National Archives Administration of China


The National Archives Administration of China is the national administrative agency responsible for historical records of the state dating back to imperial times in China. The archive collections include more than 800,000 records. There are more than 80 million items of information in documents, records, files, manuscripts on important political figures. The agency also concurrently holds records for the Communist Party of China. Hence it is also known as the Central Archives.

History

The National Archives agency was established in November 1954, as a national agency subordinated to the State Council of the People's Republic of China. In 1959, CPC Central Committee decided the National Archives was not just an archive agency for the communist party and it should be also a state agency for repository of state official records.
In 1970, the National Archives was made defunct. In 1979, the National Archives was reestablished. In 1985, the CPC Central Committee and State Council decided to change the National Archives owned by the State Council of the People's Republic of China leadership to manage all the archival work of the State Council executive government departments, all subordinated agencies administered by or reporting to the State Council.
Central Archives agency was established separately in June 1959 by the CPC Central Committee to archive important documents for the party central committee and the central authorities.
In 1993, the National Archives and Central Archives agency were merged into one unified agency called the State Archives Administration operating two archives, one for the state and one for the ruling political party.

Archives

The agency is structured in the following departments.

Internal units