Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections

ChinaVision was launched in 1991. It was a prestigious digitization project of a large collection of slides, one of the earliest digitization projects in European higher education. The collection eventually contained over 11.000 slides. A dedicated team worked on the project throughout the 1990s under the direction of the late Professor Erik Zürcher. ChinaVision was funded by several grants from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation.

The visual materials were subdivided into several subjects. The subjects derived from themes covered in a one-semester course which consisted of weekly slide shows presented by Professor Zürcher or his assistant. Most of the materials were taken from books held by the East Asian Library, but the ChinaVision team also contributed historical maps and other artwork, for example, on the casting of bronzes or the construction of traditional walls. Zürcher's team wrote a description of each slide, added tags, and digitized the image.

The main series of ChinaVision covers the following subjects:

• The Written Word : the importance of the written word in Chinese culture; origins of characters; bronze casting; calligraphy and seals; painting
• China and the Outer World : early contact, Marco Polo and the Silk Road, view of 'barbarians' from the Shanhai jing, Nieuhoff's first embassy to China, the Jesuits and Christianity
• Buddhism : the origins and the spread of Buddhism to China, temples and monastic life, sutras, woodblocks and printing
• Imperial Institution: life of the emperors, layout of imperial palaces and temples, the 'Forbidden City', Manchus, eunuchs, Temple of Heaven, Temple of the Earth, cosmology
• China Historical Survey: chronological representation starting with Neolitic findings, Qin, Han, Tang, Ming, Song and other dynasties. Examination system. Painting scroll 'Going upriver for the Qingming festival' Qingming shanghe tu.
• The Chinese city: architecture of cities, Chinese society through the ages, layout and planning
• Buddhist painting: a later series, with extra attention to Dunhuang, murals, symbolism and mandalas

After all the work for ChinaVision, a second project was set up. This is East Asia Vision, with visual material on the Dutch in Japan, with images of Nagasaki, Deshima and Dutch VOC ships.