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Posted by: Joshua Kueh
Create an origami shrimp from the Library’s collections. This blog shares about collections in the Library’s Asian Division and provides instructions for a paper-folding activity.
Posted in: Asian Division, East Asia, Uncategorized
Posted by: Cameron Penwell
The Yongle Encyclopedia (Yongle dadian), completed in 1408, was premodern China's, and perhaps the world's, largest reference work. The Library of Congress holds 41 unique volumes, which have been fully digitized and made available online. This post traces the compilation, transmission, near loss, and contemporary preservation of this momentous work. We invite book-lovers to enjoy in high resolution its exquisite calligraphy and illustrations.
Posted in: Asian Division, East Asia
Posted by: Ryan Wolfson-Ford
This blog post highlights the Library of Congress Asian Division’s “Collection of Wartime Messages from China to the American People (1943-1945) and Other Materials.” The collection is made up of items related to the Second Sino-Japanese War, among which are 2,100 rarely seen hand-written letters, booklets, and scrolls in Chinese that were created in wartime China.
Posted in: Asian Division, East Asia
Posted by: Cameron Penwell
An exploration of early appearances of red pandas in collections at the Library of Congress.
Posted in: Asian Division, East Asia
Posted by: Cameron Penwell
This post tells the story behind the notebook of Imperial Japanese Navy Lieutenant Sakuma Tsutomu (1879-1910). Following a submarine accident, Sakuma dutifully recorded his and his crew’s heroic, but doomed, efforts to save themselves.
Posted in: Asian Division, East Asia
Posted by: Anchi Hoh
More than 400 newly catalogued Manchu books from the Asian Division’s Chinese Rare Book Collection offer researchers new sources for study of the Qing dynasty, the last imperial dynasty in China.
Posted in: Asian Division, East Asia
Posted by: Cameron Penwell
This post explores highlights of Japanese Olympic history in the half century prior to the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics, illustrated with examples drawn from Library of Congress collection items.
Posted in: Asian Division, East Asia
Posted by: Taru Spiegel
Tested by hardship and sorrow, Kazue Mizumura survived to become a teacher, painter, textile designer, jewelry maker, advertising artist, and, finally, an illustrator and writer of children’s books.
Posted in: Asian Division, East Asia
Posted by: Anchi Hoh
This blog highlights the Asian Division’s holdings illuminating the Asian origins and Eurasian spread of printing with a particular focus on its early spread from China to Japan, Korea and Vietnam.
Posted in: Asian Division, East Asia, Southeast Asia