The Contemporary China Research Collection is housed in the Special Collections & Archives section. The collection was established in 1985 to facilitate and promote scholarly research work on China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. With the research materials of the Hong Kong Union Research Institute as the foundation of this collection, HKBU library has continued to select relevant materials to add to the CCRC. Spanning from 1950 to the 1990s, the collection consists of over 14,000 files of newspaper and periodical article clippings, about 4,000 reels of microfilms and over 6,500 volumes of monographs and serials.

These clippings, dating back to 1950, are collected from newspapers and periodicals published in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. In addition to topics on the political, socio-economic, military, cultural and educational development in China and Taiwan, these clippings also include important issues related to Hong Kong and overseas Chinese.

The Union Research Institute collected clippings from newspapers and periodicals between 1950 and 1970s. While focusing on China newspapers, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia newspapers and periodicals were also included. Because of its wide scope of coverage and detailed indexing, this collection has been widely used by local and overseas scholars.

From 1986 to the 1990s, HKBU Library staff continued to add clippings to this collection, concentrating on Hong Kong newspapers and using the same indexing system established by the Union Research Institute. An area that received in-depth attention was information related to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to China.

For detail subject categories, please click the links of the three catalogs entitled, 當代中國研究資料之剪報檔案及剪報膠卷目錄 and Index to the classified files on Communist China held by the Union Research Institute / 友聯研究所分類資料目錄, you may also come to the Section and read the printed copies.

     Reference :

Leung, Shirley W., Wong, Irene S. M., & Lee, Kit Wah. (2000). Collection of
     clippings on overseas Chinese at Hong Kong Baptist University Library. (pp. 1-14)

A conference paper presented at the International Conference of Institutes and Libraries for Overseas Chinese, held in the Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA, March 24-25, 2000.

     Digitization projects

In order to help users to search the clippings more effectively and efficiently, we established the indexed “Contemporary China Newspapers Clippings Database” (CCNC Database) in 1998. Users can now retrieve appropriate citations of articles by searching the headlines, authors, newspaper titles, publication date, subject headings, and/or keywords. At present, the clippings of 1992 to 1998 newspapers are indexed in this database.

In 2003, the Section created the "Overseas Chinese Clippings Database" for public access on the World Wide Web. This database contains indexes and full-text images of clippings pertaining to the Chinese and Taiwanese government policies on overseas Chinese from 1950 through 1970.

     Microfilms

Our microfilm collection consists of copies of newspapers and periodical article clippings, newspapers published in China and Taiwan, and some publications such as Current Background, Survey of China Mainland Press.

     Printed materials

The CCRC includes a print collection of PRC government documents, minutes, publications of Chinese statesmen, special publications such as photocopies of regional newspapers published during the Cultural Revolution, as well as propaganda pamphlets and booklets.