Sally T. WongAvery Digital Collection of Chinese Materials
要知天下事，须读古人书。
To know all that happens under the sun, be sure to read books by our ancestors." Feng Menglong, Stories to Awaken the World
The Sally T. WongAvery Digital Collection of Chinese Materials grows out of the WongAvery East Asian Collections Collaboration between Cambridge University Libraries and UC San Diego Library (June 2023 to June 2026).
This digitisation project has been made possible through the generous sponsorship of the Avery-Tsui Foundation in honour of Sally T. WongAvery. With their support, we have been able to preserve and share digitally an array of items from the University Library’s Chinese collections, which are now accessible for the first time to both scholars and the public worldwide. We believe that this project will have a profound impact on research in fields such as history, archaeology, palaeography, linguistics, art, religion and geography, while simultaneously expanding opportunities for scholarship, education, and engagement with collections.
The selection of materials for digitisation has been carefully curated to represent pre-modern and late imperial history of China and highlight significant moments and developments in Chinese culture and intellectual life. The collection includes oracle bones, the earliest known form of Chinese writing, offering a window into ancient Chinese divination practices and valuable insights into language development. The rare books and manuscripts encompass some important literary, artistic, and historical texts from different periods. We have also chosen to digitise a selection of single-sheet prints and documents, maps as well as an array of hanging scrolls and examples of Chinese calligraphy. This selection of diverse materials is but a glimpse into the breadth and the significance of the Chinese collections at Cambridge University Library, which reflect the intellectual, artistic, religious and cultural history of China over millennia.
The Sally T. WongAvery Digital Collection of Chinese Materials has allowed us to make a significant step forward in supporting the study of Chinese history, art, and language. By enabling unprecedented access to Chinese heritage collections housed within the University Library, ensuring that they are made accessible so that they can continue to inspire and inform research and education across the globe. We are deeply grateful to the Avery-Tsui Foundation in honour of Sally T. WongAvery for their support in making this ambitious project a reality.
