Thanks to colleagues in the China Centre Library, Oxford researchers now have access to the Cambridge Archive Editions: China Political Reports 1911-1960, 1961-1970. It can be accessed via SOLO or Databases A-Z.
This resource draws together the periodic political and intelligence reports sent by British officials based in China back to the British Foreign Office. The set includes:
- Annual Reports
- Personality Reports
- Occasional Despatches
- Peking Fortnightly Summaries
- Peking Observations
- Shanghai Summaries
- Occasional Reviews
The reports have been published as an electronic version of the originally 14 printed volumes rather than a database. Therefore the reports are filed chronologically.
At the beginning of each volume there is a detailed contents listing which is helpful to identify the documents included in each particular volume.
Please note that full-text searching is not yet possible!
The first collection, 1911-1960, covers the “history of the rise of Communism in China and its effects over more than half a century. Although the period covers the First and Second World Wars the impact of these world events is almost matched for the Chinese by their internal struggles. After the declaration of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese diplomacy took a more international turn but by then the international arena had become paralysed by the effects of the cold war and the prevailing beliefs of the Great Powers were anti-Communist in nature thereby continuing the isolation of China.” (Eastview, accessed 23/1/18)
The second collection, 1960-71, covers the “recovery from the ‘Great Leap Forward’ and the main thrust of the ‘Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution’ which two events alone would sustain research for years to come but also within this period are the huge foreign relations disputes that grew out of the complications of the cold war.” (Eastview, accessed 23/1/18)
Also of interest:
- China Yearbooks Full-text Database (CNKI) – English
- China Core Newspapers Database
- North China Herald (1850-1940)
- Chinese Newspapers Collection (1832-1953)
- Documents on British Policy Overseas
- Foreign Office Confidential Prints
- US Declassified Documents Online
