TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– New (post‐1949) Chinese local gazetteers are one of the major primary resources for contemporary China Studies in the field of history, social sciences, humanities and sciences. Major research libraries in North America have collected them; however, the research value of this series of publications has not yet fully explored. This paper aims at examining how new local gazetteers have been compiled, the scope of their content and research value, and how scholars have used them.Design/methodology/approach– The paper explores the scope and importance of the new Chinese local gazetteers collection through reviewing relevant regulations, policies and guidelines regarding compilation of the new local gazetteers, and randomly examining over 30 provincial, city and county gazetteers.Findings– The paper provides a detailed account of publishing history of this collection; rich and unique research information available; and approaches to collection development, including utilizing digitized gazetteers by Chinese governments.Originality/value– The paper explores the development of new Chinese local gazetteers in a more systematic way and adds to the current literature on the unique research value this collection has to offer. VL - 29 IS - 3 SN - 0160-4953 DO - 10.1108/01604951011060402 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/01604951011060402 AU - Xue Susan PY - 2010 Y1 - 2010/01/01 TI - New local gazetteers from China T2 - Collection Building PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 110 EP - 118 Y2 - 2024/04/25 ER -