Graduate students have traditionally learned a good part ofwhat they know about sources and research aids on modern Chinathrough hearsay and serendipity, in unsystematic and unreliable bitsand pieces. The field has now developed to the point where thisneed not and ought not to be so. It is now possible for beginningresearchers to start with some shared basic knowledge of researchaids and documentary resources. This research guide is meant toprovide that knowledge.The user of this guide is envisaged as an American graduatestudent in history or the social sciences who is already familiar withthe major English-language secondary literature on modern China andis about to begin original research, either for a seminar paper orfor a dissertation. I assume that the student feels most comfortableusing English and Chinese, but is also willing to use other languages,especially Japanese, where useful. I also assume that although thestudent's present research project may be restricted to the ChTing,republican or post-1949 period, he regards the modern period as awhole as his field of competence and wishes to be able to use mater-ials relevant to all three sub-periods.