過去的二十多年見證了在中國、臺灣、香港、北美和歐洲的學者、研究人員和學生中興起的一股有關明清時期中國女性文學、歷史和文化的研究熱潮。中國女性著述為研究創新提供了重要資源。其為我們提供了新的批判性的視角並在很多方面大大豐富了我們關於中國文化和社會的知識。 據現存資料記載,明清期間刻印的婦女詩歌以及其他寫作有多達近5000種。但是,存世的女性作品只約有總量的四分之一。並且現存女性作品大多收藏在中國各圖書館的古籍部,不易為研究使用。
「明清婦女著作」數字檔案與數據庫計劃專註於對明清期間的女性作品的數字化工作。網站於2005年建立。本項目使用創新性的數字技術使這一寶貴的文化遺產得以保存,並且使其能為下一代的學者,研究人員,以及相關大眾能夠通過互聯網訪問這一文化遺產。我們希望以此建立知識以及技術的基礎以促進創新性的數位人文學 (Digital Humanities) 方法在中國研究領域的產生。本網站包括由麥基爾大學圖書館 Digital Initiatives 團隊設計和實現的虛擬圖書館與在線學術性設備。此外,對每一個作者,網站提供了指向哈佛大學中國歷代人物傳記資料庫的相關鏈接。
Recent decades have witnessed strong interest in Chinese women’s literature, history, and culture of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) periods among scholars, researchers, and students in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, North America, Europe, and elsewhere in the world. Chinese women’s writings constitute a significant resource for ground-breaking research. They have opened up critical perspectives and enriched our knowledge of many aspects of Chinese culture and society. Close to 5000 collections of poetry and other writings by individual women are recorded for the Ming and Qing periods. However, less than a quarter of these materials have survived the ravages of history, and these have mostly ended up in rare book archives in libraries in China that are difficult to access. The Ming Qing Women’s Writings digital archive and database project is dedicated to the digitization of collections of writings by women in late imperial China (1368-1911). The website was launched in 2005. The on-going project employs new digital technology to preserve and make accessible on the internet this valuable cultural legacy for future generations of scholars, researchers, and other interested publics, thus building intellectual and technological infrastructure and creating possibilities to generate new methodologies in the fields of digital humanities and China studies. The website consists of a virtual library augmented by the online scholarly apparatus designed and implemented by the McGill Library Digital Initiatives team. In addition, it features a link for each writer to the China Biographical Database hosted at Harvard University.