Chinese Language and Literature Subject Guide

Coates Library's East Asian Collection houses over 1,600 volumes of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean literature and language materials. The collection falls predominantly into three categories of books: reference materials such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, and biographies comprise the majority of the collection; multi-volume sets of classical, early modern, and twentieth century Chinese, Japanese, and Buddhist literature; and language study materials ranging from character dictionaries to actual textbooks used in East Asian schools. The collection provides a unique inroad to East Asian Studies.

The Collection is an extension of Trinity's commitment to the teaching of East Asian languages, religions, and cultures, and contains many resources chosen by faculty members who teach these subjects. Members of Trinity's Modern Languages and Literatures, Religion, Philosophy, and History departments use the collection for their various research needs. As interest in East Asia includes diverse members of the Trinity community of students, faculty and staff, the Collection's on-going goal is to address these interdisciplinary needs.                                                                                                
Trinity University librarians created this separate collection in order to mitigate the difficulties that readers and students of Asian languages encounter when searching and transliterating titles, topics, and authors both onto and from public catalogs. The East Asian Collection will remain small enough that browsing the collection's titles by Library of Congress call number should prove easier than tackling the occasionally arduous task of transliteration. It may be helpful for users to be aware that the Library of Congress uses the Wade-Giles transliteration system for Chinese and the more widely used Hebon-shiki Romaji (Hepburn system) for Japanese. English and other Western language books on East Asia are shelved in the main circulating collection.

While the East Asian Collection currently remains a generally non-circulating collection, exceptions can be made upon request, and the Library always welcomes members of the Trinity and San Antonio communities to use the materials within the building. It is currently located on the 1^st floor, on the high-density, electronically movable shelving.
 

Chinese and Japanese Language Highlights:

The East Asian Collection

The following materials are arranged within each language by Library of Congress call number order:                                                                                                            

Ssu-pu Pei yao.
     East Asia AC149 .S8 v.1-612 plus Index.     .          
             A 613-volume collection of texts whose title loosely means “Four-category library of essential writings”, this comprehensive literature collection also contains traditional commentaries of the dynastic histories, classical philosophy, and literature of China. [Note that many libraries and web resources now refer to this collection using the more common Pinyin transliteration Si bu bei yao.]

Harvard-Yenching Institute Sinological Index Series
             East Asia  AI 19 .C5Y55 v.1-41, supplement v. 1-22
             A set of concordances indexing all words appearing in texts of the major works of classical philosophy, history and literature.         

Cheng t'ung Tao tsang = The Complete Taoist Canon
             East Asia  BL1900 .A1 T36 1985 v.1-61
             The collected philosophical and religious texts of Taoism through the ages:        

Chung-kuo shao shu min tsu feng chaing
             East Asia DS730 .C4494718 1991
             Provides good pictures and text illustrating the rich, multi-ethnic heritage of modern China.

Chung-kuo chaun feng su ta kuan
            East Asia  GT4905 .C48 1993
            A delightful book of photographs detailing New Year's festivals throughout China.

Chung kuo min chou
              East Asia  NA7448 .C44 1993
              A look at classic Chinese domestic and vernacular architecture.

Fa hsiang chih mei = Beauty of Buddhas
              East Asia NB1912 .B83 H83 1993
              Rich in photos, this book details Buddhas carved into the side of stone cliffs in China.

Chung-kuo min chien i shu = Chinese Folk Art
            East Asia  NK1068 .C553 1992 v.1-2
            A collection of photos of various folk arts including embroidery, batik, painting wood crafts, paper-cutting, ceramic figures, baskets, kites, and masks

Nihon daiyakka zensho = Encyclopedia Nipponica 2001
   East Asia  AE35.2 .N53 v.1-2
            A contemporary Japanese encyclopedia detailing the complexities of the culture.

Ame no hi bunko = Stories For a Rainy Day
             East Asia   PL537 .A64 1965 v l-4, no.1-20
             A charming collection of sixty little stories in hiragana from Japanese elementary schools.

Mitsumura dokusho shirizu = Mitsunupti's Reading Series
            East Asia  PL537 .M58 1971 v.1-6, no.1-18
            Over 80 social studies/reading lessons in Jiiraganamid basic kanji from Japanese  elementary schools, grades 1-6     

Nihon kokugo Daijiten
            East Asia  PL675 .N46 v.1-20 1972-76
            A traditional and definitive series of Japanese language dictionaries

Showa bungaku zenshu = Collected Literature of the Showa: Era of Divine Peace
            East Asia  PL755.65 .S45 1986 v.1-35
            Literary work(s) of most major 20th century Japanese authors.

Shincho Nihon koten shusei
             East Asia PL800’s    
             A 74-volume collection of poetry, prose, and drama from Nara (710 CE) through Tokugawa (1868 CE), Japan.

Rare Books (located on the 2nd floor in Special Collections)