Presentations of CBDB Visiting Scholars (2023-2024)

China Biographical Database Project visiting scholars presented their own projects in CGIS Knafel on August 9th, 2024. Their presentations are:

Innovative Approaches in Chinese Ancient Texts Analysis

Liu, Lingsong

This thesis delves into the realm of advanced text mining techniques, with the aim of extracting and preserving valuable information from historical records. By conducting a comparative analysis of two large language models (LLMs), we focus on their ability to parse and interpret historical textual data, which is crucial for enhancing the accuracy of digital archives. The thesis also addresses the issue of hallucination in LLMs and proposes a cost-effective solution to improve output reliability. Furthermore, the study delves into the political dynamics within the epistolary networks of Ming Dynasty secretaries, utilizing data from the China Biographical Database (CBDB) and the Ming Letter Project. This investigation sheds light on the impact of these networks on political trends and illustrates the significance of applying modern computational methods in historical research.

The Local Governance in the Southern Song: a discussion based on official positions and geography

FAN, Yingyuan

This presentation is divided into two parts: The first part shares the use of large language models for batch processing in the task of disambiguating internal personnel during the compilation of the Song Huiyao Jigao宋會要輯稿. This approach is expected to improve overall work efficiency. The second part involves statistical and geographical analysis using existing data on Southern Song figures from the CBDB. Overall, the statistical data indicate that the frequency and location of local officials' appointments during the Southern Song period were closely related to the historical context. From the early to the late Southern Song, there was a trend of decreasing appointment frequency and reduced fluctuations, suggesting a gradual stabilization of the regime. Certain periods, however, exhibit unique characteristics that require further analysis. By comparing the mean and median of appointment frequencies across different regions, the regions can be categorized into three types based on the number of appointments and the degree of fluctuation. When this data is mapped, it reveals a clear gradient in local governance, with a noticeable proximity from east to west. The spatial distribution of appointment locations illustrates the shift in the focus of Southern Song local governance and the evolution of regional management strategies over different periods.

The research progress of the Compilation of Qing Dynasty Zhujuan

YUAN,Jinshan

Yuan Jinshan reported on the research progress of the Compilation of Qing Dynasty Zhujuan. The Qing Zhujuan is the most detailed record of examination papers from the Qing Dynasty, containing 8,235 examination papers from the Kangxi to Guangxu periods, including the provincial exams, metropolitan exams, and the five categories of tribute students. These documents involve a vast network of Jinshi, Juren, Gongsheng, and their extensive kinship and social relations. Yuan Jinshan provided a detailed report on the research into the kinship relations of the examinees, clarifying the kinship network and explaining some of the more complex relationships, such as "再從叔伯祖." The discussion was lively, and Professor Peter Bol suggested that further research could be conducted on why examinees were required to list over 200 kinship relations.

Plum blossoms are sent through a distant messenger, just as a letter is delivered by a fish: Spatial Coupling Study of Ming Dynasty Jinshi Places of Origin and Post Routes Information Transmission

Cong, Li

The distribution of the most elite group of civil officials, the holder of the jinshi degree, was not evenly distributed across the administrative landscape of Ming. There were counties, and even a few prefectures, which had no known jinshi. Several factors may account for this variation. These include wealth, investment in education,  and tradition. Places that did well in the past  were more likely to continue to do well. In this study, based on over 26,000cases, we look at a different factor: degree of access to national information, using proximity to stations 驿站 in the national postal network as a proxy .MIxed methods including Buff analysis, spatial aggregation analysis and Moran's Index and  Power Law Distribution  and the closest distance（冪律分佈）as well as   Historical Literature Analysis were used.  Three following questions were answered:Ming jinshi Spatial distribution characteristics  Ming jinshi and Ming route’s Spatial Coupling featureThe factors that influcing the  Ming route on Jinshi population from the perspective of information dissemination

The Prosopography of Ming Dynasty Letters and Ming Dynasty Women

Hao, Yajie

This presentation focuses on the latest data of the Ming Letters Platform and related studies. This presentation is divided into three main parts. The first part is the Ming Letters Project and Visualization, which introduces the current status of the project while demonstrating how visualization techniques can reveal changes in the dataset over the past five months and its structural characteristics. The second part is Research on Ming Dynasty Letters and Postal Stations: Inspired by Professor Cong's research on Ming Dynasty jinshi and postal stations, various calculation methods were employed to verify the strong correlation between the distribution of characters in the MLP and the density of Ming postal stations. The third part focuses on Ming Dynasty Women in CBDB, exploring their geographic distribution as well as the characteristics presented by their social relationship networks, revealing a strong contrast between kinship and non-kinship networks. (The research reported here is ongoing and requires further refinement.)

A Preliminary Study on the Data Processing and Analysis of Biographies of Chinese Buddhists

LI, Shaojian

The project aims to collect, extract, and clean data from the Person Authority Database and Place Authority Database of Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts, aligning it with the format and content requirements of the China Biographical Database (CBDB). The final data will be analyzed in terms of social networks and geographic information. The data processing mainly involves the standardization of names, places, and dynasties, as well as the disambiguation of social network relationships. The data analysis focuses on a preliminary exploration of social network relationships and geographic information specifically within the group of Ming Dynasty monks.

Peter Bol, Wang, Hongsu, and Tang, Kwok-leong hosted the presentations.