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Asian Studies Research Guide: Biographical Info

Biographical Information

Gale In Context: Biography
Look up well-known figures from all time periods to find biographical information and citations to book reviews, news articles, and more.

Full-text biographical information from the Who's Who volumes and 250 periodicals; news articles, thumbnail and narrative biographies.

For articles and background information about well-known figures, including citations to news and reviews, try the sources below.

China Vitae
1940/50s-present
China Vitae is a resource of biographical information on more than 4000 Chinese leaders in government, politics, the military, education, business, and the media.

Gale Literature Resource Center
Has biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors and their works. You can search by languages including French, German, and Spanish.

Search for books with biographical information using the tips below
Encyclopedias and dictionaries on a specific topic are sometimes the best place to find biographical information. Even if you cannot cite an encyclopedia in your paper, these sources often list other resources like newspaper articles, books, or journal articles that make excellent sources and can be difficult to find otherwise.

Other Topical Biographical Sources

Are you researching a musician, author, or famous woman?

Are you researching a person well-known in another discipline or field, such as Communications, Film, or Science?

Consult a research guide on that topic or some of the topical sources below:

Oxford Music Online
Search here for information about composers, their works, and others individuals with lives or careers related to music.

Dictionary of Literary Biography
REF 809 D561
This gigantic set provides multipage entries on authors in a variety of genres with pictures and biographical information. Use the index in back of most recent volume to find entry by author name.