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This article presents results of testing the acidity of newspapers published in China during the Republican period. Acidity is an important factor in the lifecycle of newsprints. Until now, there has been no comprehensive and quantitative knowledge of their acidity, which is key to their conservation. The article presents information of different types of papers, testing samples, and testing methodologies. Findings from tests conducted on two newspapers -- "Ta Gong Bao" and "Zhongyang Ribao" (Central Daily News) -- from 1929 to 1949 show that they have low PH levels. Due to their brittleness and tendency to yellow, newspapers from the Republican period are in need of protection and rescue.

This article presents a summary of the "Seminar on editing and publishing modern Tianjin's financial history," held November 9-10, 2010, in Tianjin, China, and sponsored by the Tianjin Archive. More than 50 experts and scholars from Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and other cities attended this meeting, and 40 papers were presented. The first part of the article summarizes the relationship between the financial industry and Tianjin as a financial center. The second part discusses currency, financial markets, and market trends. The third part discusses financial structure, bankers, and banks. The fourth covers location and characteristics of archival materials and other miscellaneous topics. The fifth covers key issues raised by the primary source materials.

This article is an overview of historical perspectives of the Republican period in China. The author traces historical scholarship of the Republican era to the 1970s. Since then, there has been an expansion of topics and research methods. This diversity is demonstrated in a symposium held in August 2010, organized by the Research Center on Republican China at Nanjing University in collaboration with Harvard University, Cambridge University, Oxford University, Moscow State University, and Tokyo University. This paper seeks to reflect on the foundation of the history of the Republic of China as a basis to propose a “historical perspective of Republican period” and outlines several issues of significance.

The sixth international conference on the history of Republican China was held in Nanjing between August 21-23, 2010. The conference was co-organized by Nanjing University, Harvard University, Cambridge University, Oxford University, Tokyo University, and Moscow National University, among other schools. Over one hundred fifty scholars attended the conference and presented over one hundred papers. The focus of the symposium was social transformation during the Republican period. This article provides a summary of panels on the transformation in Republican China through the lens of politics, economics, key individuals, intellectual history and society, and foreign relations with Korea, Japan, the United States, and the Soviet Union.

This article is a study of Eduard Kann's (1880-1962) research on the Chinese monetary system. As a long-time expatriate in China, Kann was an expert in its currency. In 1929, he published a book entitled "The Currencies of China." The silver crisis in the 1920s and 1930s greatly destabilized the Chinese financial system. Kann's analysis of its impact on China can be summarized into two main points. The first concerns the circulation and exchange of paper money and silver. The second concerns the reason and direction of currency reform. Kann made recommendations to the Nationalist government on monetary policies that were consistent with historical trends.

This article presents primary source documents concerning transmission of documents between the Nationalist government's headquarters to areas that were occupied by the Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War. These documents from the central administration and various bureaus, such as the Department of Social Affairs and the Nationalist Party offices, indicate concerted efforts to improve the movement of large volumes of official documents and publications. These documents show how, during wartime, the Nationalist government tried to devise ways to maintain communication while ensuring secrecy and security and managing different personnel and departments, and attempted to lessen the amount and weight of paper used in official documents and publications.