LibGuides: Historical Immersion (Yale-NUS College): The First Opium War, 1839-1842

Welcome

This guide is designed to recommend resources for your research. You may consult your required texts via 2-hour loan course reserves. Consult the recommended books, search the Library catalogue, or browse Yale-NUS's E-Book Central for background information.

Use this guide to identify sources for your assignment and research paper. Many different sources are presented here, including databases where you can search for journal articles and secondary sources, and primary source collections with documents, photographs, and articles from Britain and China.

Image from the British Library

Suggested Sources

Search the Library catalogue or browse NUS and Yale-NUS Library books with the Library of Congress subject heading for the First Opium War here. For access to hundreds of thousands of academic e-books, access Yale-NUS's E-Book Central. Consider the suggested books below:

Oxford History of the British Empire by Nicholas Canny (Editor); Alaine Low; Wm Roger Louis
ISBN: 0198205627
Publication Date: 1998-09-03
The Opium War, 1840-1842 by Peter Ward Fay
ISBN: 9780807847145
Publication Date: 1998-03-16
The Opium Wars by W. Travis Hanes; Frank Sanello
ISBN: 9781402201493
Publication Date: 2004-02-01
The Search for Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence
ISBN: 0393934519
Publication Date: 2012-12-19
The Search for Modern China - A Documentary Collection by Jonathan D. Spence (As told to); Janet Chen (Editor); Pei-kai Cheng (Editor); Michael Lestz (Editor)
ISBN: 0393920852
Publication Date: 2013-06-26
Honourable Company by John Keay
ISBN: 9780006380726
Publication Date: 1993-10-01
Opium, Soldiers and Evangelicals by Harry Gregor Gelber; Harry G. Gelber
ISBN: 9781403907004
Publication Date: 2004-02-24

Use these recommended databases to search for secondary literature:

Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Project Muse is a database which provides access to full text articles from leading Social Science and Humanities journals as well as e-books. This is an excellent source to search for secondary sources specific to the Social Sciences and Humanities.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
JSTOR offers full-text journal articles from the humanities, social sciences, and the sciences. JSTOR is a journal archive, with access to early issues and sometimes entire back-runs of journals. Note that, as a journal archive: JSTOR does not provide access to many articles published within the last several years.
Academic OneFile | GALE This link opens in a new window
Academic OneFile is an general and interdisciplinary database will full text articles from a wide range of disciplines.
Bibliography of Asian Studies (BAS) This link opens in a new window
This bibliography contains more than 800,000 records on all subjects (especially in the humanities and the social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide from 1971 to the present. If items are available in the Library collection you will be able to access them from the database's records; materials that are not available in our library can be requested.

Historical Abstracts
Historical Abstracts is an index available on the EBSCOhost platform. As an index it aims to provide comprehensive bibliographic information on History scholarship. While not all titles in this index are immediately available in full text, Historical Abstracts is an excellent tool for discovery when, for example, conducting a literature review. Contact the Library to get help accessing the full text of items found in an index.
Humanities Abstracts
Produced by The H.W. Wilson Company, Humanities Abstracts is a bibliographic database that cites articles from English-language periodicals. Periodical coverage includes some of the best-known scholarly journals and numerous lesser-known but important specialized magazines. Subjects covered include Archaeology, Area Studies, Art, Classical Studies, Communications, Dance, Film, Folklore, Gender Studies, History, Journalism, Linguistics, Literary & Social Criticism Literature, Music.

China: Trade, Politics and Culture, 1793-1980 This link opens in a new window
The database contains digitized primary source material from the School of Oriental and African Studies and the British Library. It includes letters, maps, and documents on Chinese trade, politics and culture from 1793-1980.

Western Books on China up to 1850
This collection consists of 654 early Western books on Imperial China up to 1850 from the Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. It contains digitized books as well as letters and journals.
19th Century British Newspapers
This database provides more than 2 million newspaper pages from 19th Century Britain. Search and browse the collection using keywords.
19th Century British Pamphlets
Search for and browse digitized collections of pamphlets from 19th Century Britain.

The Search for Modern China - A Documentary Collection by Jonathan D. Spence (As told to); Janet Chen (Editor); Pei-kai Cheng (Editor); Michael Lestz (Editor)
ISBN: 0393920852
Publication Date: 2013-06-26
This published volume consists of primary sources selected by scholars of modern China.
The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes by Arthur Waley Estate Staff; Arthur Waley
ISBN: 9780415361774
Publication Date: 2005-04-04
First published in 1958. This volume translates and places in the appropriate historical context a number of private documents, such as diaries, autobiographies and confessions, which explain what the Opium War felt like on the Chinese side.

1839 - The Opium War in China
This 30 minute documentary from "The Teaching Company/ The Great Courses" explores the causes and consequences of the Opium Wars. Stream this film on Yale-NUS's access to Kanopy films.
Kanopy Streaming Service
Stream films and documentaries from Yale-NUS Library on Demand service.
Alexander Street Press
Stream documentaries and films from Alexander Street Press. This database includes the Filmakers Library Online and the Asian Film Online collections.

These resources might help you to identify other major historical events which you can compare and contrast to the First Opium War. Consider using Oxford Handbooks Online in History to discover relevant historical events and issues. Get in touch with a Librarian if you need help locating further sources.

The Oxford Handbook of World History by Jerry H. Bentley (Editor)
ISBN: 9780199235810
Publication Date: 2011-05-26
This e-book consists of thirty-three essays by distinguished scholars, addressing important issues explored by contemporary world historians.
A Dictionary of World History by Edmund Wright (Editor); Jonathan Law (Editor)
ISBN: 9780192807007
Publication Date: 2007-03-09
This dictionary contains a wealth of information on all aspects of history. Over 4,000 entries, including biographies of key figures in world history, separate entries for every country in the world and subject entries on religious and political movements, international organisations, and key battles and places.
A Dictionary of Contemporary World History by Jan Palmowski (Editor)
ISBN: 9780199295678
Publication Date: 2008-03-16
With more than 2,600 entries, all written by an expert in the field, the third edition of this authoritative dictionary provides in-depth coverage of major recent historical events, from 1900 to the present day.

Books in the Library are also classified by call number. Each call number represents a certain subject area. It is likely that if you find one good book on your topic, there will be others nearby on the shelf about that same topic. Here are some suggestions: