Continuing Studying Ancient Chinese History in Singapore (Part One)…

4) Libraries at the National University of Singapore (NUS)

The Central Library at NUS has a fairly good collection of English-language academic books on Chinese history, and frequently purchases newly-published works. If you make a request for them to buy a new book, they are likely to get it within two weeks.

The Chinese Library has a huge and constantly growing collection of books on Chinese history, although many of the older ones are in Closed Stacks (including books from the old Nanyang University library) and have to be requested online or at the loans desk. Ordering new books through the Chinese Library does not work well, however, because they don’t have an effective system for ordering books from China at present.

Another good thing about the NUS libraries: both have a large number of academic journals (in English and Chinese) that deal with Asian and Chinese history, and also subscribe to online electronic databases of journals (also in English and Chinese). Many journal articles fill in important gaps that are not covered by books, but get too little attention from non-academics because they are much harder to find outside a university.

If you are not currently an NUS student, a NUS library membership may not cheap but could prove to be a worthwhile investment, as there are centralised resources in the libraries which you may not find anywhere else in Singapore.

5) Attending Talks and Exhibitions

Attending talks and exhibitions also allows interested historians to learn more about their fields of research. For instance, the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) is currently showcasing an exhibition of archaeological artifacts from Sanxingdui in Sichuan. Throughout the exhibition period, ACM invited several speakers from China and the US to give talks on topics related to Sanxingdui. The museum’s coverage of Chinese history and archaeology is also likely to increase as it builds more links with Chinese museums and archaeologists, so now is a good time to subscribe to their mailing list.

As a side note, the importance of archaeology’s in supplementing textual sources on ancient Chinese history has been steadily increasing since the early twentieth century; to the point where few historians can afford to leave archaeological evidence out of their research entirely. In the case of Sanxingdui, archaeology is the main source of knowledge and information about a civilisation that is barely traceable in texts and documents.

6) Banding Together: The China History Forum (CHF)

Singaporeans with an interest in ancient Chinese history may get the depressing illusion that they are the only member of their species in the world. I certainly did in the past, and have met others who thought the same. But we are not alone!

The China History Forum (www.chinahistoryforum.com) has probably done more than anything else to change that perception and to bring fellow historians of China together. Founded in 2004 by a Taiwan-born Singapore Permanent Resident, it is now the largest and most important online community dedicated to the discussion of Chinese history in the English language. CHF has a surprisingly large number of Singaporean members interested in Chinese history, and holds occasional gatherings for members (sometimes to attend ACM talks). The membership is also international in out-look and includes active members from New Zealand, Russia, Western Europe, India, the Americas, and of course China.

CHF thus compensates for the small number of Chinese history enthusiasts in most of its members’ countries by connecting them with enthusiasts around the world. Naturally, members from different countries will occasionally get into quarrels each other (particularly on issues relating to Taiwan and Japan!). But the forum’s governing philosophy of political neutrality, inclusiveness, and non-nationalistic objectivity usually serves to keep propagandistic and polemical content at a minimum.

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The above pointers are of course derived from my personal journey studying Chinese history. They have been most useful and will continue to help me in my pursuit of historical knowledge on Ancient China. I do hope they can also help fellow historians of China in similar ways.

The author graduates in August 2007 with a Masters (Arts) in History, from the Department of History, National University of Singapore. He will be studying for his Ph.D in UC Berkeley come August 2007.