Here you find general basic resources from around the web.
- Library resources
- Digital Learning resources
- Chinese transcription systems
- Basic timelines
- Art Collections
- “Doing history”
- Teaching history
Library resources
- Trexler Library: Subject guides for History Courses and First Year Seminars
- Citation guides help (In my courses, we use Chicago Notes and Bibliography style)
Digital Learning resources
- https://community.bergbuilds.domains/: The Bergbuilds Community Portal showcases the work done by students, staff and faculty in our Bergbuilds community. Explore and be inspired!
- Help for Bergbuilds: If you need a quick refresher on the technical side of things, check it out on this help page.
- Digital Learning Assistants (DLAs) Spring 2020 schedule (Every weekday 2-6pm)
- Go to the Hive (Trexler Library B06) for assistance
- How to take part in the Pressbooks projects for East Asian courses (webpage)
Randomizing scripts
Chinese transcription systems
Pinyin is the most widely used system for mainland China (People’s Republic of China), but some materials use, or quote from, older materials that use other transcription systems. The most commonly used alternative transcription system is Wade-Giles. These are some resources to help you convert between these two.
There are a couple of clues to look out for that can tell you which system an author/translator uses. Pinyin uses x, q and z, knits syllables together as one word (Zhongguo, lishi). It occasionally uses a ‘ to prevent confusion between two different ways to separate syllables, for instance Chang’an versus Chan’gan. Wade-Giles uses ‘ to indicate an aspirated consonant, and uses – to separate syllables (Chung-kuo, li-shih). The letters x and q are not used (and z only in tzu/tz’u). That said, there are some syllables that look the same in transcription but are pronounced differently, for instance ju, chi, chuan. Check for other transcribed words in the same text, they will offer more clues.
- http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/mulu/wgpy.html is a simple list
- http://www.eastasianlib.org/ctp/RomTable/Chipinyintowade.pdf is a downloadable PDF for handy reference when you’re offline
- http://ctext.org/pinyin.pl?if=en&remap=gb is an online conversation tool. Select the original transcription system and the one you want to convert to, from the drop-down menus. Be careful and double check spelling in original and in final result, the tool may make mistakes or not insert hyphens in the required places.
Basic Timelines
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-13017882 A quick overview of some key dates in Chinese history
- http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/timelines/china_timeline.htm A slightly more developed timeline
- http://www.chaos.umd.edu/history/time_line.html: A useful timeline which also includes some smaller (shorter) dynasties.
Art collections
- https://etcweb.princeton.edu/asianart/china.jsp Princeton University Art Museum section on Chinese art. The searchable catalogue is here.
- https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/curatorial-departments/asian-art The Metropolitan Museum in New York has an extensive collection, and a great online catalogue. Many of their publications are available as open access PDFs.
Doing History
- “What does it mean to think historically?” The “Five C-s” of historical thinking explained: change over time, causality, context, complexity, and contingency
