zhou (Chou), Qin (Ch'in) & Han Dynasties

History of China and History Timeline (Univ. of Maryland) with links to essays and maps of major dynasties and eras.

The Silk Road, "The story of one of the world's oldest and most historically important trade routes and its influences on the culture of China, Central Asia and the West" (Oliver Wild, 1992), a detailed and readable scholarly article, including pictures of the region. Wild states that the "most significant commodity carried along this route was not silk, but religion. Buddhism came to China from India this way, along the northern branch of the route."

"Indian versus Chinese Attitudes Towards History" and History of Mathematics: China (annotated timeline)100 Celebrated Chinese Women (Asiapac)Women in Chinese History (a bibliography from Marilyn Shea, Department of Psychology, Univ. of Maine at Farmington)

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Republican Era (1912-1949), and People's Republic of China (1949-present) with images (Chinese History Library, Robert Gray, Univ.of Michigan)

Chinese cultureclass-by-class modules - scroll down Chinese Culture (Brooklyn College online the list and check out the (links to all the picture files available on great WWW course links!). Understanding Culture

Chinese Culture: Links to Other Sites for Students...

Chinese Cultural Studies: Bibliographical Guide

Exploring Ancient World Cultures: China, Univ. of Evansville's initiative to "produce a college-level textbook on the World-Wide Web that is available to everyone free of charge,"

The Homosexual Tradition in China: Selections from Chinese Homosexual Literature

The Mandate of Heaven - Selections from the Shu Jing (The Classic of History) (c. 6th Century BCE)

Images: Chinese culture: Images Brooklyn College Chinese Culture Web site; The Great Wall of China (image), Emperor Huangdi (image), Picture of Confucius (image) Archeological Excavations at Qin tomb site, Lines of Soldier Statues at tomb of the "First Emperor" at Xian ; Founder of the Han Dynasty; The Grand Canal (ca 1904. photo); Tang era lady (art); Song era poet (art) and Song era bird painting; Images of Silk making, Chinese Use of Paper, Earliest Printed Book (868 CE), and Chinese Use of Tea. Images of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, and statue of a Yuan era actor; Ming Dynasty vase (image in color), 14th century Chinese Canon, Jesuit missionary Matthew Ricci, and Peking Dragon Throne. Photo of young eunuch exposing the effects of castration and a young woman with bound feet. Luxun Lu Hsun, Selections from His Writing, and a photo: "Like other writers of the May Fourth Movement, Luxun saw China's old society as rotten and corrupt. Only after a radical reform, he felt, would the Chinese be able to realize their human potential " (From Introd. to Alfred Craig et al, The Heritage of World Civilizations, 2d ed. [New York; Macmillan, 1990], p. 889). Photos of Chairman Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and the The Goddess of Democracy in Tienanmen Square.

Ban Zhao Pan Chao, Lessons for A Woman: The Views of A Female Confucian (c. 80 CE)

Selection of Chinese Poems, with introductory notes,[see also Paul Brians' Lecture 22: Chinese Poetry, Washington State Univ.; and China the Beautiful's Chinese Poetry " by some of the greatest Chinese poets of all times."); Modern Marriage in China - Two Texts


Lin Tse-Hsu's "Letter of Advice to Queen Victoria" (1839 CE) "was written before the outbreak of the Opium Wars. It was a remarkably frank document, especially given the usual highly stylized language of Chinese diplomacy. There remains some question whether Queen Victoria ever read the letter." See also Chinese View of an 18th century English Sailor Image of Opium Smokers, and

Map: Effects of Western Imperialism in Qing China, late 19th century.

Visit Yuan Ming Yuan, imperial garden of the Qing emperors: "In 1709, emperor KangXi named the Yuan Ming Yuan himself and bestowed it on his son, emperor YongZheng. In traditional Chinese and the Confucius philosophy, Yuan (circle) means the doctrine of the mean; Ming (bright) means wisdom and insight. KangXi used this name to encourage the new emperor to follow Confucian philosophy and have a wise insight into state affairs." Though destroyed in 1860, the Garden of Centered Wisdom has been re-created by Lifeng Wang and Chih-An Chen, for your virtual pleasure.

Golden Legacy (Chinese Historical and Cultural Project, in partnership with San Jose Historical Museum), designed...to complement the California State Social Studies Framework, with links to 3 sample lesson plans numbered below. Other topics include: Immigration, Chinatown, Survival (employment in railroad construction, mining and agriculture), Daily Life, Traditions, Education, and Lasting Legacy.

1. Bound Feet: "In the tenth century in China, a prince began the practice of foot binding because he loved the small 'lily feet' of his concubine. Thus traditional Chinese values for over 1000 years dictated that the feet of young girls should be bound to keep them small. 'Lily feet', as they were called, were thought to be very dainty and beautiful and a symbol of gentility and high-class. Although the term sounded harmless, it was really very cruel. It began when a girl was between three and eleven years old...." (See picture, article "Those Doll-Sized Feet...," by Jane Kam Pang [scroll down], and bibliography.)
2. Abacus, background with examples of numbers done on the abacus, abacus pattern, and links to worksheets.
3. Lunar Calendar, background: "The Chinese Lunar Calendar is a yearly calendar like the western calendar, except that the start of the lunar year is based on the cycles of the moon....In traditional China, dating methods were cyclical, meaning that the years repeat according to a pattern. The repetition is in increments of twelve years. The Chinese Lunar Calendar goes further and names one of twelve animals [see diagram and worksheet] as a symbol for each year....[One] Chinese legend explains that all the animals of the world were invited to come and visit Buddha. Only twelve came. In order to reward these animals for their loyalty, Buddha named a year after each one in the order they appeared before him."

Chinese religion&philosophy

General: Chinese Philosophy Page . Philosophy and Religion in China. Comparative Religion & Religious Studies links (Mike Madin, new educational directory Academic Info). Exploring Religions (Professor Paul Flesher, Univ. of Wyoming), including Buddhism, Hinduism and Islam. From the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance: Religious & Sacred Texts, including links to the Analects, Taoist, and Zen texts.

From Richard Hooker's World Cultures ("an internet classroom and anthology"):China Glossary, including The Five Classics, Confucius, jen, Tao,Taoism, yin/yang, the one and the many (tai chi), Neo-Confucianism, and t'ien, and T'ien ming, or "The Mandate of Heaven" (Washington State Univ.). A Sample from World Cultures - Taoism:

The Yi Ching (I Ching): The I Ching (Book of Changes) on the Net. See I Ching sites. Yi Ching I Ching: [Classic Book of Changes] creating and reading hexagramsYin and Yang in Medical Theory (trans. Mark Coyle); see also Yin-Yang symbol

Confucianism: Analects of Confucius, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Mencius (Selections), The Catholic Encyclopedia's Confucianism (by Charles F. Aiken, electronic rpt. 1996). Confucius Page, with biography, teachings, images, and bibliography ("'Confucius' comes from Kong Fu Zi, roughly 'Our Master Kong' -- the form of address his disciples would have used.") Kong Fu Zi -- Confucius, with links to electronic texts. Writings of Confucius - KongZi [Kung Tze] (China the Beautiful) Confucius (Keith Ammann): "Superior and alone, Confucius stood/Who taught that useful science -- to be good."--Alexander Pope

Daoism (Taoism): Tao Te Ching. For 20 more translations of the Tao Te Ching, see Taoism Depot. See also, The Taoism Information Page. Chad Hansen's Chinese Philosophy* Page (*Daoist-oriented interpretations). Images of Laotzu, 3 Daoist Purities, and Wen-ch'ang, Daoist God of Literature. The Tao and Its Name, by Stanley Rosenthal (Shi-tien Roshi), British School of Zen Taoism, Cardiff, September 1984. .Tao Te Ching sites (Yahoo)
Laozi (Lao Tan or Li Erh )

Buddhism: Asian Traditions: Buddhism. Buddhist Studies WWW Virtual Library. Buddhism for Beginners (Jeff Hooks, St. Petersburg Junior College). Introduction to Buddhism, "rough guide to...basic Buddhist teachings" of Theravada ("school of the elders") tradition.. Journal of Buddhist Ethics (Penn State University/Goldsmiths College [London], USA/UK). "The Gospel of Buddha" (Buddha, ca. 500 BCE); Buddha's First Sermon - The Middle Path (c. 6th Century BCE); the Dhammapada (trans John Richards, 1993), an anthology of 423 Buddhist verses from The Theravada Pali Canon (Khuddaka Nikaya) embodying Buddhist ethical and spiritual precepts; and "The True Nature of the Buddha" from The Lotus Sutra, "one of the best-loved sacred texts of Mahayana Buddhism," the original Sanskrit text "translated many times into Chinese (the earliest being in 225 CE), as well as into Tibetan and other languages." The passage linked is a "key one for the development of the idea of the cosmic form of the Buddha. Note that 'Tathagata' "(which means 'Thus Gone,' ie, having achieved Nirvana) is one of the titles of Buddha." See also image of the Bodhidharma, founder of Ch'an Buddhism, and Peter N. Gregory's essay on Doctrinal classification (p'an-chiao), which "has often been said to be the hallmark of Chinese Buddhism." The Buddhist-Confucian Conflict in the Early Choson and Kihwa's Syncretic Response: The Hyon chong non (paper by A. Charles Muller, Toyo Gakuen Univ., presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Chicago, Nov 20, 1994). Buddhist Studies and the Arts with many useful links (hosted by Randall R. Scott, B.S., M.Div., M.A. Research Associate in Buddhist Studies and Classics, Washington University in St. Louis; & The Doyle Gallery)

Chinese arts

World Art Treasures: China (Photos: Jacques-Edouard Berger, 1994)Timelines of Art History (Michael D. Gunther, 1997) offers "selective resources on the art history of ancient and non-Western civilizations" including China, India, and Japan, but also more. See China Resources; and follow links for history, images, and texts of Early China: Prehistoric to Western Zhou (3000-771 BC) and China: Qin, Han (221 BC - 589 AD) Introduction to Asian Art (Prof. Katheryn M. Linduff, Dept. of Art History, Univ. of Pittsburgh) will yield rich cultural backgrounds on China, India, and Japan, if one follows with patience the frames of the illustrated course notes. Many riches await those who browse Asian Arts, an on-line journal "for the study and exhibition of the arts of Asia," with virtual galleries and illustrated article abstracts.

Buddhist Studies and the Arts with many useful links (hosted by Randall R. Scott, B.S., M.Div., M.A. Research Associate in Buddhist Studies and Classics, Washington University in St. Louis; & The Doyle Gallery)

The Splendors of Imperial China: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei.
( http://www.asianart.com/splendors/index.html) "An unsurpassed survey of Chinese art treasures from one of the greatest collections in the world...on view at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. from January 27 to April 6, 1997. Heralded by scholars and critics as the greatest exhibition of Chinese art ever presented in America, the exhibition spans over 4.000 years of Chinese history and features nearly 350 of the finest and most famous works from the National Palace Museum, Taipei."

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco claims to be the largest museum in the western world devoted to the arts and cultures of Asia, with permanent collections representing over 40 Asian countries spanning 6,000 years of history. See exhibitions and follow links to special exhibits like Splendors Of Imperial China: Treasures From The National Palace Museum, Taipei; 1997: the Chinese Year of the Ox, or tour Mongolia: The Legacy of Chinggis Khan.

Exhibition of Chinese textiles from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, "Heavens' Embroidered Cloths: One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles" http://www.asianart.com/textiles/textile.html), held at the Hong Kong Museum of Art and jointly organised by the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong and the Urban Council.

The Art of China (Remy Rong Guo, a Ph.D. student at Purdue Univ., with cross-section of images of Chinese "visual art, crafts, music, cooking, calligraphy and other modes of expression, from a wide range of time periods," as well as sections on the zodiac (based on a twelve year cycle --- each year being represented by an animal), Chinese scenery, and "brief tours of the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, and the Imperial Gardens)

China the Beautiful, featuring Classical Chinese Art, Calligraphy, Poetry, History, Literature, Painting and Philosophy

Chinese literature

General: For course materials using Chinese literature see Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) Syllabus & Bibliography Collection Online. Resources on Asia for College Courses: Literature, with reading lists and bibliographies, provided by the Kapiolane Community College, the East-West Center and the Univ. of Hawai'i at Manoa. Chinese Literature (Council on East Asian Libraries). Chinese Literature links (Yahoo). Chinese texts online http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/%7Ephalsall/texts.html

Wonder Tales: Tales of Wonder: Tales from China (Richard Darsie, UC Davis) These tales are taken from the following sources: The Rainbow People, Laurence Yep ; illustrated by David Wiesner. New York: Harper & Row, 1989; Dragon Tales: A Collection of Chinese Stories. Beijing: Chinese Literature Press, 1988; and The Jeweled Sea: A Book of Chinese Fairy Tales, edited by Hartwell James with illustrations by John R. Neill. Henry Altemus Company, Philadelphia, 1906. 1.The Four Dragons; 2.The Bright Pearl; 3.Natural Enemies; 4.We Are All One; 5.The Superior Pet; 6.The Jeweled Sea The Legend of the White Snake with 12 Yangliuqing woodcut paintings (from China the Beautiful); see also Story of the White Snake, as performed in Beijing Opera.

Poetry: Chinese Poetry By Various Authors (Richard Darsie, UC Davis), including Selected Poems by T'ao Ch'ien (AD 365?-427?), Li Po (AD 701-762), and Han Yü (AD 768-824)
Glossary of Poetic Terms (Robert G. Shubinski, 1996, 1997). Glossary of Poetic Terms (Robert G. Shubinski, 1996, 1997).

Novels and Major Works: China the Beautiful's Classical Chinese Novels Dream of Red Chamber (in Chinese), Journey to the West, Legend of White Snake, Tale of Water Margin, Three Kingdoms, Strange Tales of Liaozhai, Chin Pin Mei (with some links to English translations). Hsi Yu Chi (The Journey to the West) - a tribute to Wu Ch'eng-en's classic Chinese fantasy novel (Thomas Nguyen, Geocities 1997). See also Introduction to Wu Ch'Eng-en's Monkey (Jeff Hooks, St. Petersburg Junior College) Romance of Three Kingdoms - full text of the novel by Luo Guanzhong (ca. 1300-1400), trans. C. H. Brewitt-Taylor.

Sun Tzu's [circa 400-320 B.C.] treatise on the Art of War.

"Writing for Success: Printing, Examinations, and Intellectual Change in Late Ming China," by Kai-wing Chow (Late Imperial China 17.1 [ June 1996], one of Project Muse's excellent sample Journal Articles Online).

Chinese and Asian American Literature Chinese-American Culture and Literature; Asian American Literature (University Libraries at USC); Asian-American Literature Page (students at George Court College) Perceiving A Culture Through Its Literature: Korea as an Example (Elgin Heinz and Kathy Jerome) - After Seventeen Years, by Kim Yong Ik (From Asian-Pacific Literature, Vol. 2, eds. James and Cheryl Harstad, Honolulu, HI: Department of Education, State of Hawaii, 1981).

theater&performanceArts
Bejing Opera or Peking Opera (Xu-Ming Wang, Syracus Univ.), with links to 1.Roles in Beijing Opera; 2.Music and Musical Instrument (not ready yet); 3.Arias, Dialogues and Speeches; 4. Face Paintings; 5. Costume (not ready yet); 6. Stage Property (not ready yet); 7. Famous Actors and Actresses ("The theatrical or musical occupation was considered the lowest class in the society. Opera performance used to be a male dominated profession. Mixed performance was prohibited. All the roles were played by male. Most of the actors entered the Training School as apprentices in their childhood because their parents could not feed them. They had to absolutely obey the commands of the school master and teachers....Director Chen Kai-Ge's film Farewell my Concubine gives a picture of the situation"); 8.Beijing Opera Amateurs and Fans; (not ready yet) 9.Opera Stories; and 10. Influence of Other Entertainment. Jingjü (the name suggested by Chinese scholars) is a "comprehensive performing art....combin[ing] so many forms. It is a grand opera, ballet, an acrobatic show, and a historical play. It is actually not an opera like that in the west, where arias are the main and perhaps the only feature."

Second Troupe of Peking Opera House of Beijing: see costumes and stage properties, musical instruments

Paper-cut Art --- Beijing Opera Masks (Dr. Puqi Tang)

film

Chinese Cinema: Scholarly Works and Articles in English (Shao-yi Sun, a Ph.D student, Dept. of East Asian Languages and Cultures, & MA student, School of Cinema-Television, Univ. of Southern California): See Articles on China's Fifth Generation (images and bibliography)

Movies Addressing Chinese History and Culture, with annotations. http://acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/chinbib.html

From The Internet Movie Database Tour: Country Browser: China
Yellow Earth (Huang Tu Di, China, 1984), dir. Chen Kaige, with cinematography by Zhang Yimou. Farewell My Concubine (Ba Wang Bie Ji, China / Hong Kong, 1993), dir. Chen Kaige (b. 1952, Beijing, China). Farewell My Concubine is based on the novel by Lillian Lee.

For a listing of other Chinese films dealing with the Cultural Revolution, click here.

Red Sorghum (Hong gao liang, China, 1987), dir. Zhang Yimou. Both Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou attended the Beijing Film Academy, Beijing, China. Red Sorghum is based on the novel by Mo Yan.

To Live (Huozhe, China / Hong Kong, 1994), dir. Zhang Yimou, (b. 1950, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China), Bin Wang and Xleochun Zhang. Based on the novel by Yu Hua.

Gong Li (b. 1965) - Actress Filmography. While still a student at the Central Drama Academy in Beijing (from which she graduated in 1989), Gong Li was cast as the female lead in Red Sorghum (1987), the initial directing effort by Zhang Yi-mou. China's best-known actress in the West, she was named Best Actress at the 49th Venice International Film Festival for her role in The Story of Qiu Ju (Qiu Ju da guan si, China/Hong Kong, 1992; dir. Zhang Yimou). She also earned the New York Film Critics award for Farewell My Concubine (1993). Gong Li made a series of successful films with Zhang Yi-mou, a collaboration that apparently ended with the breakup of their personal relationship in 1995.

See also Univ. of Penn Library Film Studies