Formed collection
London Missionary Society collection
The Library holds an important collection acquired from the London Missionary Society, most of which relates to the Taiping Rebellion and Christianity in China. The Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) was one of the greatest upheavals in modern Chinese history. The collection includes twenty-four pamphlets published by the Taiping rebels and three original proclamations from leaders of the movement. The Rebellion is also well covered in other Chinese and Western language resources held by the Library. For more details please see the article Religion and Rebellion in China by Andrew Gosling in 1998. All Taiping Rebellion materials have now been digitised. Images
The London Missionary Society collection is also significant for its Chinese translations of Christian works. These include more than sixty editions of the Bible translated into literary and colloquial Chinese and local dialects by British, American and other missionaries. A number of these translations are now rare. There are also scientific works translated into Chinese by the missionaries, as well as classical Chinese works collected by missionaries.
In 2006 the rest of the collection will be gradually digitised for long term preservation.
