# 2008 First International Workshop on Biographical Databases for China's History ## expand\_more **Schedule** Click [here](http://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/chinesecbdb/files/workshop_schedule_public_chinese.pdf?m=1464384430) for the conference schedule Download the conference materials [here](/files/cbdb/files/zhong_guo_li_dai_ren_wu_chuan_ji_zi_liao_ku_.zip?m=1464717402) **Overview** Convened by the China Biographical Database project of the Harvard Yenching Institute, Institute of History and Philology of Academia Sinica, and the Center for Premodern Chinese History of Peking University. The workshop will bring together scholars from Taiwan, China, Japan, Europe, and the US who have been working on biographical databases for the study of China. Experts in markup methodology and the computational analysis of unstructured text will also participate. The workshop will address both practical issues relating to databases and historical ones relating to the use of biographical data to develop new insights into China’s history. Biography has been one of the major forms for the recording of the past in China since the Han dynasty. It is estimated that there are 250,000 biographies in various formats in the Chinese historical record. To this may be added biographical references in multiple sources: lists of examination degree recipients from the Song through the Qing, records of local officials and students in local gazetteers, official appointment lists in the Qing, etc. In contrast to study of policy, institutions, the economy, and fiscal history, biography draws our attention to the relationships between people and the possibilities for and constraints on individual agency. Biography is a way of thinking about and remembering the past that has had a very long history, represented most systematically in modern research by the biographical dictionaries for the Republican, Qing, Ming, and Song periods and the various indices for biographical materials. Over the last twenty years the use of relational databases to compile and analyze relationships in data and the ongoing transformation of historical texts into searchable digital files have led to the creation of a number of person-based databases. Examples include the Tang Historical Figures Database at Kyoto University, the Ming Qing Archive Name Authority Database at Academia Sinica, the Ming Qing Women’s Writings at McGill University, China Vitae for the leadership of China today, and the China Biographical Database at Harvard, as well as many other individual and collaborative projects. The workshop has three goals. First, to give creators of databases an opportunity to introduce their projects, which extend from the Han Dynasty into the present day. Second, to explore means by which online systems can be made interoperable, so that users of one system will have access to relevant information in other systems. Third, to introduce new computational techniques for extracting data and relationships from Chinese texts, thus greatly increasing the ability of databases to add to their content. For further information contact . **Participants** William Kirby, Modern Chinese History, Harvard University Peter Bol, CBDB, Harvard University Endymion Wilkinson, Chinese historiography, Harvard and Peking University Miranda Brown, [Han Officials Database](http://scholar.princeton.edu/yuxie/database-officials-han-china-miranda-brown-yu-xie-and-james-lee), University of Michigan Robin D. S. Yates, early China, McGill University Anne Kinney, [Exemplary Women](http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/xwomen/), University of Virginia Luo Xin, Medieval history and biography, Peking University Tian Xiaofei, Medieval literature, Harvard University Nicholas Tackett, Five Dynasties prosopography, Getty Research Institute Lu Yang, Tang prosopography, University of Kansas Christian Wittern, [Tôdai jimbutsu chishiki beesu 唐代人物知識ベース](http://tkb.mydns.jp/pers-db/),KyotoUniversity Yao Ping, prosopography of Tang women, Cal State LA Naomi Standen, Five dynasties history, Newcastle University Stephen Owen, Tang literature, Harvard University Chen Song, CBDB Project Manager, Harvard University Deng Xiaonan, CBDB steering committee, Peking University Fang Chengfeng, CBDB Project Manager, Peking University Michael Fuller, CBDB database designer, UC Irvine Hilde De Weerdt, middle period scholarly communication, Oxford University Chen Wenyi, Song-Yuan prosopography, Academia Sinica Zhang Cong, middle period history, University of Virginia Chu Ping-tzu, middle period databases, Tsinghua University, Taiwan Robert Hymes, sociocultural history, Columbia University Gong Yanming, A Comprehensive Examination Degree Database中国历代登科总录 , Zhejiang University Grace Fong, [Ming Qing Women’s Writings](http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/mingqing/), McGill University Fung Ming-chu, Digital Images of Biographical Materials ofHistorical Figures from the Archives of the Ch’ing Historiography Institute 史館檔清人傳記全文影像資料庫 Palace Museum Liu Cheng-yun, [Ming Qing Archive Name Authority Database 明清檔案人名權威資料庫](http://archive.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/ttscgi/v2/ttsweb?@0:0:1:mctauac@@0.507166436938), Academia Sinica Michael Szonyi, Social history, Harvard University Ven. Huimin, [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association](http://www.cbeta.org/index.htm), Dharma Drum Buddhist College Ven. Fayuan, Buddhist studies, Dharma Drum Buddhist College James Robson, Buddhist studies, Harvard University Wu Jiang, BGIS: A Searchable Relational Database of Buddhist Monasteries in China, University of Arizona Pamela Crossley, [Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period](http://www.dartmouth.edu/~qing/portal.shtml), Dartmouth College Mark Elliott, Qing and Inner Asian History, Harvard University Wolgang Behr, [Der Westen im China-China im Westen](http://idoasdb.uzh.ch/oas/), University of Zurich Anne-Marie Werner, [Der Westen im China-China im Westen](http://idoasdb.uzh.ch/oas/), University of Zurich David Gries, [China Vitae 中国名人录](http://www.chinavitae.com/) Marilyn Levine, Chinese Biographical Database, Eastern Oregon Univ. Brett Sheehan, Republican period bankers database, UCLA Victor Shih, Central Committee database, Northwestern William Kirby, Modern Chinese History, Harvard University Marc Winter, Modern Chinese Biography, University of Heidelberg Li Duo, Chinese Literature, Peking University Rani Nelken, Computer Science, Harvard University Renee Sieber, Geographic Information Science, McGill University Zhang Chuanrong, Geographic Information Science, University of Connecticut Elif Yamangil, Computer Science, Harvard University Wang Xiaoxuan, Chinese History, Harvard University Stuart Shieber, Computer Science, Harvard University Wang Zhen’an, CBDB online database designer, Tudor Technical Services, Taiwan Merrick Lex Berman, [China Historical GIS](http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/), Harvard Yenching Institute Sophia Huang, programming support, Harvard Asia Center ## **Browse by Session** [>>> Digital Humanities, Research Computing Modeling Life Histories and this workshop (Peter Bol) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-1) [>>> The China Biographical Database: Contents, Structure and Future Development 中國歷代人物傳記資料庫：內容、結構與未來的發展 (Michael Fuller, Deng Xiaonan, Chen Song, Fang Chengfeng, Liu Jiang) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-3) [>>> Database of Han Officials (Miranda Brown) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-5) [>>> 魏晉南北朝時代人物傳記的特點與CBDB之設計（羅新） (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-6) [>>> Modeling Life Histories of the Han and the Medieval Dynasties (Xiaofei Tian) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-6-tian) [>>> The Life Course of Tang Women 唐代婦女的生命歷程（姚平） (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-7) [>>> 唐與五代：研究計畫，史料，與展望 (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-9-0) [>>> Prosopography in Medieval Chinese Studies (Yang Lu) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-9) [>>> A Spatio-Temporal Database of Eminent Monks in China (Ven. Huimin, Fayuan) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-11) [>>> BGIS: A Searchable Relational Database of Buddhist Monasteries in China (Jiang Wu) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-12) [>>> Ming Qing Women's Writings (Grace Fong) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-14) [>>> Ming-Qing Archives Name Authority Database 明清檔案人名權威數據庫（劉錚云） (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-15) [>>> Digital Images of Biographical Materials of Historical Figures from the Archives of the Ch’ing Historiography Institute 大清國史人物列傳及史館檔傳包、傳稿全文影像資料庫（馮明珠） (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-16) [>>> The Online Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period and the Qing Research Portal (Pamela Crossley) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-17) [>>> Discussion: Modeling Ming and Qing Lives and Resources for Ming and Qing Biography and Prosopography (Mark Elliott, Martin Heijdra, Michael Szonyi) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-18) [>>> Database: China and the West, 1245-2000 (Anne-Marie Werner, Wolfgang Behr) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-19) [>>> The Chinese Biographical Database (Marilyn A. Levine) (1)](/galleries/modern-china-chinese-biographical-database) [>>> Republican Bankers in Modern China (Brett Sheehan) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-21) [>>> 民國時期（1911-1949）人物及著述資料庫建設（龍向洋） (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-22) [>>> China Vitae 中國名人錄（David Greis） (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-23) [>>> Quantifying Central Committee: Approach and Applications (Victor Shih, Wei Shan, Mingxing Liu) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-24) [>>> Creating Web Services and System Interoperability: Ming Qing Women's Writings, the China Biographical Database, and the China Historical Geographic Information System (Renée Sieber, Christopher Wellen, Lex Berman, Sophia Huang, Zhang Chuanron) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-28) [>>> Identifying Relationships in Unstructured Texts (Rani Nelken, Elif Yamangil, Wang Xiaoxuan) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-29-nelken) [>>> Finding Name Co-Occurrences in WDY (Elif Yamangil, Rani Nelken) (1)](/galleries/workshop-sessions/session-29-yamangil)