Published archival and documentary collections
The Qing state inherited from the Ming many ideas about the requirements for enlightened rule and good governance, chief among which was a belief in the value of good record-keeping - a belief, one might note, that goes back to the so-called oracle bones of the Shang and the earliest days of Chinese political organization. Manchu rulers and their servants thus kept fastidious written records of a stupefying range of the activities of thousands of offices, high and low, in a variety of languages.
Though by no means has everything survived, the accumulated archive that remained after the dynasty's fall constitutes one of the greatest deposits of documentary materials left to the world by any pre-modern polity. Exact numbers are difficult to come by, but it is safe to say that the total number of documents - some consisting of a single sheet of paper, others of multiple-volume compilations - comes to well over ten million items, and perhaps twice this number. The overwhelming majority of these materials are accessible in the following four locations: the First Historical Archives 第一历史档案馆 in Beijing; the Liaoning Provincial Archives 辽宁省档案馆 in Shenyang; the Books and Documents Department 圖書文獻館 of the National Palace Museum 國立故宮博物院, in Taipei; and the Institute of History and Philology 歷史語言研究所 at Academia Sinica 中央研究院, also in Taipei. Additional sizable deposits of archives may be found in the Tibet Autonomous Region Archives in Lhasa, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Archives in Hohhot, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Archives in Urumqi, and the National Central Archive of Mongolia in Ulan Bator. Further minor collections of Qing documents are today scattered in scores of libraries around the world, including a handful at the Harvard-Yenching Library, purchased by Francis Cleaves at Peking bookstores in the 1930s. Many also remain in private hands.
Regardless of one's specialization or field of inquiry, state-generated archives are an indispensable resource for any student of Qing history, revealing not only the principles and practices of governance centrally and locally, but also providing endless first-hand information about the lives of millions of people from all walks of life, at all levels of society, everywhere in the empire. For many scholars, however, direct access to the archives is limited to research visits of shorter or longer duration; research projects thus customarily have come to depend at least in part on what is available in print or, more recently, what is available online. To date, only a very small proportion of documents have been published: by Endymion Wilkinson's estimate, as of a century after the end of Qing rule, about six percent of extant Qing archives have appeared in print. One would like to say that this constitutes the "best" of the archives, but without a comprehensive assessment of what has been published as compared to what remains in storage, such a judgment would surely be unwise. This page offers an overview of published collections of Qing documents (either in facsimile or in transcription), but readers are reminded that new collections continue to appear every year.
Documentary collections published during the Qing
The Qing court oversaw directly or permitted the publication of many kinds of documents, but these were often edited for “public” consumption and circulated among a limited audience. Some of these materials are given here; others, such as the Collected Institutes (Huidian), the Huangchao wenxian tongkao, and fanglue military histories, which also incorporate documentary materials in whole are in part, are listed on other pages on the site.
Tingxun geyan (full title: Shengzu ren huangdi tingxun geyan 聖祖仁皇帝庭訓格言, "Aphorisms from the familiar instructions of Shengzu, the benevolent emperor").
Originally published in 1730 under the personal supervision of the Yongzheng emperor, this work contains roughly 250 parables from the life of the Kangxi emperor intended to showcase his wisdom and sagacity. There are both Manchu and Chinese editions; a literal translation of the Manchu title, Booi tacihiyan-i ten-i gisun, might be "The superlative sayings of family teachings." Though we can be sure that the Yongzheng emperor's involvement resulted in a carefully cultivated image of his father, nonetheless, the many highly personal stories in the collection (especially when read in Manchu) retain a directness that would appear to reflect with some authenticity what we know about the personality of Kangxi from other sources.
Yongzheng zhupi yuzhi 雍正硃批諭旨. 1732–1738.
To polish his own image, two years after the publication of Tingxun geyan, Yongzheng took the unusual step of publishing his own edicts, which are arranged chronologically in these volumes. Because they were edited for publication, they should be used only as an index of items of potential interest; it is wise to trace down the originals and compare before citing. There is a finding aid: Yongzheng zhupi yuzhi bulu zouzhe congmu (Peking: National Palace Publication, 1930).
Shangyu baqi 上諭八旗. 12 juan. 1733–1735.
Shangyu qiwu yifu 上諭旗務議覆. 1735.
Collections of edicts from the Yongzheng period all pertaining to affairs of the Eight Banners. These are not so heavily edited as the preceding (among other things, they were meant to be used as reference materials by banner officers) and are a valuable source. Contents are arranged chronologically.
Da Qing shichao shengxun 大清十朝聖訓 (Sacred Instructions (or "imperial injunctions") of ten reigns). 922 juan. 1880.
“Sacred instructions” first began to be compiled in the Song (see Wilkinson 26.1). These for the Qing are a collection, made under imperial auspices, of edicts and decrees of Qing rulers on various subjects, from the beginning of the dynasty through the Tongzhi period 同治 (i.e., 1616-1874). As such, it represents a normative picture of imperial administration, but also a guide to the evolution of policy. Documents for each reign form a separate unit under the reign title. The arrangement is general similar for all reigns, but with some minor variations. As an example, the following table is drawn from the Daoguang shengxun, covering the period between 1821-1850, and published in 130 juan under forty headings with a preface dated 1856.
Huangchao zhanggu huibian 皇朝掌故彙編 (Collected historical records of the reigning dynasty). Zhang Shouyong 張壽鏞, et al., comps. 1902.
This work of 100 juan was privately compiled by Zhang and originally intended to serve as a supplement to the Huangchao wenxian tongkao. Dealing with governmental matters from the early Qing period down to about 1900, it is divided into two main sections, the Inner Part (neibian) and the Outer Part (waibian). The former contains matters indigenously Chinese; the Outer Part includes everything that was introduced from foreign countries or with which foreigners or foreign nations were connected. This division is often made arbitrarily. Source materials for the collection are listed in the introductory pages, but the work should be used with caution.
Documentary collections published after the Qing
1. Pre-1949 documentary collections
The valuable materials published in the 1920s and the 1930s, some of which are listed below, represent a first attempt by archivists and historians to sort out and make available to scholars unedited documents from the Qing period. Because early ROC governments were not terribly interested in preserving historical documents from the fallen dynasty, however, many materials were dispersed then, and an unknown number lost forever. A great number were saved only thanks to private initiatives, most notably the efforts of Luo Zhenyu (1866–1940). The confused and complicated fate of the Qing archives in this period means that collection and publication went on largely uncoordinated and that the materials published are quite varied in content. The majority were taken from the Grand Secretariat archives, but some are from the Grand Council and other government organs. The bias is toward the early Qing. All are typeset editions, not facsimiles, which introduces an element of error into their use. Because they do not constitute systematic collection, these volumes are not always easy to search, and probably for this reason do not frequently appear in the bibliographies of research monographs and articles. However, most of the original materials reproduced in these publications are now in the collection of Academia Sinica, and with the digitization of the entire collection of Qing archives held in AS, they are now seeing greater use (though not in the form in which they are published here).
The most significant exception to the above characterizations are those collections pertaining to foreign affairs, of which very many were published at this time and which were already being intensively exploited by scholars in the mid-20th c. The two best known titles are given last in this section, but more are listed on the "Foreign Relations" page on the site.
Shiliao congkan chubian 史料叢刊初編. 10 vols. Dairen (Dalian), 1924. Taipei reprint, 1964. Luo Zhenyu, ed. W 66.2.13
Luo Zhenyu's early role in preserving the documentary heritage of the Qing is well known and described many places, including in Wilkinson (66. 2.2). This collection is the first to be published, and contains a more-or-less random collection of what he regarded as the most important materials, including many from the early Qing. Half of Luo's collection was later acquired by the Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica, which continued to publish them in its own series (see below).
Shiliao congbian 史料叢編. 12 vols. Dairen (Dalian), 1935. Luo Zhenyu, ed.
More of the materials in the famous 8,000 burlap sacks of Qing documents that Luo bought up using his own money to save them from being pulped. Most of them date from the early Qing, and include letters from Hong Taiji to the Korean king, qijuzhu from the Kangxi reign, and extensive sections of huangce.
Zhanggu congbian 掌故叢編. Beiping, January 1928–March 1929. W 50.2.2
This monthly periodical series published documents (again, drawn from the materials rescued by Luo Zhenyu) on a variety of subjects ranging from the unrecorded decrees of Yongzheng's reign, the visit of the Roman Catholic legate in 1716, the Macartney mission, and some Taiping Rebellion documents. Ten issues were published. Documents are arranged chronologically, but no attempt is made at classification or explanation. An index of all the volumes by topic is found at the back of volume 1 – very handy, given that in these series a single topic tends to reappear numerous times in different volumes.
Wenxian congbian 文獻叢編. 36 vols. Beiping, 1930–1936. Taipei reprint, 1964. W 50.2.2
Seven more ce were published in 1937 and three more before 1943. The index for ce 1–36 is in the first ce for 1937. This series is a continuation of the above Zhanggu congbian. Of interest in this collection are the documents from Korean government archives dating to the 1620s.
Shiliao xunkan 史料旬刊. Beiping, 1930-31. 40 ce. W 50.2.2 (w/ entry for Zhanggu congbian)
Each volume contains its own index. Includes documents from the Grand Secretariat dealing mainly with important historical episodes from the whole Qing period and foreign relations prior to 1836. This series continues Shiliao congkan chubian, and was published by the same Wenxian guan that was responsible for Zhanggu congbian and Wenxian congbian.
Ming-Qing shiliao 明清史料. 100 vols. Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, ed. Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1930-1936. W 50.2.2
Huge but random collection of materials, most from late Ming through mid-Qing. There is a table of contents, but the lack of an index makes their use inconvenient. Superseded by Ming-Qing dang’an (see below).
Ming-Qing neige daku shiliao 明清內閣大庫史料. 2 vols. Jin Yufu, ed. 1949.
Reprints five hundred memorials from the immediate pre-conquest period, along with some from early Qing. The relationship of these materials to those in the rest of the Grand Secretariat archive is unclear.
Shunzhi nianjian dang 順治年間檔 (Archives from the Shunzhi years). Xinjing [Changchun]: Manchukuo National Central Library, 1942.
71 documents dating from 1647–1661, from the collection in the Mukden Imperial Household Department, discovered in the Mukden (a.k.a. Shengjing, Fengtian, Shenyang) palace complex in 1925 by Jin Liang 金梁. Includes a complete transcription and a running translation into Japanese. A Chinese translation (without the transcription) was published in volume 2 of Qingshi ziliao (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1981).
Chouban yiwu shimo 籌辦夷務始末. 260 juan. Beiping, 1929–31. W 50.2.7
This collection, which covers the period from 1836 to 1874, is a photograph of the original official compilation by the Qing Yiwuju 夷務局 (“foreign affairs bureau”), effective from about 1845 to 1875. Since it was never meant for publication in the Qing, it pulls no punches (only about 50% of its contents are duplicated in the Shilu). A basic source for research on late Qing foreign relations, this work lay behind much early Western scholarship on the subject. There is a very helpful index by David Nelson Rowe (1960).
Qingji waijiao shiliao 清季外交史料. 5 vols. Beiping, 1932–35. W 50.2.7
This set of documents picks up where CBYWSM leaves off, spanning the period from 1875 to 1911. There are 218 juan for the Guangxu period (1875 1908) and 24 juan for the Xuantong period (1908 1911). The series up to 1904 was compiled by Wang Daofu, a member of the Secretariat of the Grand Council. He drew chiefly on this council's official records. His son continued the compilation work until 1911. Valuable appendices with treaties and maps. There is also an index for this collection.
2. Post-1949 Taiwan publications
WWII not only interrupted the compilation and publication of Qing documents, but contributed to the further dispersal of the archives, a significant portion of which was brought by the KMT government to Taiwan in 1948. Publication of Qing-era documents only resumed in the 1960s, at first of reprint volumes, and then gradually also of new collections. The National Palace Museum led the way in this effort, followed by Academia Sinica, which (as mentioned above) was the repository of many Grand Secretariat materials.
National Palace Museum
The National Palace Museum 國立故宮博物院 in Taipei (NPM, aka "Gugong" 故宮“ - but be careful in using this abbreviation, since the same term is also often applied to the Palace Museum in Beijing, which is simply 故宮博物院) holds almost no routine memorials (these are mostly at Academia Sinica), but it does have about one-fourth (156,000) of the estimated 715,000 palace memorials (奏摺 zouzhe) preserved from the Qing period. The remainder are mostly in Beijing, at the FHA. Virtually all of the palace memorials from the 17th and 18th c. held in these two collections have been published by now in facsimile form (some more than once). Those at the NPM have all been digitized and are accessible online via this open access portal (note that you will need to create an account to use the site; this costs nothing, but it takes a day to get the confirmation with your credentials). To be able to view the images of the documents themselves, you will also need to install proprietary software on your computer; this software is only compatible with Windows operating systems.
The original published versions of the Qing archives held at the NPM include:
Yuan Shikai zouzhe zhuanji 袁世凱奏摺專集. 8 vols. 1970.
Dao-Xian-Tong-Guang sichao zouyi 道咸同光四朝奏議. 12 vols. 1970.
Nian Gengyao zouzhe zhuanji 年羹堯奏摺專集. 3 vols. 1971.
Contains reproductions of the collected memorials of Nian Gengyao (d. 1726), who achieved considerable fame for his military exploits on the western frontier before being put to death by the Yongzheng emperor. Vols. 1 and 2 contain 90 Chinese memorials, 194 Manchu memorials, 9 letters in Manchu, and 40 bilingual edicts. Volume 3 has reproductions of Nian’s already-published Chinese memorials. All of the Manchu memorials were translated and published in Ji Yonghai, Li Pansheng, and Xie Zhiyu, trans., Nian Gengyao Man-Han zouzhe yibian (Tianjin: Tianjin guji chubanshe, 1995).
Gongzhongdang Guangxuchao zouzhe 宮中檔光緒朝奏摺. 26 vols. 1973-1975.
Gongzhongdang Kangxichao zouzhe 宮中檔康熙朝奏摺. 9 vols. 1976.
Volume 1: 16th year of Kangxi's reign, 7th month – 47th year, 10th month (Aug 1677 – Nov 1708)
Volume 2: 47th year, 11th month – 50th year, 2nd month (Dec 1708 – March 1711)
Volume 3: 50th year, 3rd month – 51st year, 9th month (Apr 1711 – Oct 1712)
Volume 4: 51st year, 10th month – 53rd year, 5th month (Nov 1712 – June 1714)
Volume 5: 53rd year, 6th month – 54th year, 12th month (July 1714 – Jan 1716)
Volume 6: 55th year, 1st month – 56th year, 4th month (Jan 1716 – May 1717)
Volume 7: 56th year, 5th month – 61st year, 10th month (Jun 1717 – Nov 1722) plus a name index of memorialists arranged according to stroke order
Volumes 8 and 9 contain exclusively Manchu-language memorials.
Gongzhongdang Yongzhengchao zouzhe 宮中檔雍正朝奏摺. 32 vols. 1977-1980.
Volumes 1 – 24: Beginning from Volume 1: Kangxi 61 – Yongzheng 1, 10th month (1722 – Nov 1723)
Volumes 25 – 27: Undated memorials
Volumes 28 – 32: Manchu memorials
There is an online search engine devoted to the Kangxi and Yongzheng gongzhongdang materials, available here. No linked images to the documents, however.
Gongzhong dang Qianlongchao zouzhe 宮中檔乾隆朝奏摺. 75 vols. 1982-1988.
As with Academia Sinica, the Harvard-Yenching Library maintains an agreement with the National Palace Museum allowing Harvard students and scholars access to the . Access requires a password, which can be provided on request by HYL staff.
Academia Sinica
All of the Qing archives at Academia Sinica 中央研究院 are held in the Institute of History and Philology 歷史語言研究所 (IHP, aka "Shiyusuo" 史語所). The entire body of AS Grand Secretariat archives are searchable online via this site; most entries display the entire summary (tiehuang 貼黃), allowing you to see the basic details of a case. Remember that these are all routine memorials (tiben 題本), not palace memorials (zouzhe 奏摺), so the coverage is mostly limited to so-called "routine business." But do not be deceived! Much of this content pertains to legal cases and is a rich mine for researchers. If you want to see the full documents and their images, you will need to use one of computer terminal within HYL; see a staff member at the circulation desk, who can enter the username and password for you. If you want to consult printed versions, the item below is still of value (the online page for a document will give you the cross-reference).
Ming-Qing dang'an 明清檔案. 1986-1995. 370 vols. Chang Wejen, comp. W 66.2.13
These volumes reproduce a substantial number of the 310,000 documents from the Inner Secretariat or Grand Secretariat in the Academia Sinica collection on Taiwan (of which only a fraction appeared in the publications listed in the previous section). Many of these are routine memorials (tiben 題本) from the Board of Punishments, but other ministries' memorials are included as well. The memorials go back to the Tianqi and Chongzhen reigns of the late Ming. Publication in book form was discontinued in 1995 in favor of CD-ROM format. All are now online, and accessible via a Harvard account. See Academia Sinica Ming-Qing Archives Project. There is both a Chinese and an English version. To search key terms, select 檢索資源 at the top and then 資料庫 on the left.
National Central Library
In addition to IHP or NPM, another important source of documentary collection in Taiwan is National Central Library(國家圖書館). This archive called 古籍與特藏文獻資源 gives you an access to extensive materials held in the library, including edicts, memorials, genealogies, anthologies, and other kinds of documents spanning from Song to Qing eras. Scanned image files of many (but never all) documents are available. Also, this archive introduces various materials held in major libraries or institutions in the United States, Canada, and others.
3. Post-1949 Mainland publications
The return of political stability on the mainland in the 1950s meant that work on organizing, cataloguing, and preserving the holdings of the Qing archives – the vast majority of which remained in the old palace – could at last resume. The center for this work was the National Archives Office, the forerunner of the First Historical Archives (FHA) 第一歷史檔案館. At first, publications consisted of typset selections of documents relevant to particular events or movements, usually those deemed to have importance in relation to a Marxist historical framework. Later collections departed from this model in favor of an approach more like that of the NPM, in which entire runs of a single type of document were reproduced in facsimile form. Since the 1980s, significant portions of the FHA archives have been made available on microfilm (and, starting in the 1990s, CD-ROM), but publication of actual books continues as well – there are by now at least three score such publications, many of them multi-volume works. There are also important series and periodicals. A few representative titles follow (see also Wilkinson 66.2.13).
Taiping tianguo 太平天國. 8 vols. Wang Zhongmin, ed. Shanghai, 1952-1953.
Yapian zhanzheng 鴉片戰爭. 6 vols. Qi Sihe, ed. Shanghai, 1954.
These were two of eight series of documentary volumes published in the 1950s on modern Chinese history under the collective title, Zhongguo jindaishi ziliao congkan (W 67.1.5). All are exhaustively reviewed by John King Fairbank and Mary Wright, “Documentary Collections on Modern Chinese History,” Journal of Asian Studies 17.1 (Nov 1957), pp. 55-11. There is also an index, Zhongguo jindaishi ziliao congkan suoyin (1983).
Qingchu nongmin qiyi ziliao jilu 清初農民起義資料輯錄. Xie Guozhen, ed. Shanghai, 1956.
A collection of historical materials on peasant uprisings in the early Qing, covering the periods of Shunzhi and Kangxi reigns.
Qingdai dizu boxue xingtai 清代地租剝削形態. 2 vols. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1982.
The product of many years of careful research by FHA staff, these contain 400 routine memorials taken from the Office of Scrutiny of the Board of Punishments, detailing rent and tenancy disputes, homicides over land questions, and so forth, from the 18th century. Documents are punctuated but not annotated.
Kangxichao Hanwen zhupi zouzhe huibian 康熙朝漢文硃批奏摺彙編. 8 vols. 1984-1985.
Yongzhengchao Hanwen zhupi zouzhe huibian 雍正朝漢文硃批奏摺彙編. 40 vols. 1986.
These two sets include all of the NPM Chinese-language memorials originally published in Taipei along with those held in the FHA. Does not include the Manchu memorials, which were translated and published separately (see next item).
Kangxichao Manwen zhupi zouzhe quanyi 康熙朝滿文硃批奏摺全譯. 1 vol. 1996.
Yongzhengchao Manwen zhupi zouzhe quanyi 雍正朝滿文硃批奏摺全譯. 2 vols. 1999.
These two sets contain Chinese-language translations of all the Manchu-language palace memorials of the Kangxi and Yongzheng reigns, both those in the NPM and those in the FHA. As to the comprehensiveness of these collections, see the article by Elliott.
Qianlongchao shangyudang 乾隆朝上諭檔. 18 vols. 1991.
Jiaqing-Daoguang liangchao shangyudang 嘉慶道光兩朝上諭檔. 50 vols. 2000.
Contain imperial edicts for over a century of Qing rule. It was substantially from these record books that the Qing Veritable Records (Qing shilu) were condensed and abbreviated. However, they are far more complete than the Shilu and include very valuable Grand Council memorials never published.
Kangxichao qijuzhu ce 康熙朝起居注冊. 3 vols. 1983.
Yongzhengchao qijuzhu ce 雍正朝起居注冊. 5 vols. 1993.
Qianlongdi qijuzhu 乾隆帝起居注. 42 vols. 2002.
Contains facsimiles of the Diaries of Activity and Repose for all Qing reigns (not all are listed here).
Qingdai dang'an shiliao congbian 清代檔案史料叢編. 14 vols. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1978-1990.
Valuable collection of miscellaneous documents from all periods of Qing (and early Republican) history. Well worth glancing through for items of potential research interest.
Lishi dang'an 歷史檔案. Quarterly published since 1981.
An extremely useful journal both for keeping up with latest developments in the collection and publication of archival materials in China, and for reading primary and secondary materials. Searchable via the CNKI index.
Qingdai bianjiang shiliao chao gaoben huibian (han shaoshu minzu diqu) 清代邊疆史料抄稿本彙編 (含少數民族地區). 50 vols. Shi Guangming, ed. Beijing: Xianzhuang shuju, 2003.
A large collection of facsimile manuscripts (including some that can be considered archival) relating to the Qing frontiers, organized by region and spanning the entire Qing period. These materials come from the collection in the National Library (国家图书馆站, aka 国图, formerly Beitu 北圖), Beijing, which did the editorial work. Chinese-language materials only.
Qing neifu zouzhe dang: Dongsansheng lianbing zouyi 清内府奏摺檔：東三省練兵奏議. 2 vols. Beijing: Quanguo tushuguan wenxian suowei fuzhi zhongxin, 2002.
Compilation of palace memorials on the training of troops in the Three Eastern Provinces (Heilongjiang, Jilin, and what is now Liaoning) from Guangxu 13 to Guangxu 21 (approximately 1888-1896). Potentially useful for those interested in the military history of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895).
Qingdai guanyuan lüli dang'an quanbian 清代官員履歷檔案全編. 30 vols. Shanghai: Huadong shifan daxue chubanshe, 1997.
This collection contains 56,000 resumes of some 39,000 officials, mostly those serving in the middle levels of government, from Kangxi to Xuantong, from the collection of the FHA. Also included are related memorials with imperial rescripts. Facsimiles are reproduced chronologically; individuals' entries may be searched using the index in volume 30. Valuable for anyone searching for hard-to-find biographical material.
Yongzheng chao neige liuke shishu: Li ke 雍正朝內閣六科史書: 吏科. 83 vols. Guilin: Guangxi shifan daxue chubanshe, 2002.
The registers (dangce 檔冊) of the Six Boards were considered the best complement to what was stored in the Grand Secretariat. The first part of a systematic effort to make these archives accessible in the form of facsimile, this huge compilation details the activities of the Board of Civil Appointments during the Yongzheng reign. Manchu was dropped for bilingual documents. Note that the order was arranged according to the time of the rescript (pihong 批紅), which doesn't necessarily agree with the original chronological order of reported events.
Qinggong Rehe dang'an 淸宮热河档案. 18 vols. Beijing: Zhongguo dang'an cbs, 2003.
In a joint effort between the city of Chengde 承德 and the FHA to commemorate the 300th year of the founding of the Qing summer palace at Rehe 熱河 (aka Jehol), also known as Bishu shanzhuang 避暑山莊 ("Mountain Villa to Escape the Heat"), this set of documents covers all aspects of imperial life in Rehe. Printed in facsimile, it covers the period from 1705 (KX 5) to 1911 (XT 3). A companion volume, Qinggong Puningsi dang'an 淸宮普宁寺档案 (2 vols., 2003) focusing on one of the Tibetan Buddhist temples built in the valley around the retreat, is also available.
Qingdai Zhongnanhai dang'an 清代中南海档案. 30 vols. Beijing: Xiyuan cbs, 2004.
Published as a part of the ongoing compilation of the new, authoritative history of the Qing dynasty led by the Qing History Project 清史工程, this volume details imperial life at Zhongnanhai, a place still bearing special political significance now, as it is the headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party and the residence of its top officials. Official edicts issued from Zhongnanhai, documents of royal collections at Yingtai as well as literary texts created by the emperor and officials are included.
Qingdai lizhi shiliao 淸代吏治史料. 103 Vols. Beijing: Xianzhuang shuju, 2004.
A special document collection concerning reforms in the Board of Civil Appointments during the Yongzheng reign. Includes facsimiles of original documents, divided into five broad topics. The first two volumes are indices in chronological order.
Qingji bingbu wuxuansi zoushu gongdu 清季兵部武選司奏疏公牘. 40 vols. Beijing: Quanguo tushuguan wenxian suowei fuzhi zhongxin, 2005.
Archival documents from the Board of War taken from the collection of the National Library, covering a short, non-consecutive period of the late Qing (Guangxu 光緒9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24). Focuses on the topic of military personnel selection and related issues but doesn't include a handy index (!).
Qinggong neiwufu zaobanchu dang'an zonghui 清宮內務府造辦處檔案總匯. 55 vols. Beijing: Renmin cbs, 2005.
Facsimile daily records of the more than sixty workshops (zaobanchu) belonging to the Qing Imperial Household Department, covering from the first year of the Yongzheng reign (1723) to the sixtieth year of the Qianlong reign (1795). Ordered chronologically. Manchu was dropped for bilingual entries.
Qinggong wanguo bolanhui dang'an' 清宮萬國博覽會檔案. 6 vols. Yangzhou: Guangling shushe, 2007.
Government documents related to Qing participation in forty-two World's Fairs during the Tongzhi, Guangxu, and Xuantong reigns. Includes about 1,000 items in facsimile picked from various archives. Ordered according to events, and then time of issuance. The most richly-documented event is the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, USA, for which 276 items can be found in this volume.
Beijing daxue shuzi tushuguan guwenxian ziyuanku 北京大學數字圖書館古文獻資源庫
Built on top of the Peking University library, this archive, although only partial to the entire collection of the library, allows one to get online access to search for and (for some documents) view the original documents from six dynasties to the Republic period. It also has pictures of stone rubbings, the earliest of which dates back to Shang dynasty. This is a rich collection: one may find local gazetteers, ritual texts, deeds and contracts, literati writings, so on and so forth. Not all documents are available in picture format, and one may get access to many through "文獻傳遞請求" service. No registration required.
Dan-Xin dangan淡新檔案 (from 1776-1895, 乾隆41年-光绪21年)
Dan refers to Danshui and Xin refers to Xinzhu, and the Dan-Xin archives include archives from Danshui, Xinzhu, and Taibei in Qing Taiwan. Containing both administrative and legal documents, Dan-Xin is one of the most important local archives from the Qing. This database has complete scanned copies along with their transcriptions of 19250 documents (which are pretty much all the documents from the archives) online, divided into three big categories: 刑事(criminal cases), 民事(civil cases), and 行政 (administration).
Indexes and finding aids for archival sources
Index to the 52,000 Manchu and Chinese palace memorials of the Kangxi and Yongzheng reigns published by the First Historical Archives (note that this set also included the Taipei NPM palace memorials as well), searchable by memorialist, topic, date, or random term. Does not include full text or links to images; once a citation has been located, you must return to the print volume, the location of which is indicated in the entry.
Index to the database of all Grand Council materials (mainly palace memorials) held in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, searchable by memorialist, topic, office, date, date of rescript, or random term. Most remarkably, each entry is accompanied by a digital image of the memorial in question, though viewing it requires special software. This software is now available for download in both Chinese and English. To download it, click on the link on the bottom of the page right after you log in. ID and Password are needed to view images: 群組 harvar12 帳號 HU 密碼 HU0522
Index to the Chinese-language huangce stored at the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica. Searchable. Results include summary of contents but not full text.
The Liaoning Archives has a collection of the documents of the Imperial Household Agency starting from the fifth year of the Kangxi reign (1676), and the main content could be seen under “题名”. One can search on the page of “开放档案目录” to learn about the main topics of the documents via the index but full text is not available online.