China Biographical Database New Release and User’s Guide

The Jan 1 2011 release of the China Biographical Database provides
biographical data on 94,000 men and women, mainly from the Tang through the
Qing dynasty. DOWNLOAD here
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k16229&pageid=icb.page76670 .
CBDB generates biographical data in response to queries, from simple (who
came from a certain place?) to complex (what were the social and kinship
connections among all those who entered government through the civil service
examination from a certain place within a certain span of years?).  Users
can query CBDB through the online database’s Chinese language interface
(follow the links on the CBDB website
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k16229 ) or download the
entire database with both Chinese and English interfaces. The stand-alone
downloadable database includes query forms for discovering networks,
kinship, incumbents in government offices, modes of entry into office, and
types of social association and exports data for social network and spatial
analysis (GIS). The downloadable database can be used on any computer with
Microsoft Access. The CBDB User’s Guide explains the structure of the
database and how to query the downloadable stand-alone version.

Users can link to collaborating database projects (see below) from the CBDB
browser. Data is constantly being processed and new data is being added on a
regular basis. For a complete account of the tables, fields, protocols, and
query methods see the User’s Guide. A guide to the online system will appear
in Spring 2011. Chinese language versions will also appear in Spring 2011.

This release (20101223CBDBr) includes:
Tang and Five dynasties – ca. 6,000 persons (additional 15,000 in process)
Song – ca. 41,000 persons
Liao, Jin, Yuan – ca. 2000 (additional 16,000 in process)
Ming – ca. 4,000 persons (additions being planned)
Qing – ca. 33,000 persons (additional 18,000 in process)

21,000 administrative places
90,000 alternate names
62,000 social relationships
82,000 addresses of people
19,000 records of entry into office
86,000 kinship relationships (additional 40,000 in process)
6,000 analyzed office titles (currently only for the Song period)
83,000 postings to offices (additional 150,000 records in process)
25,000 categorized text titles by 26,000 people
45,000 classifications of social distinctiveness

CBDB is a joint project of the Center for Research on Ancient Chinese
History at Peking University, the Institute of History and Philology at
Academia Sinica, and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard
University. Collaborating databases include the Name Authority Database of
the Ming Qing Archives at Academia Sinica and the National Palace Museum,
the Ming Qing Women’s Writings database at McGill University, and the Tang
Knowledge Database at Kyoto University.

I'm hoping someone on the list has contact information for Freda Murck in Beijing.  Could you please let me know.

Thanks,

Hugh R. Clark, Ph.D.
Professor of History & East Asian Studies
Ursinus College

610-409-3299
hclark@ursinus.edu

To all who forwarded Freda Murck's email, thanks.  I feel as though I'm the only person on the list who did not have it!

                                            HRC

From: listserv-bounces@mail.songyuan.org [mailto:listserv-bounces@mail.songyuan.org] On Behalf Of Clark, Hugh
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 8:19 PM
To: listserv@songyuan.org
Subject: [Song-Yuan Listserv] contact question

I'm hoping someone on the list has contact information for Freda Murck in Beijing.  Could you please let me know.

Thanks,

Hugh R. Clark, Ph.D.
Professor of History & East Asian Studies
Ursinus College

610-409-3299
hclark@ursinus.edu