Databases

Diplomacy and Political Secrets comprises a compilation of 4,204 rare China-related historical documents carefully selected from three series within the India Office Records now held at the British library: the Political and Secret Department Records, the Burma Office records, and the Records of the Military Department. These documents consist of manuscripts and monographs in the form of reports, memoranda, correspondence, pamphlets and official publications, intelligence diaries, accounts of political and scientific expeditions, travel diaries, handbooks and maps. Together they reflect the security concerns of British India. The frontier regions of China bordering British India were considered of strategic importance. This is why a large amount of material coming from Xinjiang (Chinese Turkestan), Tibet, and Yunnan was collected by the Political and Secret Department of the India Office, Military Department, and the Burma Office.

These records also exhibit the British India Office's interest in China's developments in various aspects after 1910, and the cooperation between China and Britain during WWII. Included also are official accounts of border disputes and negotiations involving China, India, Britain, Tibet, Xinjiang, Burma, Russia (later Soviet Union), Pakistan, and some other Central Asian countries. Military operations such as those during the Boxer Rebellion are also covered.

The database is also accessible via Gale Primary Sources.