Category: datasets

Chen Jun has created a training guide (in Chinese) to help anyone who would like to learn how to use R to analyze the CGED-Q JSL Public Releases. The PDF file is available for download here.

Chen Jun has produced other resources including slides and sample code for R, and they and the training guide are all available at this page.

Cameron Campbell created a page at his website to share code that may be useful when managing or analyzing the CGED-Q Jinshenlu Public Release. This includes code to create flag variables to help with the selection of records for analysis, as well as code for transforming, cleaning or re-categorizing the contents of key variables.

In November 2021, our coders completed the entry of virtually all the quarterly editions of the rosters of Qing civil officials 縉紳錄 and military officials 中樞備覧 available to the Lee-Campbell Group, including all the editions from the published Tsinghua University Library collection and other editions from  the Columbia University and Harvard University libraries, as well as the National Library and Shanghai Library. We are grateful to the staff of all these libraries, in particular the Columbia University Library, for their cooperation in making their library holdings available.  We have also located a number of other editions in the Peking University library and the Palace Museum Library, but do not yet have access to these data.  We are not aware of any other readily accessible editions in other collections.

The CGED-Q JSL now consists of 4,433,600 records of 327,618 officials for the period between 1760 and 1912. 3,843,644 are records of civil offices in editions of the jinshenlu and 589,956 are records of military offices in editions of the zhongshubeilan. The data are most complete for the period 1830 to 1912. According to our analysis based on our most recent record linkage, of these officials, 261,451 were civil officials, 58,482 were military officials, and 7,685 made appearances as both civil and military officials. Please note that since these counts of numbers of officials are based on record linkage, they may change as we adjust our nominative linkage procedures.

Figure 1 (below) summarizes the coverage of the entered 縉紳錄 editions by decade (black bar) and compares it to the potential coverage if all the editions in different collections were entered. In the 1840s, and then from 1870 to 1912, we have entered at least one edition per year. In the 1830s, and then from 1850 to 1869, we have at least one edition entered for 9 out of 10 years in each decade. Between 1800 and 1830, the coverage of our entered data is spottier. We have at least one edition in 7 out of 10 years in the 1800s, 4 out of 10 years in the 1810s, and 6 out of 10 years in the 1820. From 1760 to 1800, our coverage is less complete, with at least one edition entered every 2 to 4 years per decade.

Based on our review of the catalogs of other collections, it should still be possible to improve coverage of the last half of the 18th century and first half of the 19th century. The heights of the green bars represent the numbers of years for which at least one edition appears to exist in other collections. Most of these are in the Peking University Library and the Palace Museum. We hope very much to gain access to these collections at some point in the future.

Figure 2 presents a more detailed view of the coverage of the editions so far. From about 1865 onward, we have 3 or 4 editions per year entered all the way to 1911. From 1830 to 1865 or so, we have at least one or two editions per year entered, except for one year each in the 1850s and 1860s where we have no editions at all. Before 1830, it is more common to have one or two editions entered, or none at all.

For more details about the CGED, please see the project page.

Addendum – 30 April 2022

Since November 2021, we found five more editions that had been entered but not added to our central work file. This post and the content of related pages has been accordingly updated.