The Institute for Chinese Studies presents:
"Big Data for the Study of the Qing"
Cameron Campbell
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Abstract: Cameron Campbell will introduce historical datasets for Qing China that the Lee-Campbell Group has constructed, analyzed, and made public over the last four decades, provide examples of findings from their analysis that showcase their potential, and review the challenges associated with historical database construction and analysis. The Lee-Campbell Group datasets are all large, individual-level, and longitudinal, and amenable to the application of techniques from the digital humanities and social sciences to explore topics related to family, population, and society in China before the 20th century. The first of these was the China Multi-Generational Panel Datasets (CMGPD), which Campbell and Lee began releasing via ICSPR more than a decade ago. The CMGPD-Liaoning (LN) contains 1.5 million records of 250,000 individuals who lived in rural Liaoning between 1749 and 1909. The CMGPD-Shuangcheng (SC) contains 1.1 million records of 100,000 individuals who lived in Shuangcheng, Heilongjiang, between 1860 and 1911. These two datasets are not only suitable for the study of demographic behavior and social mobility, but other topics such as ethnic identification, naming practices, and intermarriage. Since 2014, Campbell and his collaborators have focused on Qing political and educational elites, constructing and analyzing datasets covering the careers of civil and military officials from 1760 to 1911 (China Government Employee Dataset-Qing CGED-Q Jinshenlu JSL) and the family backgrounds and exam performance of exam degree holders (CGED-Q Examination Records ER), They have released excerpts from the CGED-Q JSL for 1760-1798, 1850-1864 and 1900-1912. Additional data on the family backgrounds of exam degree holders and local officials have been transcribed from Tongnian Chilu and Tongguan Lu. Campbell will also introduce other major database projects led by others, and discuss prospects for advancing the study of Qing history by the integration of these different databases.
Cameron Campbell is a Chair Professor in the Division of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research focuses on stratification and inequality, especially in China and in comparative perspective. With other members of the Lee-Campbell group, he is conducting a study of the Qing civil service and the careers of civil officials by construction and analysis of a database of office holders, and participating in other group projects related to the study of the origins of educational elites in China from the Qing to the present. He is involved in two other major projects with the Lee-Campbell Group that involve the creation and analysis of large, longitudinal, individual-level databases from archival records: a study of the social origins and careers of university students, professionals, and other elites in the first half of the twentieth century and a study of rural society in mainland China from 1949 to the mid-1960s using village-level microdata.
