Resources for Chinese Studies
Classes and supervisions are usually conducted in the Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies building, located in the centrally placed Sidgwick site. The Faculty Library and Common Room are natural centres of activity for undergraduates reading Chinese and other oriental subjects.
Students may also use the University Library's sizeable holdings of Chinese books. The Library's Chinese collection, founded on Sir Thomas Wade's donation of his books in 1888, is recognised as one of the finest in Europe. The Library has entensive holdings in history, local and national; biography; geography; archaeology and epigraphy; law and literature. It is especially strong in holdings relating to early and premodern Chinese history; but twentieth century materials are also being built up. The number of titles is now about 100,000. some 900 serials are taken. The Chinese collection is complemented by large Japanese holdings.
The Library is open-shelf, and easy access to its stacks is one of the great advantages it offers to research students.
Those students interested in Chinese art can make use of the Fitzwilliam Museum's internationally renowned collections. There is a specialist library of materials relating to the history of Chinese science, medicine and technology at the Needham Research Institute, and a teaching library at the Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies. Students can also have easy access to libraries in the Anthropology Department, the Economics Department and the Judge Business School. Cambridge is within easy reach of London and the British Library and the School of Oriental and African Studies Library.
