Meghan C. Blog 1: Ling Long Women's Magazine

The Ling Long Woman of 1930’s China was a “new” woman and this magazine is an essential look into the lives of the everyday people of China at a very vital point in their history. As Asian studies became more popular so did the acquisition of such collections of popular media. Columbia University acquired these documents in the late 30’s and early 1940’s and they have become even more important in this day and age as a way to connect with the past. The collection was digitized first on microfilm and then later some pages were re-digitized for higher quality for closer academic purposes. Missing items were then replaced by the University of Heidelberg, which helped to complete the collection. The Ling Long Collection is available courtesy of the C. V. Starr East Asian Library at Columbia University.

Collection Principles

The paper on which the original document was printed was acidic and it began to deteriorate. The university had to digitize the collection in order to keep information of this very specific period of time in Chinese history alive for the growing number of scholars researching China in the 80’s and 90’s. The periodical was put on microfilm in 1997. Then the magazine was digitized again and made complete in 2005.

Object Characteristics

The collection was digitized at 300 dpi and 24-bit color for the color sections of the magazine (some of the text and all of the images), but the rest is all in a lower resolution due to the original microfilming done. They have not re-digitized these documents. They were originally scanned in a 4-bit grey scale, but for the current collection the microfilm was scanned in at 600 dpi and saved as TIFF images.

The collection is easy to navigate with a collection index, but gives little to no information on what is being viewed and no search engine, making this exhibit difficult and inaccessible to the general public, at least those that don’t read Chinese. The images themselves are good but do not fill the entire screen and cannot be zoomed in on. There are four different formats for viewing the images to make it easier for scholars to navigate. The collection seems to serve its purpose for that reason.

Metadata

There is very little metadata associated with this collection. The only information available by selecting the photo is the issue, date, and page number, nothing else is provided.

Intended Audience

I believe that the intended audience is a scholarly one, initially for the purpose of Asian Studies students, but now made globally accessible by digitization. So anyone wishing to attain very revealing looks into Chinese culture and affairs in the 1930’s can easily attain them. What is very nice about the website is how aesthetically pleasing it is; orderly and uncluttered. It also provides an overview of what Chinese culture was during the time of revolutionary change in China, which is appealing to a less scholarly audience just seeking to peer into a brief history of life.