Social Sciences
An increasing number of studies and primary resources are available for social science research on Tibetan areas and populations. A few databases and other helpful resources are listed below.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports
FBIS reports in the 20th century translated articles in foreign-language publications largely for the purpose of US intelligence work. Fortunately, these many thousands of print publications are now digitized and searchable online through a Columbia University Libraries subscription.
To access the database, click here.
A quick keyword search for Tibet* (use the asterisk for a truncated search) generates nearly 16,000 articles. Try an Advanced Search to limit by original language (Chinese) and sort by chronology for interesting results!
Instructions for exporting FBIS citations in READEX
If you face difficulty exporting citations in a bibliographic format, here is a work-around:
1. While viewing a FBIS resource in READEX, choose EXPORT CITATION. (The .ris file will be saved in your Downloads folder.) You can also select multiple items, add them to “My Collection” and follow the steps below.
2. Open Endnote**
Select FILE > IMPORT > FILE
Go to downloads and choose the .ris file.
Click the “IMPORT” button. The citations now appear in Endnote.
3. Select whichever citation(s) you want to include in your bibliography.
Select FILE > EXPORT
SAVE TYPE: .XML
OUTPUT STYLE: SHOW ALL FIELDS
OR... instead of step 3:
Select the desired reference in Endnote, and select the "PREVIEW" tab on the right. You can then copy and paste the citation.
If you don't like the output style, you can change it by going to the toolbar and selecting: Edit > Output Styles> [choose your output style]
The “Annotated” output style seems to offer the most complete citation.
** To download the Columbia-licensed Endnote bibliographic software to your computer, see here.
Data & Statistics
Two of the most useful databases for population and socio-economic data are available for Columbia-authenticated users:
CHINA DATA ONLINE = 中国数据在线 (Zhongguo shu ju zai xian)
SOSHOO SOU SHU = 搜数 For English search interface, see here.
Offers yearly and monthly statistical data on social and economic situation of China. The information sourced from several thousand national and provincial statistical yearbooks, industrial yearbooks, the People's Bank of China Quarterly Statistical Bulletin, China's Customs Statistics, etc. since 1997 with some dated back to 1949. Users can download data into an Excel sheet.
See also:
TIBET STATISTICAL YEARBOOK (1991-2015), available with English interface in the China Statistical Yearbooks Database.
THE FIRST AGRICULTURAL CENSUS OF CHINA COMPILED IN TIBET (1999)
Tibetan Studies and the Social Sciences: Data, Tools, Maps and Archives
On February 6-7, 2009, the Columbia University Libraries hosted a hands-on workshop entitled "Tibetan Studies and the Social Sciences: Data, Tools, Maps and Archives." For more information, please see the links below.