A Brief Account of the Publications of Historical Source Materials OnThe 1911 Revolution Since 1949

Abstract

The 1911 Revolution was a democratic revolution led by the Chinese bourgeois class, an event of momentous significance as a turning point in modern Chinese history. In their emphasis on studying the history of this revolution, historians have made many achievements in the areas of compiling, organizing, and publishing source materials. According to incomplete estimates, some seventy or eighty collections of source materials relating directly or indirectly to the 1911 Revolution have been published since 1949, not including the large number of sources published separately in newspapers, magazines, or academic journals. There are also quite a few collections of historical sources at present in the editing process. Of those source materials already published, many are high in quality and have been favorably received by their readers, either because they are very complete, or because they present new materials, or because the documentation and annotations are detailed and accurate, or for a combination of these.