A Chinese information retrieval (IR) system for the field of Communication, Information, and Library studies with proper text representation and a linkage to a citation index is proposed. The article (1) delineates the significance of subject description by clarifying the relationship between data attributes and both known and unknown item search, (2) elaborates and criticizes the features of the eight most frequently used subject description methods in the context of Chinese online data management, and (3) encourages the creation of a Chinese database specifically for Communication, Information, and Library areas for both retrieval and experimental purposes to support teaching and to improve the effectiveness of the Chinese IR system. Furthermore, a citation index file is suggested to link with the main bibliographic file in order to provide accessibility to the Chinese citation index for the further support of scholarly research. The fulfillment of this initial proposal would also yield a prototype of benefit to other domains of Chinese IR systems.