When finished, this database will give access to 30,000 titles and documents. Currently, some 3,000 texts are available, both in searchable and original format. The database is unique in how it also makes available interlinear notes, corrections, overlapping and upside-down characters etc., as well as images. A list of texts available in the first release is available.
The National Library of China (NLC) has opened 21 databases on its 中国古籍保护网 to the public.
Included are the following database covering only the collection of NLC (if not otherwise noted):
数字古籍 Digital Rare books
数字方志 Digital Gazetteers (Some of the items are offered with side-by side reading of the transcribed text. The text however is not full text searchable. Most of the gazetteers included here are already available at Princeton in a full-text searchable database China Comprehensive Gazetteers).
中华寻根网 China genealogical database (The database offers a sophisticated search system. It includes bibliographic information on almost 30,000 家谱, and gives reading access to more than 2,000 (probably mostly from the collections of Shanghai Library). It also provides an overview of family lineages for each family name and has biographical entries for 14,000 individuals. Over 6,000 gazetteers are also linked into this system which makes it quite a powerful tool for genealogical research).
赵城金藏 Zhaocheng Jin Tripitaka (This Buddhist canon was printed between about the ninth year of the Huangtong era of Xizong of the Jin dynasty and is therefore referred to as Jin Tripitaka. The Jin Tripitaka was based on the tenth-century Kaibao Tripitaka. It has great documentary value because many of the sutras in this edition of the canon are missing from other editions. The database only gives access to the scans. Princeton has access to a full-text searchable version of both the Qisha Song Tripitaka and the Zhaocheng Jin Tripitaka via the Fojiao Jingdian ku).
年画撷英 Chinese New Year prints
碑帖精华 Rubbings database (Particularly strong for the Tang and the Qing. Where available the date of the making of the rubbing is included in the database. The database allows full-text searching of the transcribed text!)
宋人文集 Collected works of the Song (focuses on first editions).
甲骨世界 Oracle Bones (Two sub-databases containing images of original oracle bones and rubbings of oracle bones).
西夏文献 Tangut texts (Mostly of Buddhist nature. The texts are cataloged by Chinese titles).
西夏论著 Tangut Studies Bibliography
前尘旧影 Historic photographs
徽州善本家谱 Collection of Huizhou Jiapu
中华医药典籍资源库（测试版）Classical works of Chinese Medicine (Beta)
法藏敦煌遗书 Dunhuang collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF)
云南图书馆古籍 Yunnan Library Rare Books
天津图书馆古籍 Tianjin Library Rare Books
上海图书馆家谱 Shanghai Library Jiapu collection
东文研汉籍影像库 Rare books from the Toyo Bunko
哈佛大学善本特藏 Shan ben from Harvard Yenching Library
中华古籍善本联合书目 Chinese Shanben Catalog (图录 of 3,481 editions of 善本 in Chinese and international collections. In most cases only the first page of the first juan is available for viewing. The information provided about the holding institutions is rather cryptic.)
Regrettably, NLC does not currently provide a central search index to all of the databases above. Most of the collections however are actually listed in the Guji faxian system. An empty search in this system will bring up a complete list of purely bibliographic entries and entries for scanned rare books from many libraries from China and beyond. Selecting the 开源 option allows browsing the free online collections of all libraries by subject (an extended 四库 classification). This function might in many cases provide better discovery options for the material in the free NLC collections that the actual databases above, but many of the links in Guji Faxian have not yet been update to the free version of the NLC databases.
The documents in this database were brought together by the Center of Local Archives at Shanghai Jiaotong University. The archives (mostly in manuscript form) originate mainly from private collections in the provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, and Jiangxi. Major parts of the collections come from Shicang 石仓 (Zhejiang) and from Huizhou 徽州. Included are contracts, private and company ledgers, examination documents, medical prescriptions, local theater and opera material, court records, letters, family records, and various other types of material. The majority of the documents date from the Qing and Republican period, but there are also some Ming and PRC documents included. Currently, this database is the only one of its type in China.
The texts have been arranged according to regions, with archives from families in the same region put together, by village. Various (full-text and multidimensional) searches and functions are available through searches in simplified and traditional characters.
ACCESS NOTE: Please confirm IP authentication when opening the database.
Operated by the China Academic Digital Associative Library (CADAL) this database includes Dunhuang manuscripts (images included are mostly from China and the UK, but are supposed to increase over the next years) as well as collections of other local manuscripts (currently mostly contracts). The database is freely available. Please note that the image viewer of the database works best with the Edge and Chrome browsers, but seems to have problems with Firefox.
