The Ming And Qing Perirods Archives Of Huizhou

The thesis has investigated the various aspects of the Ming and Qing Periods archives of Huizhou:Analysis has been given about the origin of the archives. It has been indicated that the archives have been originated from governmental and non-governmental bodies. They were created during the natural conduct of the day to day business (affairs) of the ancient Huizhou local governments and the common people. The archives have not been purposefully distorted or falsified or intentionally fabricated with hidden motives or agendas while they were under the custodies of their creators. Besides, their custodies were unbroken. Therefore; they are reliable and authentic primary source of information for the country’s researchers or foreign researchers who are conducting research and study in various issues of ancient Huizhou society.The thesis has also examined the various values and characteristics of the archives, in particular, the popular nature (involving the ordinary people) of the archives. That means the archives have been largely collected from the common people in the areas formerly called Huizhou. This popular nature of the archives have brought a new trend in the historiography of the country i.e. it has enabled the writing of the history of the common people unlike the previous trend which was largely biased towards the elite and the other social groups regarded as significant. The thesis has also discussed the link between Huizhou archives and the emergence of Hui Study as a new and separate field of study in China. Huizhou archives are huge in volume and rich in content and types. They provide a wider source of information to conduct research and study on different aspects of the ancient Huizhou people’s life including the nature of interaction between Huizhou local governments and the people. With out these rich sources of information, it would have been impossible to know about the various aspects Huizhou’s society and have Hui Study a new and separate field of study. Thus, the archives are partly responsible for the emergence of Hui Study as a new field of study.Archival institutions, libraries, museums as well as other institutions housing and preserving archives are generally regarded as information and research centers. They have the responsibility of collecting, systematically organizing, preserving as well as putting the information resources under their custodies for research and study purpose. In light of this, the thesis has also closely examined the country’s institutions which have taken custody of the Ming and Qing archives, the way they classified and arranged them, as well as the various access modes they created in order to make the archives accessible to researchers.Archives are primary source of information which are used to write and reconstruct our past. The reconstruction of our past is impossible without preserving and conserving archives. Based on this ground, the thesis has also examined the state of the conservation and preservation of the Ming and Qing archives of Huizhou which have been kept in different institutions of the country.Last but not least, the dissertation has also investigated the nature of utilization of the archives and major problems facing their utilization. One of the major problems facing the utilization of the archives is problems with regard to the culture of providing archival service. In China, in the institutions holding and preserving archives, the culture of providing archival service to the out side users has not yet well-developed. Archival services are largely limited to the staff researchers. There is greater tendency and tradition of preserving archives and keeping them for posterity than effectively using them currently. Therefore, there is a need for a wider promotion of the benefit of providing archival service for research and study purpose at the moment so as to develop the culture of user-oriented archival service in the country and effectively enhance usage.Instituions housing and preserving the archives need to realize the cost incurred to house and preserve the archives including the cost of facilities and employees salary. They need to also realize that the ineffective usage or under usage of the archival information resource is wastage.It has also been indicated that compared to the large volume of the Ming and Qing Periods archives of the country;the work so far done to process and utilize them is tiny. Thus, there is also a need to strengthen the capacity of the institutions holding and preserving Huizhou archives with adequate manpower, facilities as well as the necessary budget so that they will be able enhance the task of processing and utilizing the archives.In addition, the prevalence of problems of preservation and security facilities in some institutions and the inadequate usage of IT for efficient, effective as well as integrated utilization of the archives, which have been kept in dispersed manner across the country, has also been indicated.Therfore, effective IT usage needs to be enhanced and strengthened. Also, skilled IT personnel and the necessary IT devices as well as the mechanism for the long term management of archives using IT need to be put in place and strengthened.Moreover, the problem of low number of users, which is an evidence for the under utilization of the archival resource in many of the institutions holding and preserving the Ming and Qing Periods archives of Huizhou, has also been stated. This problem is mainly linked to the ineffective usage of IT and the undevelopment of the culture of providing archival service in the country. Therefore, archival institutions, in particular, needs to speed up effort to address the prevailing problems in these areas by enhancing user-oriented archival service and IT usage.