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Library Resources for Chinese Studies
- Reference Tools
- Find Articles
- Find Books
- Romanization Guide
- Citing
Using the following resources to answer straightforward questions.
CU = Resources marked with this symbol are available on campus and to students, staff, and faculty from an off-campus location. Use of these resources is subject to copyright laws and license limitations.
Comprehensive Dictionaries
| Han yu da ci dian 漢語大詞典 | PL1420 .H375 2001 | Asian Ref |
| Dai kan-Wa jiten 大漢和辭典 | PL681 .C5 M6 1955 | Asian Ref |
| Zhong wen da ci dian 中文大辭典 | PL1420 .C57 1973 | Asian Ref |
Dictionaries of Classical Chinese
| Wang Li gu han yu zi dian 王力古漢語字典 | PL1485 .W36 2000 | Asian Ref |
| Han yu da zi dian 漢語大字典 | PL1420 .H3494 1986 | Asian Ref |
| Gu dai han yu ci dian 古代汉语词典 | PL1071 .K78455 1998 | Asian Ref |
| Shuo wen jie zi zhu 說文解字注 | PL1281 .H8 1965 | Asian Ref |
| Kangxi zi dian 康熙字典 | PL1420 .K24 | Asian Ref |
Dictionaries of Modern Chinese
| Xin shi ji xian dai han yu ci dian 新世紀现代汉语词典 | PL1420 .X225 2001 | Asian Ref |
| Ci hai 辞海 | PL1420 .T92 2000 | Asian Ref |
Bilingual Dictionaries
| ABC Chinese-English comprehensive dictionary | PL1455 .A33 2003 | Asian Ref |
| Han Ying da ci dian 汉英大辞典 | Pl1455 .H5 1993 | Asian Ref |
| Chinese English dictionary of modern usage | PL1455 .L67 | Norlin Ref |
| Yuan dong ying han da ci dian遠東英漢大辭典 | PL1455 .L65 1991 | Asian Ref |
Dictionaries of Clichéd Phrases
| Chang yong dian gu ci dian 常用典故词典 | PL1273 .Y82 1985 | Asian Ref |
| Su yu ci dian 俗语词典 | PL1273 .H764 1994 | Asian Ref |
Indexes of Alternative Names
| Gu jin ren wu bie ming suo yin 古今人物别名索引 | Z1087 .C6 C52 1982 | Asian Ref |
| Gu dai ming ren zi hao ci dian 古代名人字号辞典 | CS2990 .K795 1996 | Asian Ref |
| Li dai ren wu shi hao feng jue suo yin 歷代人物諡號封爵索引 | CR4169 .Y36 1996 | Asian Ref |
| Li dai ming ren shi ming bie hao ci dian 历代名人室名别号辞典 | Z1087 .C6 C55 1998 | Asian Ref |
| Zhongguo jin xian dai ren wu ming hao da ci dian 中国近现代人物名号大辞典 | DS734 .C446 2005 | Asian Ref |
| Twentieth-century Chinese writers and their pen names | PL2277 .C577 | Asian Ref |
Biographical Dictionaries
| A biographical dictionary of the Qin, former Han, and Xin periods (221 BC - AD 24) | DS747.38 .L63 2000 | Asian Ref |
A biographical dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD) |
DS748.15 .D4 2007 | Asian Ref |
| Sung biographies | DS751.5 .S96 | Norlin Stacks |
| In the service of the Khan: eminent personalities of the early Mongol-Yüan period (1200-1300) | DS752.5 .I5 1993 | Norlin Stacks |
| Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368-1644 | DS753.5 .A84 1976 | Norlin Ref |
| Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644-1912) | DS734 .U65 1970 | Asian Ref |
| Biographical Dictionary of Republican China | DS778 .A1 B5 | Norlin Ref |
| Who's who in the People's Republic of China 中华人民共和国人名录 | DS778 .A1 B33 | Norlin Ref |
| Zhongguo ren ming da ci dian 中國人名大辭典 | DS734 .C62 1934 | Asian Ref |
| Er shi wu shi ren ming da ci dian 二十五史人名大辞典 | DS735 .A2 E695 1997 | Asian Ref |
| Zhongguo mei shu jia ren ming ci dian 中國美術家人名辭典 | N7348 .Y8 1981 | Asian Ref |
| Zhongguo wen xue jia da ci dian 中国文学家大辞典 | PL2277 .C485 1992 | Asian Ref |
| Zhongguo xian dai zuo jia da ci dian 中国现代作家大辞典 | PL2277 .C486 1992 | Asian Ref |
Indexes to Biographical Sources
Er shi wu shi ren ming suo yin 二十五史人名索引 |
DS735 .A2 E7 | Asian Ref |
| Tang Wu dai ren wu zhuan ji zi liao zong he suo yin 唐五代人物傳記資料綜合索引 | Z3108 .A3 F8 1982 | Asian Ref |
| Song ren zhuan ji zi liao suo yin 宋人傳記資料索引 | DS751 S784 1977 | Asian Ref |
| Liao Jin Yüan zhuan ji san shi zhong zong he yin de 遼金元傳記三十种綜合引得 | AI19 .C5 H36 | Asian Ref |
| Yüan ren zhuan ji zi liao suo yin 元人傳記資料索引 | Z3108 .A3 W37 | Asian Ref |
| Ming dai zhuan ji cong kan suo yin 明代傳記叢刊索引 | DS753.5 .M6 1991 | Norlin Basement |
| Liang gao seng zhuan suo yin 梁高僧傳索引 | AI19 .C5 H355 1986 | Asian Ref |
| Song gao seng zhuan suo yin 宋高僧傳索引 | AI19 .C5 H356 1986 | Asian Ref |
| Tang gao seng zhuan suo yin 唐高僧傳索引 | AI19 .C5 H357 1986 | Asian Ref |
Dictionary of Official Titles
| A dictionary of official titles in imperial China | JQ1500 .H82 1985 | Asian Ref |
| Li dai guan zhi, bing zhi, ke ju zhi biao shi 历代官制、兵制、科举制表释 | JQ1512 .T69 1987 | Asian Ref |
| Zhongguo li dai guan zhi da ci dian 中国历代官制大辞典 | JQ1512 .C4998 1994 | Asian Ref |
Dictionaries of Place Names
| Zhongguo li shi di ming da ci dian 中国历史地名大辞典 | DS706.5 .Z455 2005 | Asian Ref |
| Zhongguo gu jin di ming da ci dian 中國古今地名大辭典 | DS705 .C53 1982 | Asian Ref |
| Zhonghua renmin gongheguo di ming da ci dian 中华人民共和国地名大辞典 | DS705 .Z527 1998 | Asian Ref |
Maps & Atlases
| Zhongguo li shi di tu ji 中國歷史地圖集 | G2306 .S1 C55 1982 | Asian Ref |
| Zhongguo li dai xing zheng qu hua: gong yuan qian 211 nian--gong yuan 1991 nian 中国历代行政区划:公元前211年—公元1991年 | JS7352 .A2 C5744 1996 | Norlin Basement |
Date Conversion tools
| Liang qian nian Zhong Xi li dui zhao biao 兩千年中西曆對照表 | CE37 .H7 1970 | Asian Ref |
| Zhonghua wan nian li 中华万年历 | CE37 .C53 1992 | Asian Ref |
Chronological Lists
| Zhongguo li shi ji nian shou ce 中國歷史紀年手冊 | DS733 .Z4664 2002 | Norlin Basement |
| A chronological list of Japan and China | DS833 .A4 1964 | Norlin Stacks |
| Er shi shi shuo run biao: fu xi li hui li 二十史朔閏表:付西曆回曆 | DS733 .C46 1962 | Norlin Basement |
Jin shi Zhong Xi shi ri dui zhao biao 近世中西史日對照表 |
DS733 .C58 | Asian Ref |
CU = Resources marked with this symbol are available on campus and to students, staff, and faculty from an off-campus location. Use of these resources is subject to copyright laws and license limitations.
If you know what journal contains the article you are looking for, you can search for the journal in Chinook. Chinook will link you to the database providing full text, if the journal is available online,
If you know what article you are looking for and have the exact citation, Article Finder will take you to the full text if it is available.
The University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries provide access to more than 56,500 E-Journals. Use the E-Journal Finder website to search for e-journals by title or ISSN, or browse e-journals by title or subject.
Use the Find Articles & More website to search for a particular database by title, browse an alphabetical listing of databases by title, or find databases by subject.
- Find it at CU

In some article databases, you will see a "Find it at CU" link. Find it at CU will link you from citations to the full text of the desired item in another article database. For more information about Find it at CU, please see the Find it at CU FAQ. Note that not all databases can be set up to work with Find it at CU.
- Asia-studies CU
Asia-Studies Full-Text provides online access to publications from Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, Asian Development Bank, and other regional research institutes. This database covers Asia, Australia/New Zealand, the Americas Pacific Rim countries, and Pacific islands and includes statistics, research, analysis, and forecasts on business, government, economic, social issues as well as culture, language and history.
Collection of major religious and theology journals selected by religion scholars in the United States. Full text journals representing all major religious faiths, denominations and language groups are included.
BAS contains 640,000 records on all subjects (especially in the humanities and the social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide from 1971 to the present. Users can browse by country-subject, or by journal title.The BAS is updated regularly, with batch posting of thousands of new entries in each upload.
Full-text electronic versions of Chinese academic periodicals. The database includes current issues as well as archives of back issues of journals, and is reproduced with original pagination. Multiple user search strategies available, including subject, journal title, and years of publication
Humanities International Index provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracting for over 2,000 titles and contains more than 2 million records in the humanities. Provides citations and abstracts for articles, essays and reviews, as well as original creative works including poems, fiction, photographs, paintings and illustrations.
The major index published by the Modern Language Association. Index to articles in literature, languages, linguistics, drama/theatre, and folklore from several thousand journals and series published worldwide. Also covers relevant monographs, working papers, proceedings, and bibliographies. Includes the MLA Directory of Periodicals.
- JSTOR CU
Provides image and full-text online access to back issues of selected scholarly journals in history, economics, political science, demography, mathematics and other fields of the humanities and social sciences. Consult the online tables of contents for holdings, as coverage varies for each title.
Periodicals Archive Online (PAO) is an archive of hundreds of digitized journals published in the arts, humanities and social sciences. It provides researchers with access to more than 200 years of scholarship, spread across a wide variety of subject areas.
- Project Muse CU
Full-text articles from over 300 high quality humanities, arts, and social sciences journals from 60 scholarly publishers.
A database that provides information about regularly and irregularly published journals, magazines, newspapers, and full-text electronic resources from more than 200 countries. In addition to order information and price, entries include brief descriptions, circulation data, whether or not a title is peer-reviewed, indexing and abstracting services that cover the title, reviews, and other information. The database also includes information about obtaining rights and permissions for many titles.
CU = Resources marked with this symbol are available on campus and to students, staff, and faculty from an off-campus location. Use of these resources is subject to copyright laws and license limitations.
Chinook is the catalog for materials owned by the CU Libraries. You can do a title search or an author search for a specific book, or a keyword search if you are looking for books on a particular topic.
If you search Chinook and find that the CU Libraries do not have the item you are looking for (or if the item you are looking for is checked out), you can search Prospector, which is a combined library catalog of 23 libraries in Colorado and Wyoming. CU students, staff and faculty can request materials through Prospector, and the items will generally be delivered to Norlin within a few business days.
WorldCat is a global catalog of library collections. It is the best place to search for books that are not in Chinook or Prospector. Then you may order those books thourgh Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
Bibliotheca sinica. : Dictionnaire bibliographique des ouvrages relatifs à l'Empire chinois |
Z3101 .C8 | Norlin Stacks |
| Bibliotheca sinica : dictionnaire bibliographique des ouvrages relatifs à l'Empire chinois : supplément | Z3101 .C8 Supp. | Norlin Stacks |
| China in Western literature : a continuation of Cordier's Bibliotheca Sinica | Z3101 .Y8 | Norlin Ref |
| Index Sinicus : a catalogue of articles relating to China in periodicals and other collective publications, 1920-1955 | Z3101 .L8 | PASCAL |
| Cumulative bibliography of Asian studies, 1941-1965 | Z3001 .C94 | Norlin Ref |
| Cumulative bibliography of Asian studies, 1941-1965: author bibliography | Z3001 .C93 | Norlin Ref |
| Cumulative bibliography of Asian studies, 1966-1970 : subject bibliography | Z3001 .C94 1972 | Norlin Ref |
| Cumulative bibliography of Asian studies, 1966-1970 : author bibliography | Z3001 .C93 1973 | Norlin Ref |
Full-text Databases
A group of full-text databases of Chinese classical works and excavated ancient documents, including: Oracular Inscriptions on Tortoise Shells and Bones; Excavated Wood/Bamboo and Silk Scripts; Bronze Inscriptions; Extant Han and Pre-Han (pre-220AD) Traditional Chinese Texts; and Traditional Chinese Texts of Weijin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties (220-589AD).
Major Collectanea (congshu)
| Ying yin Wen yuan ge si ku quan shu 景印文淵閣四庫全書 | AC149 .S699 1983 | Asian Ref Cir |
Individual titles in si ku quan shu are not cataloged at CU. To identify titles within si ku quan shu, dictionaries/indexes, such as Zhu Xiubo pi ben Si ku jian ming mu lu 朱修伯批本四庫簡明目錄 (AC149.S73 Z48 2001 Asian Ref), Si ku da ci dian 四库大辞典 (AC149.S73 S73 1996 Asian Ref)
An online seraching tool, 四庫系列叢書綜合索引 is also available.
CD-ROM version of the si ku quan shu is housed in room S220A. Please contact the librarians to get access to this room.
| Bai bu cong shu ji cheng 百部叢書集成 | AC149 .P3 |
| Si bu cong kan zheng bian 四部叢刊正編 | AC149 .S75 1979 |
| Si bu cong kan xu bian 四部叢刊續編 | AC149 .S753 1984 |
| Si bu cong kan 3 bian 四部叢刊三編 | AC149 .S748 1985 |
| Si bu cong kan guang bian 四部叢刊廣編 | AC149 .S76 1981 |
| Cong shu ji cheng chu bian 叢書集成初編 | AC149 .T882 1985 |
| Cong shu ji cheng xu bian 叢書集成續編 | AC149 .T783 1994 |
| Cong shu ji cheng xin bian 叢書集成新編 | AC149 .T78 1985 |
| Si bu bei yao 四部備要 | AC149 .S78 1965 |
These are the major congshu of premodern texts. All are in Asian Reference Circulating area.
Except for the 叢書集成新編, individual titles in these congshu are all cataloged. To identify titles within the 叢書集成新編, consult the Cong shu ji cheng chu bian mu lu 叢書集成初編目錄 (AC149 .T763 1973 Asian Ref).
Bibliographies of Individual Works
| Zhongguo cong shu zong lu 中國叢書綜錄 | Z1033 .S5 S5 1959 | Asian Ref |
| Yi wen zhi er shi zhong zong he yin de 藝文志二十種綜合引得 | AI19 .C5 H36 | Asian Ref |
| Gao ben Zhongguo gu ji shan ben shu mu shu ming suo yin 稿本中國古籍善本書目書名索引 | Z1029 .Z477 2003 | Asian Ref |
Indexes & Concordances
香港中文大學中國文化硏究所先秦 兩漢古籍逐字索引叢刊
香港中文大學中國文化硏究所魏晉南北朝古籍逐字索引叢刊
哈佛燕京學舍引得
哈佛燕京學舍引得特刊
中法漢學研究所通檢叢刊
These are the major series of indexes and concordances. All are in the Asian Reference area. For individual titles in these series, see the list of indexes. This list also includes titles of 全唐詩索引.
| Doctoral dissertations on China; a bibliography of studies in Western languages, 1945-1970 | Z3106 .G65 | Norlin Basement |
| Doctoral dissertations on China, 1971-1975 : a bibliography of studies in Western languages | Z3106 .G65 Suppl | Asian Ref |
Includes citations for North American dissertations ranging from 1861 to those accepted last semester. Dissertations published from 1980 forward include 350-word abstracts; master's theses from 1988 forward include 150-word abstracts. Provides abstracts of dissertations and some master's theses from the United States, Canada, Great Britain and, to a lesser and more selective extent, other countries
Early Chinese texts : a bibliographical guide |
Z1035.8.C5 E2 1993 | Norlin Stacks |
A list of books translated in the world, i.e. an international bibliography of translations.Contains cumulative bibliographical information on books translated and published in about one hundred of the UNESCO Member States since 1979 and totals more than 1.800,000 entries in all disciplines: literature, social and human sciences, natural and exact sciences, art, history and so forth. It is planned to update the work every four months. The references registered before 1979 can be found in the printed editions of the Index Translationum.
Adapted from the ALA-LC Romanization Table for Chinese
The purpose of this guide is to inform library users about the basic rules of Chinese Romanization used in North America library system. The following rules are essential to searching Chinese script materials in not only library catalogs but also many databases such as WorldCat. For more detailed information of Chinese Romanization, please refer to the ALA-LC Romanization Table.
- Romanization
The pinyin system has replaced the Wade-Giles system as the standard in the U.S. libraries for Romanization of ideographic characters for the Chinese language.
Please note that words of non-Chinese origin are also Romanized according to pinyin principles, even though normalized Romanization are known or the word comes from a Latin script language.
| 哈尔滨 | Haerbin |
not |
Harbin |
芝加哥 |
Zhijiage |
not |
Chicago |
- Separation of Syllables
In general, separate the Romanization of each Chinese character with a space. This includes corporate names, terms of address and titles of royalty.
| 商务印书馆 | Shang wu yin shu guan |
蒋经国先生 |
Jiang Jinguo xian sheng |
慈禧皇后 |
Cixi huang hou |
- Connection of syllables
Personal names: Join together the syllables associated with multi-character names including surnames, given names, Buddhist names, courtesy names etc.
| 司马相如 | Sima Xiangru |
无名氏 |
Wumingshi |
惠能 |
Huineng |
Geographic names: Join together the syllables associated with multi-character geographic names.
- Do not join the names of jurisdictions and topographical features to geographic names.
广州市 |
Guangzhou Shi |
海南岛 |
Hainan Dao |
西藏自治区 |
Xizang zizhiqu |
- Names of archaeological sites, bridges, and other constructions of geographic extent are separated from the names themselves.
泸州长江大桥 |
Luzhou Changjiang Daqiao |
京杭运河 |
Jing Hang Yunhe |
- The syllables of the name of a jurisdiction or geographic feature or generic terms that are included within another place name are connected together.
长江口 |
Changjiang kou |
黄壁庄水库 |
Huangbizhuang shuiku |
- Names of buildings and other constructions of less than geographic extent: syllables are separated, except for proper names
黄鹤楼 |
Huang he lou |
圣果寺 |
Sheng guo si |
- Name of Countries: Connect syllables according to the practice followed by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
中华人民共和国 |
Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo |
中華民國 |
Zhonghua Minguo |
朝鲜民主主义人民共和国 |
Chaoxian Minzhu Zhuyi Renmin Gongheguo |
俄国戏剧史概要 |
Eguo xi jus hi gai yao |
- Names of racial, linguistic, or tribal groupings: join together transliterations of two or more characters comprising the names of racial, linguistic, or tribal groupings of mankind.
基督徒 |
Jidu tu |
桐城派 |
Tongcheng pai |
毛南族 |
Maonan zu |
美国人 |
Meiguo ren |
客家话 |
Kejia hua |
Note: Join the term zu (for tribe or people) to a name only in proper names of places
| 德宏傣族景颇族自治州 | Dehong Daizu Jingpozu Zizhizhou |
Dates: Romanize non-numerical dates as separated syllables, except for reign periods that are also the names of emperors.
| 嘉靖乙卯 | Jiajing yi mao |
明治1 |
Mingzhi 1 |
一九九八年 |
Yi jiu jiu ba nian |
清光绪15 年 |
Qing Guangxu 15 nian |
CU = Resources marked with this symbol are available on campus and to students, staff, and faculty from an off-campus location. Use of these resources is subject to copyright laws and license limitations.
- RefWorks CU
A personal online database and bibliography creator that allows users to create a personal database online, import references automatically from multiple databases, organize references, and quickly format bibliographies and manuscripts. You will need to create a login and password.
- Endnoteweb CU
EndNote Web is a Web-based tool for managing and citing references in papers and creating bibliographies. It is integrated with EndNote desktop and the ISI Web of Knowledge research platform. CU students, staff and faculty can create a free EndNote Web account that will allow access to their personal database from anywhere with an Internet connection.
Zotero is a powerful, easy-to-use research tool that helps you gather, organize, and analyze sources and then share the results of your research.
This is the Libraries' How to Cite a Source' page. It collected very useful citing information, including citation tools, compact guides with example citations, style manuals (hardcopy & online sources) and search engines.

