Guides: East Asian Studies Research Guide for Graduate Students: English-language Reference Materials

Oxford Bibliographies Online

An excellent source to start with is Oxford Bibliographies Online. While the record indicated here is for Art History, the resource covers many subject areas. The articles are all written by experts in the field and is presented in annotated bibliography format. This allows researchers to get a good sense of a field--who the most important scholars are, what resources to focus on, and how to expand your research. Click on the "+" icon below each title to find it in our catalog. Some pages to consider:

Chinese Studies
Buddhism
Art History [includes articles on Japanese Architecture, Japanese Buddhist Sculpture, Japanese Ceramics, Japanese Literati Painting and Calligraphy]
Other fields of interest might be Philosophy [Chinese Philosophy], Cinema Studies [Chinese Cinema; Anime; Japanese Cinema; Korean Cinema]

Background Information-Handbooks

Handbooks are subject area tools and provide facts, terms, concepts, movements, etc.
Subject dictionaries focus on word definitions in a specific subject area.
Encyclopedias provide basic and general background information on a topic or subject.
Bibliographies are sources that contain detailed information about where to find further information on a specific topic or subject. Sometimes these look like the bibliographies you might compile at the end of a term paper. Sometimes they are books or online resources with a list of resources. Other times they act like annotated bibliographies, with short essays or statements describing the resource and why it might be useful to a researcher. Bibliographies differ from handbooks because they go into further depth on a topic. They may include critical essays where the author identifies the core literature of a field of study. It illustrates what is available in a given field, while a literature review often opens up questions for new inquiries.

The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics by Chris Shei (Editor); Saihong Li (Editor)
ISBN: 9781003090205
Publication Date: 2022-07-28
The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics provides a comprehensive overview of the ways in which Asian languages should be conceptualized as a whole, the distinct characteristics of each language group, and the relationships and results of interactions between the languages and language families in Asia. Asia is the largest and the most populous continent on Earth, and the site of many of the first civilizations. This Handbook aims to provide a systematic overview of Asian languages in both theoretical and functional perspectives, optimally combining the two in intercultural settings. In other words, the text will provide a reference for researchers of individual Asian languages or language groups against the background of the entire range of Asian languages. Not only does the Handbook act as a reference to a particular language, it also connects each language to other Asian languages in the perspective of the entire Asian continent. Cultural roles and communicative functions of language are also emphasized as an important domain where the various Asian languages interact and shape each other. With extensive coverage of both theoretical and applied linguistic topics, The Routledge Handbook of Asian Linguistics is an indispensable resource for students and researchers working in this area.
Encyclopedia of Chinese History by Michael Dillon (Editor)
ISBN: 9781317817154
Publication Date: 2016-12-01
China has become accessible to the west in the last twenty years in a way that was not possible in the previous thirty. The number of westerners travelling to China to study, for business or for tourism has increased dramatically and there has been a corresponding increase in interest in Chinese culture, society and economy and increasing coverage of contemporary China in the media. Our understanding of China's history has also been evolving. The study of history in the People's Republic of China during the Mao Zedong period was strictly regulated and primary sources were rarely available to westerners or even to most Chinese historians. Now that the Chinese archives are open to researchers, there is a growing body of academic expertise on history in China that is open to western analysis and historical methods. This has in many ways changed the way that Chinese history, particularly the modern period, is viewed. The Encyclopedia of Chinese History covers the entire span of Chinese history from the period known primarily through archaeology to the present day. Treating Chinese history in the broadest sense, the Encyclopedia includes coverage of the frontier regions of Manchuria, Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet that have played such an important role in the history of China Proper and will also include material on Taiwan, and on the Chinese diaspora. In A-Z format with entries written by experts in the field of Chinese Studies, the Encyclopedia will be an invaluable resource for students of Chinese history, politics and culture.
Chinese History, Volume 1 by Endymion Wilkinson
ISBN: 9780674260184
Publication Date: 2022-08-30
The sixth edition of Chinese History: A New Manual, revised and expanded to two volumes, includes the latest developments in digital tools and the ancillary disciplines essential for work on Chinese history. Volume 1 covers topics ranging from Language to Technology. Volume 2 presents primary and secondary sources chronologically by period.
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Japan by Richard J. Bowring (Editor); Peter F. Kornicki (Editor)
ISBN: 0521403529
Publication Date: 1993-05-27
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Japan is the essential reference to all facets of Japan past and present. Up-to-date, authoritative and wide-ranging in scope, it covers all the general reader, student, business person, journalist, researcher, tourist or armchair traveller would want to know. A highly absorbing read, the Encyclopedia is also filled with the facts, figures and general data on Japan that make it an indispensable source of information: for example, that the safest place to be during an earthquake in Japan is in a bamboo grove; or that one of the greatest delicacies of Japanese cuisine, the fugu, is deadly poisonous in the hands of an unskilled chef. It gives the latest statistics too, from Japan's dramatically ageing population, to a complete listing of its prime ministers, to valuable data on the powerful Japanese advertising industry. Throughout, full-colour photographs, maps and graphics generously illustrate the book and additional boxed features highlight important topics or issues relevant to the text. This, in a single volume, is a complete and fascinating picture of Japan and its people: its rich inherited traditions and culture, its modern complexities and its tantalising future role in the world.
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary South Korea by Sojin Lim (Editor); Niki J. P. Alsford (Editor)
ISBN: 9781000422283
Publication Date: 2021-08-30
The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary South Korea offers a ground-breaking study of the socio-political development of the Korean peninsula in the contemporary period. Written by an international team of scholars and experts, contributions to this book address key intellectual questions in the development of Korean studies, projecting new ways of thinking about how international systems can be organised and how local societies adapt to global challenges. Academically rigorous, each chapter defines current research and lends the reader greater understanding of the social, cultural, economic, and political developments of South Korea, ranging from chapters on the Korean Wave to relations with North Korea and the Korean language overseas. The volume is divided into eight sections, each representing a focused area of inquiry: socio-political history contemporary politics political economy and development society culture international relations security and diplomacy South Korea in international education This handbook provides an interdisciplinary and comprehensive account of contemporary South Korea. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of Korean history, politics and international relations, culture and society, and will also appeal to policy makers interested in the Indo-Asia Pacific region.
Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia by Bryan S. Turner (Editor); Oscar Salemink (Editor)
ISBN: 9781315758534
Publication Date: 2014-09-25
The Routledge Handbook of Religions in Asia provides a contemporary and comprehensive overview of religion in contemporary Asia. Compiled and introduced by Bryan S. Turner and Oscar Salemink, the Handbook contains specially written chapters by experts in their respective fields. The wide-ranging introduction discusses issues surrounding Orientalism and the historical development of the discipline of Religious Studies. It conveys how there have been many centuries of interaction between different religious traditions in Asia and discusses the problem of world religions and the range of concepts, such as high and low traditions, folk and formal religions, popular and orthodox developments. Individual chapters are presented in the following five sections: 　 Asian Origins: religious formations Missions, States and Religious Competition Reform Movements and Modernity Popular Religions Religion and Globalization: social dimensions 　 Striking a balance between offering basic information about religious cultures in Asia and addressing the complexity of employing a western terminology in societies with radically different traditions, this advanced level reference work will be essential reading for students, researchers and scholars of Asian Religions, Sociology, Anthropology, Asian Studies and Religious Studies.
Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature by Rachael Hutchinson (Editor); Leith Douglas Morton (Editor)
ISBN: 9781315762210
Publication Date: 2016-06-03
The Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature provides a comprehensive overview of how we study Japanese literature today. Rather than taking a purely chronological approach to the content, the chapters survey the state of the field through a number of pressing issues and themes, examining the ways in which it is possible to read modern Japanese literature and situate it in relation to critical theory. The Handbook examines various modes of literary production (such as fiction, poetry, and critical essays) as distinct forms of expression that nonetheless are closely interrelated. Attention is drawn to the idea of the bunjin as a 'person of letters' and a more realistic assessment is provided of how writers have engaged with ideas - not labelled a 'novelist' or 'poet', but a 'writer' who may at one time or another choose to write in various forms. The book provides an overview of major authors and genres by situating them within broader themes that have defined the way writers have produced literature in modern Japan, as well as how those works have been read and understood by different readers in different time periods. The Routledge Handbook of Modern Japanese Literature draws from an international array of established experts in the field as well as promising young researchers. It represents a wide variety of critical approaches, giving the study a broad range of perspectives. This handbook will be of interest to students and scholars of Asian Studies, Literature, Sociology, Critical Theory, and History.
The Oxford handbook of classical Chinese literature by Wiebke Denecke, Wai-Yee Li, and Xiaofei Tian
ISBN: 9780199356614
Publication Date: 2017
This handbook of Classical Chinese literature from 1000 bce through 900 ce aims to provide a solid introduction to the field, inspire scholars in Chinese Studies to explore innovative conceptual frameworks and pedagogical approaches in the studying and teaching of classical Chinese literature, and facilitate a comparative dialogue with scholars of premodern East Asia and other classical and medieval literary traditions around the world. The handbook integrates issue-oriented, thematic, topical, and cross-cultural approaches to the classical Chinese literary heritage with historical perspectives. It introduces both literature and institutions of literary culture, in particular court culture and manuscript culture, which shaped early and medieval Chinese literary production.
The Columbia History of Chinese Literature by Victor H. Mair (Editor)
ISBN: 0231528515
Publication Date: 2010-03-10
The Columbia History of Chinese Literature is a comprehensive yet portable guide to China's vast literary traditions. Stretching from earliest times to the present, the text features original contributions by leading specialists working in all genres and periods. Chapters cover poetry, prose, fiction, and drama, and consider such contextual subjects as popular culture, the impact of religion, the role of women, and China's relationship with non-Sinitic languages and peoples. Opening with a major section on the linguistic and intellectual foundations of Chinese literature, the anthology traces the development of forms and movements over time, along with critical trends, and pays particular attention to the premodern canon.
Brill's Encyclopedia of China by Daniel Leese (Editor)
ISBN: 9789004168633
Publication Date: 2008-10-29
This is a convenient thousand-page reference on China from its early beginnings, with a clear focus on the modern period from the mid-nineteenth century to the 21st century. Arranged in alphabetical order, it covers the history, geography, society, economy, politics, science, and culture of China. All contributions are written by an international team of European, Asian, Australian and American experts, carefully selected from a wide spectrum of academic disciplines. Originally published and warmly received in German (edited by the GIGA Institute of Asian Studies in Hamburg, published by WBG, Darmstadt, 2003), this English translation, including a statistical data update, will serve both English-language students and faculty in conveniently providing a wealth of reliable and solid information on China.
For the entire list of books in our collection, see here.

East Asian Studies Research Guide for Graduate Students

Footnote Chasing

Useful websites

Oxford Bibliographies Online

Background Information-Handbooks