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The Chinese Diary Collection contains 850 volumes of hardbound and softbound diaries, dating from 1930s to 1980s. Some volumes are filled with writing from cover to cover; some, partially filled; and some, with brief inscriptions. It includes 81 volumes by different individuals of Republican Period (1912-1949) and 95 small volumes penned by an engineer, with scientific data and personal contents. The contents recorded in the dairies are significant, for instance, a set of 20 work diaries by a mid-rank public security cadre member during and after the Cultural Revolution offers detailed history of public security operations for two decades. A set of 10 work diaries by an officer working in a ministry of the State Council in the 1980s documented the political and daily lives before and after the Tiananmen Massacre in association with the students' pro-democracy movement.

Interviews document the lives of seventeen prominent figures in the Republic of China (1911-1949). Narrators discuss military affairs, politics, national and regional governance, education, economics, culture, transportation, and other topics. Military campaigns are a major topic of the collection. Narrators discuss the operations and impacts of the Northern Expedition (1928-2928), Second Sino-Japanese War/War of Resistance (1937-1945), and Chinese Civil War (1945-1949). Narrators discuss the practical matters of governing during a period of upheaval. They also discuss the politics of the era and entities such as the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party. Many narrators studied abroad in the United States and Europe. The collection gives insights into Chinese education and the experiences of Chinese nationals abroad, including observations from their travels. Several narrators worked as diplomats for the Republican government and offer insights into international affairs and world leaders of the mid-20th century.

Clippings concerning Conference, May 6, 1890.

Correspondence, subject files, manuscripts and printed materials documenting the work of C. Martin Wilbur, George Sansom Professor Emeritus of Chinese History, Columbia University. Correspondence with non-Columbia organizations includes the Institute of Pacific Relations, Far Eastern Association, INDUSCO, Council on Foreign Relations, Asia Foundation, and American Council of Learned Societies, among others. Subject files relevant to Columbia University include items pertaining to the Department of Chinese and Japanese, later renamed the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, as well as teaching files, student files and research projects directed. The manuscript files contain the notes and, in some cases, printed copies of published and unpublished works and public talks. Wilbur's writings and research concentrate on the history and politics of twentieth century China, with emphasis on the Chinese Revolution, 1920-1929, Sun Yat-sen, and communism in China. There are translations of minutes for the first and second Kuomintang Congresses, copies of documents from the Kuomintang Archives, and photographs of members of the Young China Party, Sun Yat-sen and several historical events in the 1920s. Files on fund raising efforts for the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Wellington Koo Fellowship also contain relevant correspondence. Biographical information includes a curriculum vitae (ca. 1968)

The Coins and Paper Currency of Tibet collection of the C.V. Starr East Asian Library at Columbia University comprises a small representative sample of historical coinage and paper currency circulating in Tibet and contiguous areas in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The core items in this collection originally belonged to the Kyaping family, who lived in the heart of Lhasa until the final occupation by China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) in 1959. It is noteworthy that the family's holdings included coins minted in Sichuan as well as Nepal, as well as paper currency printed in Tibet. The bulk of the collection was probably issued from approximately 1870 through 1940.

The Collection of China's spring 1989 democracy movement (六四前后中国民主运动资料汇集) documents the legacy of the democracy movement in China during 1989 as well as events leading up to the Tiananmen Square Incident and its aftermath, dating from 1988 to 1997, and with the bulk of the materials dating from 1989 to 1990. The collection holds the originals and the photocopies of over 300 ephemeral posters, leaflet/handbills, newsletters, open letters, and petitions created and distributed in 1989, including those issued by the Peking Workers Autonomous Association (北京工人自治联合会), student groups from various universities, the "Hunger Strike Newsletter" and other unofficial news bulletins, intellectuals' petitions to the government, cartoons, and poetry. The collection also comprises over 200 photographs depicting demonstration banners, big character posters, petitions and letters to the leaders. The collection also contains 15 eye-witness reports by Asians and Westerners, reports of human rights organizations, as well as books, miscellaneous news magazine articles and newspaper clippings. Related materials in the collection also include Spring 1989 issues of the banned intellectuals' journal "Eastern Record"; 147 slides of work shown at the Peking National Gallery's avant-garde exhibition; and a video tape of interviews with artists and performance art at the February 5, 1989 opening of that exhibition. Other items are several VHS, audiocassettes, floppy disks, fragments of wall posters, a T-shirt, and commemorative envelopes. A large fabric banner prepared by Chinese students at the University of Michigan which was sent to Peking where it was displayed at Tiananmen Square in May 1989 and later returned to the U.S., is also included in the collection.