We are deeply indebted to Professor Li Huaiyin of the University of Missouri for this helpful guide to Chinese archives on the internet. As Professor Li indicates, a Web search is now becoming the quickest and most efficient way to get up-to-date information on holdings and access policies at Chinese archives.
--Joseph W. Esherick
As a result of the recent drive to put the government onto the net (zhengfu shangwang), an increasing number of provincial- and county/municipal-level archives in China have published their websites in the Internet. The best ones, as you find below, include not only basic information about the archive, such as the contents of its collections and regulations regarding their availability to the public, but also part or all of their file catalogs and even online search tools that allow users to look for the name and number of needed files directly from the website. Most of these sites are active and readily accessible; others are unavailable temporarily or for ever. Since new websites are emerging steadily and the existing ones are upgrading their contents frequently and even changing their URL addresses, this collection of Chinese archives websites is far from up-to-date and exhaustive. A large number of similar sites are not included below, due to the limited time and scope of my search. To get the information about the archive you are interested in, I suggest that you find its web site on your own. The best search engine I recommend is Google (http://www.google.com). Simply type in the name of the archive in Chinese characters and you can quickly locate its URL address (if any). Where no archive website is available from the locality that you are studying, you may first visit the website of the local government. Now almost every county/municipal government in China has its web site, which can be a good starting point of your search. Finally, a few words about the Chinese archive system: At both the provincial and county/municipal levels, there are two parallel institutions. One is called dangan ju (at the county or municipal level) or dangan ting (at the provincial level), which is an administrative agency. The other is the archives per se, called dangan guan at all levels. In most localities, however, the two institutions are actually the same one, in Chinese jargon, ne danwei hanging two plates. It is no wonder that most of these websites are published and sponsored by the dangan ju which are in charge of their respective dang n guan or archives.
Should you have any questions or comments, please email me at lihu@missouri.edu.
Huaiyin Li (University of Missouri, Columbia)
ANHUI
The home page of Anhui sheng dangan guan (Anhui provincial archive) is
mentioned in several places as one of the model websites. Unfortunately I found no URL
address of this site. I guess it is temporarily closed.
Chuzhou shi dangan guan (Chuzhou municipal archive) http://www.czjc.ah163.net/czda/ . Contains detailed
information about this archive.
Bengbu shi dangan guan (Bengbu municipal archive)
http://www.bengbu.gov.cn/zwgkl/sdaj.htm A simple page to introduce this archive.
BEIJING
Beijing shi danganguan (Beijing municipal archive)
http://www.bjma.gov.cn/. An excellent site. Users can search its files online.
CHONGQING
Chongqing shi danganguan (Chongqing municipal archive) http://www.qz.fj.cn/xinyuan/danganguan/index.htm (currently inactive)
Xiamen shi chengjian dangan guan (Xiamen municipal archive for city construction) http://www.cic.xm.fj.cn/cjda/main.asp
GUANGDONG
Shantou shi danganguan (Shandou municipal archive) http://www.shantou.gov.cn/daj/index.htm
Guangzhou shi Liwan qu dangan guan (Guangzhou municipality Liwan district archive) http://www.lwa.com.cn/
GUANGXI
Guangxi zizhiqu danganguan (Guangxi autonomous region archive) http://www.gxi.gov.cn/dzjg/weiyh/dang.htm
HAINAN
Hainan sheng danganguan (Hainan provincial archive) http://archives.hainan.gov.cn/
HEBEI
Hebei dangan xinxi wang (Hebei archival information network) http://www.daj.hebnet.gov.cn/default.htm
Zhangjiakou shi dangan guan href="http://www.daj.hebnet.gov.cn/html/zhangjiakou.htm
Qinhuangdao shi dangan guan http://www.daj.hebnet.gov.cn/html/qinghuangdao.htm
Chengde shi dangan guan http://www.daj.hebnet.gov.cn/html/chengde.htm
Shijiazhuang shi dangan guan http://www.daj.hebnet.gov.cn/html/shijiazhuang.htm
Hengshui shi dangan guan http://www.daj.hebnet.gov.cn/html/baoding.htm
Xintai shi dangan guan http://www.daj.hebnet.gov.cn/html/xingtai.htm
HENAN
Luoyang shi danganguan (Luoyang municipal archive) http://www.ly.gov.cn/sw/daj/daj.htm
Xinxiang dangan xinxi wang (Xinxiang archive information network) http://daj.xx.gov.cn/
Kaifeng shi dangan guan http://www.378net.com/da378/ or http://www.DA378.NET (both inactive)
Zhecheng xian dangan guan http://www.zhecheng.sq.gov.cn/ZCXDAJ.HTM
HEILONGJIANG
No site found.
HUBEI
Hubei sheng dangan wangluo xinxi zhongxin (Hubei province archival network information center) http://www.anic.gov.cn/
Ezhou shi danganguan (Ezhou municipal archive) http:\\www.ezhou.gov.cn/daj/daj-body.htm (inactive)
HUNAN
Loudi diqu danganchu (Loudi regional archive) http://www.ld.hn.cninfo.net/dang/dang/dang.htm (inactive)
JILIN
Jilin sheng danganguan http://www.jl.cninfo.net/resource/jlsdag/index.htm A very good site, with online catalog, online info search, and service guide.
JIANGSU
Wuxi shi dangan guan (Wuxi municipal archive) http://dajg.wuxi.gov.cn/ A good site, including all information regarding access to their collections.
Yixing shi dangan guan http://www.jsyixing.gov.cn/department/daj/yxdagjj.htm Excellent, providing all needed information.
Changshu shi dangan guan http://s-da-j.nj.gov.cn/gb/whwspart/sdaj/index1.htm
Nanjing shi Xuanwu qu dangan guan http://www.xwzf.jlonline.com/daj.htm
Jiangyin shi dangan guan http://www.jiangyin.gov.cn/zfjg/danganju/
Lianyungang shi dangan guan http://daj.lyg.gov.cn/dajwy.htm
JIANGXI
Jingdezhen shi dangan ju http://www.jdz.gov.cn/zfbm/daj.html
LIAONING
Yingkou shi danganguan (Yingkou municipal archive) http://archives.yingkou.net.cn/index2.htm An excellent site, with an electronic version of this archives' guide.
NEIMENGGU
Neimenggu danganguan http://www.nmginve.gov.cn/AAA/Business/C01-07/l1-02.htm
NINGXIA
Yingchuan shi dangan guan (Yingchuan municipal archive) http://www.nxbusiness.com.cn/dag/dan.htm Provides basic information about this archive.
SHANDONG
Shangdong sheng danganguan (Shangdong provincial archive) http://www.sdab.gov.cn/
Linyi shi danganguan (Linyi municipal archive) http://da.linyi.gov.cn/da/dalt_4.asp
Yinan xian dangan guan http://www.lwa.com.cn/
Tancheng tongji xinxi gang http://www.lwa.com.cn/
Feixian tongji xinxi gang http://www.linyi.gov.cn/tjjzfw/fxtj/index.htm
Cangshan tongji xinxi gang http://www.linyi.gov.cn/tjjzfw/cstj/default.htm
Yimeng tongji http://www.linyi.gov.cn/tjjzfw/pytj/index.htm
Lunan tongji xinxi gang http://www.linyi.gov.cn/tjjzfw/jntj/main.htm
Mengyin tongji xinxi gang http://www.linyi.gov.cn/tjjzfw/mytj/index.htm
Linshu tongji xinxi gang http://www.linyi.gov.cn/tjjzfw/listj/index.htm
SHANGHAI
Shanghai dangan xinxi wang (Shanghai archives information network) http://www.archives.sh.cn/yqlj/main.htm
Fengxian xian dangan guan http://www.fxda.fp.net.cn/
Congming xian dangan guan http://www.archives.sh.cn/yqlj/cmdag/cmhome.htm
Songjian qu dangan guan http://sjdan.sj.net.cn/
SHANXI
Changzhi shi danganguan (Changzhi municipal archive) http://www.cz.sx.cei.gov.cn/czeic/pages/gxbl/zgcz68/zgcz68c.htm
SHAANXI
Shaanxi sheng danganguan (Shaanxi provincial archives) http://www.netshaanxi.com/danganjuindex.htm (currently inactive)
SICHUAN
Sichuan sheng danganguan (Sichuan provincial archive) http://swww.swww.com.cn/archive/ One of the best web sites I found; including an online catalog of archival files, very detailed description of its collections, and sample archives that cover a wide array of topics.
TIANJIN
Tianjin shi danganguan (Tianjin municipal archive) http://www.tjdag.gov.cn/ Provides complete information about the archive, including an online catalog of files.
YUNNAN
Kunming shi danganguan (Kunming municipal archive) http://www.kmpg.gov.cn/kmda/index.htm
No site found from Yunnan provincial archive; here is a link to "Yunnan provincial
regulation on archives" http://fltd.ynht.com/difang/datl_97.htm
This page has a brief introduction to Yunnan provincial archive: http://www.unn.com.cn/GB/channel23/176/848/200105/29/66218.html
ZHEJIANG
Zhejiang dangan wang (Zhejiang archives information net) http://www.zjda.gov.cn/ Includes detailed information about Zhejiang sheng danganguan (Zhejiang provincial archive).
Hangzhou shi dangan guan http://www.hzda.org/
Ningbo shi dangan guan http://www.dangan.ningbo.gov.cn/dangan/index.htm
Zhenhai qu dangan guan http://www.nbzh.net.cn/zhdag/
Fenghua shi dangan guan http://www.fh.gov.cn/yellow/gov/daj.htm
Zhoushan shi dangan guan http://www.zhoushan-china.com/government/organization/dangan/index.htm (inactive)
Pingyang xian dangan guan http://www.pingyang.gov.cn/zhengfujiguan/danwei/9.htm (inactive)
August 9, 2001