The Bill Einreinhofer China Archive comprises approximately 1,000 digital video, image, audio, and text files that Einreinhofer used to produce a series of public television documentaries covering modern China and Japan from 1910 to 2023. The collection includes the finished television programs, as well as unedited interviews and historic and scenic footage that were used in the documentaries. The collection also holds transcripts, footage logs, research material, and documentary overviews. Einreinhofer organized the collection into ten digital folders, which correspond to this finding aid's ten series. Seven of the series correspond to specific television programs that Einreinhofer produced: China Now (1997); So Very Far From Home (2006); Beyond Beijing (2008), Shanghai 1937: Where World War II Began (2018); Century Masters (2019); Unsettled History: America, China and the Doolittle Tokyo Raid (2022); and China: Frame by Frame (2023). The last three series contain thematically grouped source material that Einreinhofer collected during the production of the documentaries: "Wartime Newsreels & Propaganda Films" (38 files), "Japanese Wartime Feature Films" (17 files), and "Post-War Japan" (8 files). See the series-level records for further details.

The collection is unique in that it spans modern Chinese history from the early 20th century through the second decade of the 21st century. And while it includes footage of pivotal historical events, it also captures everyday life among both the privileged and powerful, as well as ordinary Chinese families. The Archive is the product of more than three decades of research, and incorporates images of China at the collapse of the Qing dynasty, the "Warlord" period, the "War of Resistance," the Chinese Civil War, the early years of Reform and Opening, and the growth of an increasingly important consumption-driven economy.