Sorting and publishing of modern history materials

ZHUANG Jian-ping1 and ZENG Yeying

During the past 71 years after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the study of modern Chinese history developed rapidly and yielded fruitful results, partly because it has always been the focus of historical researchers and people from all sectors of society for it is not only a history of the Chinese nation’s struggles against imperialism and feudalism, but a history of rejuvenation as well. In addition, large-scale organized systematic sorting and publishing of historical materials laid a solid research foundation, hence a vital guarantee.

Overview of the publishing work in the second half of the twentieth century

Due to the large number of materials, and the fact that official documents were unavailable to ordinary researchers before the founding of New China, only about six monographic series were published, namely, History of Diplomatic Affairs in Late Qing Dynasty, Archives Concerning Sino-Japanese Relations 1875-1908, Archives Concerning Qing Diplomatic History, Archives Concerning Sino-French Relations 1875-1908, Archives Concerning Sino-Japanese Relations 1909-1911, and Archives Concerning Missionaries in the Late Qing Dynasty, and a few papers published in the Journal of Historical Literature and Journal of Historical Documents during 1925-1949, even though there were more than 9 million archives concerning the Qing Dynasty in the Palace Museum. After the founding of New China, collecting, sorting and publishing materials of modern Chinese history was high on the agenda of historical researchers. The publishing work in the second half of the twentieth century can be summarized into the following six categories.

First, monographic series were published which laid a foundation for the study of modern history. In the early 1950s, following the instruction of the Association of Chinese Historians, historical researchers began to carry on extensive work on collecting, sorting and publishing modern history materials. The most influential one was Data Series of Modern Chinese History¹ compiled by researchers from colleges and research institutions in Beijing and edited by the Association of Chinese Historians, with 68

Sorting modern history materials 201 volumes and 27,580,000 words in total, covering 11 special topics, namely the Opium War, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the second Opium War, the Hui People’s Uprising, Nien Rebellion, the Westernization Movement, the Sino-French War, the Sino-Japanese War, the Reform Movement of 1898, the Boxer Rebellion and the Revolution of 1911. At the same time, the first issue of Modern Chinese Historic Data was published in 1954, and in the 100 issues during the following 45 years, 22 varieties of monographic literature were published. Publication of monographic series and periodicals facilitated research and teaching work of scholars at home and abroad, therefore were widely acclaimed.

A number of materials of modern economic history edited by a group of economic historians were also published during this period; the following four were the most influential ones. The first one was Series of Materials Concerning Modern Chinese Economic History edited by the Institute of Economics of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, including Collection of Modern Chinese Economic History Data, Data Concerning Modern Chinese Industrial History, Data Concerning Modern Chinese Agricultural History, Data Concerning Modern Chinese Handicraft History, Data Concerning Modern Chinese Foreign Trade History, Data Concerning Modern Chinese Railway History, Data Concerning Modern Chinese Shipping History, Data Concerning Modern Chinese Foreign Debt and Data Concerning Old China Government Bonds. The second one was Collection of Data Concerning Imperialist Countries’ and China’s Customs, including 10 books, such as China Customs and Yunnan-Burma Issue, China Customs and Renewal of Debts from English and German Governments, China Customs and the Boxer Rebellion, and so forth. The third one was Series of Data Concerning Chinese Capitalist Industrial and Commercial History, including Beijing Refosian, Shanghai National Rubber Industry, Shanghai Cotton Industry, Shanghai National Machine Building Industry, Shanghai National Match Production Industry, Shanghai National Wool Textile Industry, Yong’an Textile Printing and Dyeing Company, Data Concerning Machine-Processed Flour Industry, and so forth. The fourth one was Series of Historical Data Concerning Typical Shanghai Capitalist Enterprises, including monographic series on Nanyang Brothers Tobacco Company, Rongs’ Enterprises, Liu Hong-sheng Conglomerate and so on. According to statistics, more than 40 kinds of economic historical materials have been compiled into books, which were carefully selected and edited by historical experts and scholars and have considerable reference value for modern economic history study.

After stagnating from 1966 to 1976, the sorting and publishing of modern historical materials recovered and developed quickly after 1978, and thousands of research books were published in succession. Among them, The Northern Warlords and Anti-Japanese War (both are from Data Series on Modern Chinese History) attracted the attention of the academic circle. In addition, historical materials covering 11 special topics, such as the Opium War and the Revolution of 1911, were compiled and published by publishing houses like Zhonghua Book Company. Thanks to researchers’ 50 years’ hard work, a relatively complete system of modern Chinese historical materials were finally established.

Second, a number of locally focused monographs were published. The above-mentioned data serials cover government archives of the Qing Dynasty, official books, private writings, local history and even foreign materials, which focus on reflecting the process of major events, the country’s political, economic, military and Sino-foreign relations, however, lack attention to local topics. The sorting and publication of local historical materials have filled the gap. Here are a few examples:

Local materials concerning the Opium War include Data of Sanyuanli People's Anti-English Struggles compiled by The Institute of Culture and History of Guangdong Province, Selected Materials of the Opium War in Fujian and Taiwan edited by the History Department of the Fujian Normal University, The Crimes of the British Army in the Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River in the late Period of the Opium War edited by the Preparatory Committee of the Institute of History of the Shanghai Academy of Sciences, Collection of the Opium War Literature edited by A. Ying (Chinese writer and literary theorist) and so on. Besides, there are a number of private writings on the Opium War, in which some describe the opium-banning campaign and anti-British struggles, some record the crimes committed by the British invading army, the signing of the Treaty of Nanking and post-war situations, all of which are historical facts witnessed or heard by writers, therefore of considerable reference value. Among them, the most well-known and frequently quoted are Records of Foreign Invasions by Liang Ting-nan, Chinese Struggles Against Foreign Naval Invasion During 1820-1850 by Wei Yuan, The Sketch Book of Officialdom During 1820-1861 by Zhang Ji-xin and so on.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Boxer Rebellion, and the Revolution of 1911 had always been the focus of modern history research from the 1950s to the 1980s, therefore, far more archives in the mainland and materials translated from overseas were collected and sorted.

During the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement or later, there were approximately more than a thousand private writings about it, however, most of them merely recorded events occurring in local areas, thus were scattered all around. In order to provide convenience to researchers, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Museum compiled and published Data Series of The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, with six volumes in total including 46 varieties of materials. In addition, Historical Materials Concerning The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in Wu Xu's Archives (edited by Jingwu and Zhongding), Data Collection of Dagger Society Uprising (edited by the Institute of History, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences), Selection of Data Concerning the Northern Expedition of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (edited by Zhang Shou-chang) were published in succession. Regarding the Boxer Rebellion, there were Data Series of the Boxer Rebellion published by Shandong Qilu Press, including Archives of the Boxer Rebellion in Shandong, Selected Data

Sorting modern history materials 203 of Investigations on the Boxer Rebellion in Shandong, Data Concerning Missionaries in Shandong, Investigations on the Boxer Rebellion in Tianjin. There were even more materials published concerning the Revolution of 1911, and the earlier ones were Historical Materials of the Railway Protection Movement in Sichuan (edited by Dai Zhi-li), Historical Materials of the 1911 Revolution in Sichuan (under Kui Ying-tao’s general editorship), Historical Materials of the 1911 Revolution in Yunnan and Guizhou (compiled by the editorial department of Modern Chinese Historic Data). Later, academic groups in Hubei, Jiangsu, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Shanghai also published historical materials concerning the Revolution of 1911 in the corresponding region, among which the following are of higher values: Data Concerning the Revolution of 1911 in Yunnan, Selected Data of the 1911 Revolution in Shanghai, Selected Data of the 1911 Revolution in Zhejiang, Data Concerning the Revolution of 1911 in Jiangsu, Data Concerning the Revolution of 1911 in Guangdong, Data Concerning the Revolution of 1911 in Guangxi, and The Overseas Chinese and the Revolution of 1911. As for data concerning the First Uprising of Wuchang, the most complete one was Selected Archival Data of the First Uprising of Wuchang, which was jointly compiled and edited by the Hubei Provincial Committee of the CPPCC and the Wuhan Municipal Committee, Hubei Provincial Museum, Wuhan Municipal Archives and the Institute of Modern History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Besides, the following three monographic compilation are worthy of attention: Compilation of Hubei Military Government Documentary Materials, Memoirs of the First Uprising of Wuchang, and Selected Data of the 1911 Revolution in Hubei. The most systematic and comprehensive material reflecting the 1911 Revolution in Jiangsu was The Historical Materials of the 1911 Revolution in Jiangsu edited by the History Department of Yangzhou Normal University, which was the only compilation based on three years’ field survey. Guangdong was the most active area for bourgeois revolutionaries’ activities, therefore, there are extremely abundant materials concerning reclaiming Guangdong, and among them, Historical Materials of the 1911 Revolution in Guangdong and Collection of Historical Materials to Commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Revolution of 1911 included a number of precious memoirs and interviews. Apart from that, writers of the two above-mentioned books both experienced the Revolution, so from various perspectives they recorded the Sanzhoutian uprising in 1900, the New Army uprising in 1910, the Guangzhou uprising in 1911, and the process of reclaiming Jiangmen, Xinhui, Shunde, Foshan, Dongjiang, Huizhoug, Boluo, Zijin, Chaoshan, Dapu, Yongding, Shanghang, Meizhou, Qinxian, Huazhou, Yangjiang, Zhaoqing, Shaozhou and Lianzhou. In the 17 years between the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War and the Wuchang Uprising, the people of Taiwan participated in anti-Qing struggles, and under the influence of the Revolution of 1911, even pushed the patriotic movement of reclaiming Taiwan from Japanese to a new high. Thus, deeds of the people of Taiwan were included in monographic collections, for instance, Revolutionary Deeds of Luo Fu-xing was included in Compilation of the 1911 Revolution Materials edited by Zhang Bo-feng. Regarding the revolution in the frontier areas, the following monographic materials are for reference: The Revolution of 1911 in Guangxi edited by the Guangxi Provincial Literature and Historical Data Research Committee, Historical Materials of the 1911 Revolution in Guangxi edited by Guangxi National History Investigation Group, The Telegram Draft Concerning the 1911 Revolution in Tibet and The Story of the Tibetan Rebellion compiled by the editorial department of Tibetan Studies, Historical Materials of the 1911 Revolution in Inner Mongolia edited by the Literature and Historical Data Research Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Third, a number of historical materials related to the May Fourth Movement were published. Regarding imperialist invasion into China, the following three were published based on diplomatic documents, including treaties, exchange of letters, agreements, contracts, diplomatic notes, memoranda and so forth. (1) Compilation of Previous Chinese and Foreign Charters, including various treaties, agreements and contracts signed by the Qing Government, the Beijing Government of the Republic of China and the Nanjing National Government with foreign governments during 1840-1949; (2) Collection of Chinese and Foreign Treaties, including various treaties, agreements and contracts signed by the Qing Government, the Beijing Government of the Republic of China and the Nanjing National Government with foreign governments during 1840-1935; (3) Selected Data of Imperialist Invasion into China Since the First World War, including various treaties signed by the Beijing Government of the Republic of China and the Nanjing National Government with foreign governments during 1914-1949. It is important to note that the humiliating Twenty-one Demands and The Paris Peace Conference’s Resolution on the Shandong Issue were included in them. To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the May Fourth Movement, the editorial department of Modern Chinese Historic Data edited Records of Secret Documents, in which the shady deal of the Paris Peace Conference was disclosed. The book is an unpublished manuscript under the general editorship of Xu Shi-chang many years after his resignation as president, and included more than 380 important telegrams regarding the Paris Peace Conference, filed by the Beijing Government Secretariat from September 16, 1918 to November 5, 1920; it was the first time for most of these to be open to the public, thus of great historic value.

A number of publications regarding the May Fourth Movement came out during the period of the May Fourth Movement and later. Data Concerning the May Fourth Movement edited by the editorial department of Modern Chinese Historic Data included seven publications (Qingdao Tide, Record of Students Movements Against Feudalism and Foreign Invaders, Record of the Shanghai Strike, Seven Days of Civic Movement, History of Shanghai Strike to Save the Nation, Zhang Zong-xiang, Lu Zong-yu), one archival data (Police Office Files of Municipal Council in Shanghai International Settlements), and one collection of newspapers and periodicals (Chronicle of the May Fourth Movement and June Third Movement). In 1979, Data Concerning the

May Fourth Movement was reprinted, and seven more articles and dozens of precious pictures were added, including Record of Police Detention and Daily Record of Inspection Hall edited by Chou En-lai, as well as The May Fourth Movement, Record of the May Fourth Movement, Selected Data of the May Fourth Movement in Beijing, Civilian Education Lecture Group of Peking University, May Fourth Movement in Tianjin, Tianjin Boycott of Japanese Goods, Record of Chinese Students in Japan by Wang Gong-bi and so on. The Second Historical Archives of China compiled three archival data: (1) 10 volumes of the book Compilation of Modern Political History of China are concerning the May Fourth Movement; (2) Archival Data Concerning the History of the Republic of China, which contains archives before the May Fourth Movement, covers political, military, foreign affairs, finance and culture aspects; (3) Data Concerning the May Fourth Movement includes more than 400 documents of the State Council of Beijing Government, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Department of the Army, Garrison Headquarters, Archives Office of the Frontier Defence, Headquarters of Defending Beijing Army and Preparatory Bureau of Congress during the Republic of China, as well as files of the National Central University, Yunnan Provincial Government Secretariat, and the Bank of Communications. Translated materials from foreign languages were relatively few, and currently the only one available for reference was History of Modern China’s Foreign Relations edited by the History Department of Fudan University.

As the birthplace of the May Fourth Movement, there were a great many data about what happened in Beijing during that period: (1) The May Fourth Movement, edited by Cai Xiao-zhou and Yang Jing-gong and published in July, 1919, is the earliest one to record the event; (2) Record of The May Fourth Movement is a memoir written by Kuang Hu-sheng in 1925, a participant of the movement, and was first published in Rieter Quarterly and then published in book form in 1933; (3) Selected Data of the May Fourth Movement in Beijing, compiled by Museum of Peking University History, was included in Weekly Review and Morning News; (4) The May Fourth Movement and College Teachers in Beijing, compiled by Museum of Beijing Normal University, included 34 notes and memoirs, 21 biographies, and 45 publications of college societies. There were abundant data concerning the May Fourth Movement all through the country. May Fourth Movement in Tianjin, compiled by Tianjin Museum of History and the History Department of Nankai University in 1979, collected documents and records published in newspapers in Tianjin, such as Yishi Daily, Ta Kung Pao, The Tientsin Student, Nankai Daily and Awareness, and included 21 memoirs of Deng Ying-chao, Liu Qing-yang and others. Historical materials of the May Fourth Movement in Shanghai are numerous. Police Office Files of Municipal Council in Shanghai International Settlements, compiled after 1949, included 88 files from May to July 1919. Selected Data Concerning the May Fourth Movement in Shanghai, edited by the Institute of Historical Research, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, was first published in 1960 and reprinted in 1979, with a total of more than 570,000 words, most of which were from Republican Daily News, Shenjiang Daily News, The China Times, The News, China Press and some were even from foreign archives and newspapers. The May Fourth Movement in Shanghai, edited by Zhang Ying-hui and Kong Xiang-zheng, reproduced struggles of Wuhan and Hubei people and most of the data were from Hankou News, Dahan News, New Hubei, and Wuhan Weekly Review. Selected Data of Hunan People’s Revolutionary Struggles During the May Fourth Movement, compiled by the Modern History Research Office, Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences of Hunan Province, showed the general situation of Hunan people’s struggles. Selected Data of the May Fourth Movement in Shandong, edited by Hu Xin-ben, collected historical materials from Germany’s occupying Jiao’ao (Qingdao at present) in 1897 to the establishment of a communist group in 1920, showing struggles of Shandong people for salvation. Data of the May Fourth Movement in Henan, compiled by the Compilation Committee of Henan Provincial History, showed patriotic activities in Henan accurately. Data of the May Fourth Movement in Henan, compiled by the Committee of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Party History, collected historical documents, newspapers, archives and memoirs.

Regarding the data of the New Culture Movement around the May Fourth Movement, there were a book entitled Associations of the May Fourth Period, edited by Zhang Yun-hou and others, which included data of 32 associations, such as Xinmin Institute, Mutual Aid Society, Liqun Publishing House, Young China Association, National Press and so forth. Introduction to Journals of the May Fourth Period, compiled by Central Compilation and Translation Bureau, made a systematic introduction to more than 160 journals published during the May Fourth period, therefore, it was regarded as an introductory reference book for studying the New Cultural Movement and the spread of Communist ideas. Selected Works of the May Fourth Period, compiled by the Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, included articles by Chen Tu-hsiu, Yi Bai-sha, Li Da-zhao, Hu Shi, Wu Yu, Liu Ban-nong, Wang Jing-xuan, Qian Xuan-tong, Lu Hsun, Cai Yuan-pei, Lin Qin-nan and so forth, which provided systematic data for studying development of the May Fourth Movement. Selected Works Regarding Women Issues of the May Fourth Period, compiled by the All-China Women’s Federation, collected articles about the women’s movement in such journals as New Youth, Youth China, Emancipation and Transformation, Awareness, Women, New Women, Labor and Women, The Renaissance, Youth World, and Weekly Review, which reflected Chinese women’s awareness during the May Fourth period.

Fourth, a large number of data of unique culture and local history were published. In 1960, under the advocacy of Chou En-lai, Compilation of Cultural and Historical Records, sponsored by the national Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, started its publication. At the opening ceremony of the Fourth National Conference of Cultural and Historical Records, Yang Cheng-wu pointed out, “according to statistics, more than 60,000 people provided more than 40,000,000 words of data for the

Sorting modern history materials 207 publication of Compilation of Cultural and Historical Records". Later, there were new developments in the publication of cultural and historical data in local places.

Compilations of local cultural and historical materials were mostly based on the written or spoken words of participants or witnesses, documents, newspapers and historical records. Those compilations recorded the political, military, diplomatic, economic, cultural, social and geographical aspects of modern China, major events, as well as activities of people from all walks of life. Although some are incorrect due to false source of information or writers’ bias, those compilations are still precious first-hand data for historical research. Data Series of Introduction to Modern and Contemporary Chinese History: Index of Cultural and Historical Data of Political Consultative Committee at Different Levels in China (five volumes with more than 300,000 articles in total), edited by Li Yu-pu, included six categories, namely military and diplomacy, economy, culture, society, geography and characters, which were further divided into subcategories, thus making it easy to retrieve. Catalogue of Books of Chinese Historical Records ( 1949-1988) and Catalogue of Chinese Cultural and Historical Records of the CPPCC at Al! Levels ( 1960-1990) introduced names of book series or compilations, publishers, formats of edition, and scopes, data and issue numbers of publication as well, which showed an overview of cultural and historical materials of each place.

Publishing local chronicles has always been a historical tradition. In the 1950s, the project to edit and publish socialist chronicles was included in the National Program of Philosophy and Social Science twice, and after 1979, remarkable results were achieved in this respect. According to statistics in 1988, more than 4,000 provincial, municipal and county chronicles had been published, and more than 1,000 were being edited, printed or to be published. Newly published local chronicles are a huge repository of information, which facilitated researchers to make valuable academic achievements.

Fifth, archival institutions compiled and published a great many archival data of modern history. Even though archival data are of significant value for historical research, quite a few publications were based on them for most archival data were not open to the public before the 1980s, and the situation improved later.

Among the modern historical materials edited and published by China’s First Historical Archives, the following four are the most influential ones: Archival Data of the Opium War, Archival Data of the Qing Government’s Repression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Archival Data of the Reform Movement, and Archival Data of Preparation of Setting Up a Constitution in the Late Qing Dynasty, all of which were based on files of imperial edicts, records of police investigation and arrest, copies of memorials to the emperor, diplomatic notes and letters. The two major historical materials compiled by China’s Second Historical Archives are Archival Data Concerning the History of the Republic of China and Series of Historical Archives of the Republic of China. For the former one, there are four volumes and 20 books in total

(namely, The Revolution of 1911, Nanjing Provisional Government, and the last 2 volumes are about the politics, the military, economy, finance, industry, agriculture and commerce of Beijing Government, the Republic of China, and Nanjing National Government). The latter one included several topics covering major historical events, issues, figures, enterprises and institutions, such as The Mutiny During the Period of the Northern Warlords, and The Anhwei-Chihli War.

Provincial, municipal and other regional archives also compiled dozens of historical materials, for instance, Selected Archival Data of Sheng Hsuan-huai edited by Shanghai Library, Selected Archival Data of Guangdong Province During the Republic of China Period (14 volumes in total) edited by Guangdong Provincial Archives, Internal Files of China Customs translated and compiled by China’s Second Historical Archives and Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Archives of Northeast China published Historical Data of Manchu Railways and Selected Files of Manchu Railways: Relation Between Japan and the Northeast China Before and After September 18th Incident. The Institute of History, Jilin Academy of Social Sciences and Archives of Northeast China со-edited and published Selected Archival Data of Japanese Invasion into China, which covered the September 18th Incident, the North China Autonomy Movement, the Puppet Manchurian and the Wang Puppet Regime, Northeast massacres, the germ war and Japanese economic plunder. Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, Tianjin Archives and Federation of Industry and Commerce со-edited and published Compilation of Archival Data Concerning Tianjin Chamber of Commerce (1903-1911). The Institute of History of Central China Normal University and Suzhou Archives compiled Series of Archival Data Concerning Suzhou Chamber of Commerce (1905-1911).

Some units and individuals, who held historical archives, sorted out archives into monographs to publish or submit to journals. In the past 20 years, journals publishing historical archival data sprang up. China’s First Historical Archives and China’s Second Historical Archives took the lead in founding two journals: Historical Archives and Republican Archives. Later, provincial archives also established more than 20 similar journals successively, such as Memories and Archives, Beijing Archival Data and so forth. Research institutes and libraries also published some archives and manuscripts. For instance, series of manuscripts in Peking University Library have been photocopied and published 23 times, many of which are historical materials of the Late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China. Data Collection of Modern Chinese History (14 volumes till now), edited by the Institute of Modern History, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, has published approximately 74 varieties of modern history materials, mostly manuscripts and even a few printed copies.

Sixth, collection and publication of overseas materials. Ever since the Opium War, China has been invaded by foreign imperialists. Therefore, we cannot neglect the history of Sino-foreign relations in various periods when studying

Sorting modern history materials 209 the modern history of China, and it is particularly important to collect and study overseas materials. As the culprit of the Opium War, there are a large number of materials concerning the inside story of the war in British parliamentary documents, diplomatic documents, private writings and newspapers, which had not received enough attention from researchers in the past. Among them, there are a few important research results: Selected Translation of Opium War Historical Materials and Selected Data of the Opium War and Lin Tse-hsu translated and edited by Guangdong Literature and History Research Institute, Crimes of the British Army in the Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River at the End of the Opium War compiled by the Preparatory Committee of Shanghai Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the paper “The plot of British opium traffickers to start the Opium War” published in Modern Chinese Historic Data. However, the data stored in the United States were not systematically collected, translated or studied. During the Second Opium War, the British plundered and carried away a large number of files from China, most of which were official and internal files of Guangdong and Guangxi governments, and stored them in British National Archives, based on which the Japanese scholar Masaya Sasaki compiled Study of the Opium War: Historical Data, which included the daily exchanges of diplomatic notes between Qishan and Charles Elliot during the negotiations in Guangzhou. Those overseas data not only supplemented historical materials published in China, but also provided convincing evidence for uncovering the truth of some historical events, the most striking example of which is that Convention of Chuenpeh was forged by Charles Elliot.

After the defeat of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty forbade the storage of documents related to it. Therefore, since the 1920s, researchers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s history have all attached great importance to the collection of overseas data. In 1983, Wang Qing-cheng discovered a number of pieces of research literature and some historical materials both in English and Chinese, and Words of Heavenly Father and Words of Heavenly Brother were two major discoveries, which included the Jintian Uprising and the important or interesting events of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. For a long time, researchers had different views on Xiao Chao-gui’s life experience and the existence of Hong Xuan-jiao, both of which were clarified after the discovery of Words of Heavenly Brother. After the reform and opening up, more historical data were discovered in foreign archives, and private writings of foreign diplomats and missionaries, which were published on Modern Chinese Historic Data, Collection of Historical Data Concerning the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Translation Series of Historical Data Concerning the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, and Journal of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

There were more than 100 foreign books about the Boxer Rebellion, either written by foreign diplomats, missionaries, businessmen, officers of the aggression army or journalists. And according to rough statistics, dozens of them were translated into Chinese, such as The Siege of Embassy in 1900, A Field-marshal’s Memoirs - Alfred Graf von Waldersee, The Eight-Power

Allied Forces, Chinese and Foreign Wars in 1900, Russia in the Far East and Earl Victor’s Memoirs. In 1980, The Eight-Power Allied Forces in Tianjin, compiled by the Institute of History of the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, included “Campaigns in the North China”, “China and the Eight-Power Allied Forces”, “One year in China”, “Experience in the army stationed in Beijing and Tianjin”, “Illustrated Edition of Tianjin History”, “Reports of Tianjin customs from 1892 to 1901” and “The US army’s expedition in China”, all of which recorded combats in Tianjin area. In 1954, Wong Chong-wu published Selected Data of the Boxer Movement in the British Archives translated from documents concerning Chinese affairs in the British Archives. In 1980, Hu Bin translated and published Selected Data of the Boxer Movement in the British Blue Book, which covered historical materials from “The murder of British missionary Brooks” in 1899 to the signing of the Boxer Protocol in 1901. Most of the historical materials were translated from the reports of British ministers, consuls, military officers and missionaries submitted to the British government and official documents between them.

The Revolution of 1911 is a milestone of Chinese history and even of world history. China Customs and the Revolution of 1911, translated and compiled by the editorial committee of the Journal of Modern China Economics based on customs archives stored in the General Administration of Customs of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, recorded political, business and social changes from the central to the local level, ranging from the inside story of the political situation to price changes. Selection of Japanese Diplomatic Documents: About the Revolution of 1911, translated and compiled by Zou Nian-zhi, was an important reference book to examine the attitude and position of the Japanese government on the Revolution of 1911, which also showed the different polices adopted by the Japanese government under different situations. Regarding the British government’s policy toward China, we can refer to Selected Data of the 1911 Revolution in the British Blue Book, translated and compiled by Hu Bin. Sun Rui-qin’s Selected Data of Negotiation with China in German Diplomatic Documents and Zhang Rong’s Selected Data of Russian Diplomacy Towards China in Journal of Red Fileswere important materials for examining the German and Russian governments’ policy toward the Boxer Rebellion and the Revolution of 1911. Russian Military Operations in China translated and compiled by the Institute of History of the Jilin Provincial Academy of Social Sciences reflected the military activities of Russia in China from 1900 to 1901.