Biography

South Asia  --  China

General

World Biographical Information System includes full text of thousands of biographical dictionaries accessible by name of biographee. Online full text. You can limit the search to a particular archive, say, the Indian Biographical Archive. More information.  Some of the component biographical archives, including Arab-Islamic, Indian, Japanese, and South East Asian, do not offer full test, but do give references to biographical works.

The More Biographical Sources page gives additional sources and more countries.

South Asia

The biographical dictionary of greater India. New Delhi: Promilla & Co., 1998.
HOLLIS Record

Dictionary of Indian biography, edited by IBC Research Wing. Varanasi : Indian Bibliographic Centre, 2000. xxvii, 477 p.
HOLLIS Record
--Includes about 1000 deceased persons from the last 150 years. About half are political leaders. Scholars are well-represented; other occupations receive less coverage.

Muslims in India: a biographical dictionary, ed. by Naresh Kumar Jain. New Delhi: Manohar, 1979-1983. 2 v.
HOLLIS Record

Women in Indian history : a biographical dictionary / T. P. Saxena. New Delhi : Kalyani Publishers, c1979. 114 p.
HOLLIS Record

Dictionary of national biography. Edited by S. P. Sen. Calcutta, Institute of Historical Studies, 1972-74. 4 v.
HOLLIS Record

Personalities, Sri Lanka: a biographical study (15th-20th century), 1490-1990 A.D., A-Z, by K.D.G. Wimalaratne. Colombo, Sri Lanka: Ceylon Business Appliances Ltd., 1994, xxxix, 149 p.
HOLLIS Record

Contemporary

Who's who in India Calcutta, Kothari Publications, 1973.
HOLLIS Record

China

Chinese History: a new manual, by Endymion Wilkinson. Fifth ed. Cambridge, MA: Endymion Wilkinson, c/o Harvard University Asia Center, 2018, 1276 pages
Several editions
HOLLIS Records
--See the reviews of Chinese names and biographical sources in Chapter 3, People.

Chinese Biographies, ed. by Hanno E. Lecher  

China Vitae offers over 2500 biographies of current Chinese political, military, business, and academic figures. Sophisticated searching and cross-referencing techniques available. Related database, VIP Appearances, tracks public appearances by senior Chinese officials.

Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing period (1644-1912), ed. by Arthur W. Hummel. Washington, DC: Library of Congress. Orientalia Division, 1943-44. 2 v.
HOLLIS Record
--Terminal list of biographees arranged in chronological order, name index (including names mentioned within biographies), index of titles of books, and subject index. Full text in Chinese biographical archive.

Biographical dictionary of Republican China. Howard L. Boorman, editor; Richard C. Howard, associate editor. New York, Columbia University Press, 1967-79. 5 v.
HOLLIS Record
--Intended as a supplement to Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing period and concentrating on figures of the period 1911-49. Includes both living and deceased persons; about 600 biographies in the complete set. The final volume includes an extensive bibliography which lists the writings by the subject of each article in the dictionary, together with the sources (books, periodicals, manuscripts) used in preparing the article. Vol. 5 is a personal name index.  Full text in Chinese biographical archive.

China's provincial leaders, 1949-1985, by David S. G. Goodman . Atlantic Highlands, NJ : Humanities Press International, 1986-
HOLLIS Record
--Covers from 1949 to the Communist Party conference of Sept. 1985. Lists Party and state officials, and army leaders under province, giving Pinyin and Wade-Giles names, position, and earliest/latest known dates. Based on primary source research. Only vol. 1 published.

Biographic dictionary of Chinese communism, 1921-1965, by Donald W. ​Klein.  Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1971.
HOLLIS Record
--Offers "433 biographies of men and women who contributed to the Chinese Communist movement from the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party in l92l to 1965."-lntrod. Articles have cross-references and source notes. Appendixes provide various lists (e.g., participation in important events, travel abroad, fields of work). Full text in Chinese biographical archive.

Political leaders of modern China : a biographical dictionary, ed. by Edwin Pak-wah Leung. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 2002, 278 pp. HOLLIS Record

Who's who current Chinese leaders, by Meirong He. Hong Kong : Wen Wei Pub. Co. Ltd., 1989-
HOLLIS Record (2001)
--Entries in English and Chinese, most with photographs. Covers about 1,800 "current senior officials at the central level and in the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions." Publishers' note, 2003 ed. Each entry provides birth date, present position, and career summary; current addresses are not listed. List of personnel of government agencies and political parties at front. Appendix lists major government units, their addresses and directors. Earlier eds.: 2001, 1998, 1994, 1989. Full text of 1989 and 1994 eds. in Chinese biographical archive.