Doing Fieldwork in China – Reading List

Books

• Bremen, Jan Van , Eyal Ben-Ari and Syed Farid Alatas (eds.) (2006) Asian Anthropology. Routledge
• Carlson, Allen, Mary E. Gallagher, Kenneth Lieberthal and Melanie Manion (eds.) (2010) Contemporary Chinese Politics. New Sources, Methods, and Field Strategies. Cambridge University Press
• Heimer, Maria and Stig Thøgersen (eds.) (2006) Doing Fieldwork in China. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
• Mulvenon, James C.  and Andrew N. D. Yang (2001) Seeking Truth from Facts – A Retrospective on Chinese Military Studies in the post-Mao Era.  The Rand Corporation. (Available also in Ebrary)
• Turner, Sarah (ed.) (2013) Red Stamps and Gold Stars. Fieldwork Dilemmas in Upland Socialist Asia. NIAS Press
• Ye, Wa and Joseph Esherick (1996) Chinese Archives – An Introductory Guide. Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley.
• Institute of Developing Economies (2003) Doing Legal Research in Asian Countries. China, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam. IDE Asian Law Series No. 23.
• Ye, Yunshan (2014) The ALA Guide to Researching Modern China. American Library Association

Articles on Fieldwork and Surveys

• Abhik, Roy Walters, G.P. Peter and Sheriff T.K. Luk (2001) ”Chinese Puzzles and Paradoxes. Conducting Business Research in China,” Journal of Business Research, vol. 52, no. 2, pp.203-10
• Bian, Yanjie (2003) ”Sociological Research on Reform-Era China,” Issues and Studies, vol. 38:4 and vol. 39:1
• Blum, Susan D. (2000) ”Tales from the Fields of Yunnan : Listening to Han Stories,” Modern China, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 148-165
• Brokaw, Cynthia J. (2001) ”Fieldwork on the Social and Economic History of Chinese Print Culture: A Survey of Sources,” East Asian Library Journal, vol.10, no. 2, pp. 6-59
• Hendersonl, Gail (1993) ”Survival guide to survey research in China,” China Exchange News, vol.21, no. 1
• Herrold, Melinda (1999). ”The Cranes of Caohai and Other Incidents of Fieldwork in Southwestern China,” Geographical Review, vol. 89, no. 4, pp.440–448
• Huang, Shuping (2001) ”Sinicizing Anthropology. Theory, Practice, and Human Talent,” Chinese Sociology and Anthropology, vol. 33, no. 4, pp.7-19
• Jacka, Tamara and Josko Petkovic (1998) ”Ethnography and Video: Researching Women in China’s Floating Population,” Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context, Issue 1, September.
• Jaschok, Maria and Jinjun S. (2000) ”Outsider within’: Speaking to Excursions across Cultures,‘‘ Feminist Theory, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 33-58.
• Kraus, Charles (2016) Researching the History of the People’s Republic of China NEW!
• Kuah, Kuhn Eng (1998) ”Doing Anthropology within a transnational framework. A Study of the Singapore Chinese and emigrant village ties,” in Sidney C.H. Cheung (ed.) On the South China Track. Perspectives on Anthropological Research and Teaching. Research Monograph no. 40. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, pp.81-109
• Lee, MaryJo Benton (2003) ”Planning for Success: How to Prepare for Fieldwork Abroad”, The Great Plains Sociologist, vol.1. (based on experiences from Yunnan, China)
• Yin Lu (2012) ”Doing Oral History in the PRC,” Dissertation Reviews.
• Manion, Melanie (1994) ”Survey Research in the Study of Contemporary China: Learning from Local Samples,”The China Quarterly, 139.
• Pieke, Frank (1996) ”Serendipity: Reflections on Fieldwork in China,‘‘ in Dresch, Paul, Wendy James and David Parkin (eds.) Anthropologists in a Wider World. Berghahn Books.
• Schwartz, Jonathan (2001) ”Conducting Research in China : Impediments and Some Options,”  Issues & Studies, vol. 37, no.6, pp.107-127.
  Subject: Discussion on structural and practical impediments to gathering qualitative and quantitative data in China .
• Tsang, Eric W.K. (1998) ”Inside Story: Mind Your Identity When Conducting Cross-National Research,” Organization Studies, vol. 19, no.3, pp. 511-515.
• Tang, Wenfang (2002/2003) ”An Introduction to Survey Research in Urban China,” Issues and Studies, vol. 38:4, vol. 39:1.
• Vallaster, Christine (2000) ”Conducting Field Research in Asia: Fundamental Differences as Compared to Western Societies,” Culture and Psychology , vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 461-476.

Articles on Archives and Primary Sources

• Fresh from the Archives, Dissertation Review
  (This wonderful site contains reviews of archives, including many Chinese archives. Note that the oldest reviews are on the second and third pages.)
• Archives on the History of Christianity in China, Hong Kong Baptist University Library
• Bartlett, Beatrice S. (1991) ”The Number Three Archives of China: The Liaoning Provincial Archives,” China Exchange News 19.
• Carsten, Hermann-Pillath, Daniel Kirchert, Jiancheng Pan (2002) ”Prefecture-level Statistics as a Source of Data for Research into China’s Regional Development,” The China Quarterly, vol. 172, pp.956-985
• Dunch, Ryan (1994) ”Archival sources for Fujian History. Notes on a year in Fuzhou,” China Exchange News, vol. 22, no. 3.
• Elliot, Mark (1991) ”Research in the Number One Archives,”  [Beijing]. China Exchange News, 3&4.
• Ping Jia, (2010) “The development of document supply services in China,” Interlending & Document Supply, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 152-157
• Kern, M. Kathleen (2008) ”From Accidental Technologist to Accidental Traveler, or What I Learned from a Month in Shanghai,” Reference & User Services Quarterly, vol. 48, no. 2, pp. 118-121
• Millward, James (1991) ”The Gansu provincial library: A Key Resource for Xibei Studies,’‘ China Exchange News (Fall/Winter)
• Moss, William W. (1996) ”Dang’an: Contemporary Chinese archives,” The China Quarterly, vol. 145, pp.112-129
• Shambaugh, David (1994) ”Appendix: A Bibliographical Essay on New Sources for the Study of China’s Foreign Relations and National Security,” in Thomas W. Robinson and David Shambaugh (eds.) Chinese Foreign Policy. Theory and Practice. Oxford : Clarendon Press; New York : Oxford University Press
• Thøgersen, Stig and Soren Clausen (1992) ”New Reflections in the Mirror: Local Chinese Gazetteers (Difangzhi) in the 1980s,” The Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs, no. 27, pp.161-184
• Xing, Long and Weiqiang Ma (2008) Rural Grassroots Files From the Collectivization Era. Archives of the Chinese Social History Research Center of Shanxi University, Modern China, no. 34, pp.372-395
• Yan, Huai and Suisheng Zhao (1993) ”A Note on China’s Confidential Documents,” The Journal of Contemporary China, Fall no. 4, pp. 75-92
• Yeh, Wen-hsin (1991) ”The Shanghai Municipal Archives,” China Exchange News, vol.19, no. 3&4.

Other

• Field Research Method Lab, University of Leeds
• Navigating China’s archives, Asian Studies Association of Australia