The feasibility of the application of a WWW virtual library in area studies is the major concern of this article. Using Huizhou in imperial China as an example, we will dwell on the relationship between the arrangement of Huizhou archives and the development of Hui Studies. Furthermore, how the virtual library serves as an e-support to meet simultaneously the multifarious needs of the users at different places, and the proposed metadata structure of the integrated database will be discussed.