Here you find general basic resources from around the web.
- Library resources
- Digital Learning resources
- Chinese transcription systems
- Basic timelines
- Art Collections
- “Doing history”
- Study aids
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)
- Zotero tutorial
Digital Learning resources
- Digital Learning at Muhlenberg
- Help for Bergbuilds: If you need a quick refresher on the technical side of things, check it out on this help page.
- Fall 2021 schedule for Digital Learning Assistants
- Visit the Hive (B06, Trexler Library)
- Check out the Bergbuilds Community Portal which showcases the work done by students, staff and faculty at Muhlenberg.
- Tutorial: How to take part in the Pressbooks projects for East Asian courses
Randomizing scripts
- Yi jing hexagrams: Explanation and code
- Add a script to your website to display a random hexagram from the Yi jing (Book of Changes)
- The new version includes a large hexagram image included, the older version is just hyperlinked text
- “Laura’s Widget Warehouse”: pre-made code to add to Canvas pages and websites for displaying random rotating content
- Includes the famous Growth mindset cats
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, and commonly knits syllables together as one word (Zhongguo, lishi). (but note that library catalogues for Chinese items often leave spaces except for proper nouns: Zhongguo, li shi). Pinyin 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 (in pinyin: ru, ji, juan). Check for other transcribed words in the same text, they will offer more clues.
- https://chinese-cat.lib.cam.ac.uk/mulu/wgpy.html is a straighforward 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
Study aids
- Sounds of the Bodleian: pretend you’re in one of the Bodleian libraries in Oxford: pick your library from the drop-down menu, click the play button, and off you go!