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A data-centric approach to discerning historical context. Using the China Biographical Database. The core data tables in CBDB are about relationships. Basic Biography: name, gender, dates (relationship to time) Biography Addresses (relationship with places)
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A data-centric approach to discerning historical context Using the China Biographical Database
The core data tables in CBDB are about relationships • Basic Biography: name, gender, dates (relationship to time) • Biography Addresses (relationship with places) • Alternate Names (relationship to names of different kinds) • Writings (relationship to learning) • Postings (relationship with government) • Mode of Entry into Government • Kinship (kin relationships with others) • Social associations (relations to non-kin others)
‘Prosopography’ is the investigation of the common background characteristics of a group of actors in history by means of a collective study of their lives. The method employed is to establish a universe to be studied, and then to ask a set of uniform questions – about birth and death, marriage and family, social origins and inherited economic position, place of residence, education, amount and source of personal wealth, occupation, religion, experience of office and so on. The various types of information about the individuals in the universe are then juxtaposed and combined, and are examined for significant variables. They are tested both for internal correlations and for correlations with other forms of behaviour or action. Lawrence Stone, 'Prosopography', in F. Gilbert and S. Graubard eds., Historical Studies Today (New York, 1972)
Social Network Analysis Conceptualizing community as collections of personal relationships … provides historians with a blueprint for evaluating when, how and why people in the past used kin and non-kin in the course of their lives. The findings of social network analysts that people need and seek emotional and economic support of different kinds, from different kinds of people, suggest new analytical imperatives. It is not enough now to look solely at how people used kin in times of crisis. Rather, historians need to pursue how people in the past used the kin and friends they had, for different things, throughout the life course, and in the context of the opportunities they enjoyed and the constraints they faced courtesy of demography and culture. Other approaches might be applied to the problem, but HSNA contains the essential perspectives that cannot only advance the debate, but also help historians to meet Tilly's challenge to connect the lives of ordinary people to large-scale change in meaningful ways.Charles Wetherhall, "Historical Social Network Analysis," in New methods for social history, ed. Larry J. Griffin and Marcel van der Linden, International review of social history ; v. 43. Supplement 6 (Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
SPATIAL ANALYSISLetters sent by CBDB figures reaching 60 sui, 1060-1079
Basic affiliations of writers of eulogies and sacrificial prayers for LüZuqian
Other teachers of LüZuqian’s students and the students of Lü’s students
Addressees of LüZuqian’s letters. Zhu Xi, recipient of 65 extant letters, is marked by an X Addressees of Zhu Xi’s letters, in red, compared to LüZuqian
2717 letters from and to leading Neo-Confucians of Zhu Xi’s generation; 453 persons
Lines show by size and color the number of letters between individuals connected to two others
Zhu Xi’s letter network. Showing recipients of at least two letters and exchanges between them. Label size reflects the number of exchanges; color identifies subnetworks among those exchanges .
Jinshi totals by county compared to the number of LüZuqian’s students by county
Examination Success and Office Lü was actively teaching in Wuzhou at various points between 1166 and his death in 1181. During the period when he had students passing the examination (from 1166 to 1196) 119 Wuzhou men are reputed to have taken Jinshi degrees, 17 of them were Lü’s students, about 10% of the total. If we exclude the 22 Yongkang literati, then 18% of total were his students, and 22% of the Jinhuajinshi were Lü students. (See App. H). A more impressive statistic may be that of his 57 Wuzhou students 26, almost half , are recorded in CBDB as having gained office. (see App. I). Given how difficult it was to gain office, LüZuqian had a remarkable track record.
Ding Xiliang丁希亮, one of his students, recognized exactly this: Lü was a teacher to many kinds of students and he taught them according to their interests. Ding writes: • With outstanding and exceptional literati he would discuss understanding legitimate succession and correcting the standards (論明統而正極); • With deeply moral and faithful literati he would discuss correcting the mind and making the intentions sincere; • With literati who liked the ancient and admired the distant he would discuss institutions and social norms; • With literati who valued the literary and loved the decorative he would discuss language and written characters; • On to those who had withdrawn from public affairs or who were seeking political advancement, he guided everyone according to his character and pushed them to improve so as to realize their ambitions. • 英偉竒傑之士,則與論明統而正極. • 篤厚謹信之士,則與論正心而誠意. • 好古慕遠之士,則與論制度紀綱. • 尚文茹華之士,則與論言語文字. • 以至隠逸之徒,進取之輩, • 莫不因其質以指其歸,勉其修以成其志.
