Exploring Tang Quatrains, Part 2: Poetry on History and Myths
What can poetry reveal about history, mythology, and cultural memory? In the Tang dynasty, poets not only expressed personal emotions but also engaged with historical events, folklore, and timeless legends. In our previous blog post, we explored themes of frontier life, parting, and nostalgia in Tang quatrains (read Part 1 here). This week, we continue […]
Exploring Tang Quatrains, Part 1: Frontier, Farewell, and Nostalgia
The Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) is often regarded as the golden age of classical Chinese poetry, celebrated for its exceptional cultural and literary achievements. Tang poetry remains a cornerstone of Chinese literature, attracting both scholars and enthusiasts for centuries. Among the many poetic forms of the era, the Chinese quatrain holds a special place for […]
5 titles from Chinese Rare Books
One of the most common assumptions about digitization is that entire collections can be scanned without prioritization. Collection assessment and evaluation is essential before proceeding with any project. In the case of Chinese rare books, as more and more volumes are scanned and made accessible online, it is important to evaluate proposed digitization projects to […]
Oldest Books in Open Collections
Before the invention of the printing press, books were produced by hand. You can find examples of such manuscripts from the 13th and 14th centuries in the collection of Western Manuscripts and Early Printed Books. [Bible], [between 1200 and 1299] One of the oldest manuscript books in Open Collections is a Latin Bible from the […]
Subjects In Our Collections: Asian Studies
Our digital collections cover a wide range of topics and disciplines that you can explore through Open Collections. Among our thousands of digital items, you can find materials to support your research, your teaching, and even your imagination. Below, we’ve selected a few of our collections that may be helpful when researching topics related to […]
Puban Project Complete and Online!
The Puban project in collaboration with Sun Yat-Sen Library, part of the Guangzhou library in Guangdong Province in China, is complete. There are 29 digitized titles each with multiple fascicles. The scanning process primarily involved the use of our ATIZ scanners (a How We Digitize blog post about these scanners is coming soon!). The core […]
Explore Open Collections: Chinese Rare Books Collection
The Chinese Rare Books Collection, also known as the Puban Project, is a collaborative venture between the UBC Library Digitization Centre, the UBC Asian Library and the Sun Yat-sen Library, part of the Guangzhou Library in Guangdong Province, China. The UBC Library houses several collections of rare Chinese material including the Puban. The core of […]
Upcoming Project: Asian Rare Books
In January 2014 the UBC Library Digitization Centre will start a project to digitize titles from its Asian Library rare book collection. The project is a collaboration between the UBC Library and the Sun Yat-sen Library of Guangdong province in China. There are many rare and unique titles in the collection which makes is of […]