chinese women/women's studies

Understanding Chinese Language Searches

When searching for Chinese-language resources, consider the following factors:

• Library records may use Chinese characters (simplified or traditional) or romanized transcriptions (Pinyin, Wade-Giles)

  • Click this blog post "Simplified vs. Traditional Chinese, and the Spoken Dialects" to learn more about the written and spoken Chinese

• Pinyin remains the most effective method for finding Chinese-language materials.

• Different cataloging systems may handle Chinese text differently

General Search Strategies

1. Chinese Characters: If you know the Chinese title, searching directly with characters is a good starting point.

2. Pinyin Romanization: Follow Library of Congress (LC) pinyin rules. 

   • In general, separate the romanization of each Chinese character with a space, such as "李白" → "Li Bai"  "明清小说" →  "Ming Qing xiao shuo". 

   • Geographical names should be joined, for example "海南岛" → "Hainan Dao"

   • Click "Chinese Language Romanization Tables" from the Library of Congress Romanization to learn more 

3. Wade-Giles Romanization - Quote from "Romanization Guide for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Languages: Chinese", by Sarah Elman and Keiko Suzuki

   • The pinyin system has replaced the Wade-Giles system as the standard in U.S. libraries for creating Latin script readings for Chinese characters. This means, as a general rule, library users must search in pinyin to find Chinese-language materials, regardless of publishing locations. For people who are more familiar with Wade-Giles than pinyin, the Pinyin to Wade-Giles to Zhuyin Conversion Table may be helpful. 

   • But there are some exceptions to this general rule. The place names in Taiwan used as subject or as headings for government or geographical entities mostly remain in Wade-Giles, although they are in pinyin when appearing in title, imprint, and other areas of the record. For example, 台中市 as a subject heading is "T'ai-chung shih", but "Taizhong Shi" in the title of a Chinese-language book. In terms of personal names,  those Chinese names in Wade-Giles that have been well established are not converted to pinyin, such as 蒋经国 Chiang Ching-kuo and 李登辉 Lee Teng-hui. 

Entering Chinese Characters in Search Engines

• Cut and paste from a reliable source (e.g., Wikipedia).

• Change keyboard settings to enable Chinese character input.

• Handwriting input (trackpad, mouse, stylus) if supported by your device.

  • Online Tools: WriteInput, Purple Culture, etc. 

Boolean Operators & Search Engine Limitations

• Not all search engines support AND/OR operators or advanced search techniques (e.g., truncation, proximity).

• Some interfaces offer three options for Chinese-language searches: Chinese, 繁體中文 (Traditional Chinese), 简体中文 (Simplified Chinese).

Example: Searching for Dao De Jing (道德经) -- Understand why and how to use boolean operators for a relatively comprehensive search query

All the search results shown below were conducted in April 2025. 

Simplified Characters: "道德经"  → 10,753 results
Traditional Characters: "道德經" → 10,753 results
Pinyin Variations: "Dàodé Jīng" (with tones) → 9,651 results
Pinyin Variations: "dao de jing" → 12,081 results
Pinyin Variations: "daodejing"  → 3,271 results
Wade-Giles Variations: "Tao Te Ching" → 9,986 results
Wade-Giles Variations: "taoteching"  → 106 results
Comprehensive Search Query “道德经” OR “道德經” OR “daode jing” OR “dao de jing” OR “daodejing” OR “tao te ching” OR “taoteching” → 31,983 results