Historical Chinese Microdata. 40 Years of Dataset Construction by the Lee-Campbell Research Group

The Lee-Campbell Group has spent forty years constructing and analysing individual-level datasets based largely on Chinese archival materials to produce a scholarship of discovery. Initially, we constructed datasets for the study of Chinese demographic behaviour, households, kin networks, and socio...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Cameron Campbell, James Lee
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: International Institute of Social History 2020-09-01
Series:Historical Life Course Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://acc.openjournals.nl/hlcs/article/view/9303
_version_ 1826843380536049664
author Cameron Campbell
James Lee
author_facet Cameron Campbell
James Lee
author_sort Cameron Campbell
collection DOAJ
description The Lee-Campbell Group has spent forty years constructing and analysing individual-level datasets based largely on Chinese archival materials to produce a scholarship of discovery. Initially, we constructed datasets for the study of Chinese demographic behaviour, households, kin networks, and socioeconomic attainment. More recently, we have turned to the construction and analysis of datasets on civil and military officials and other educational and professional elites, especially their social origins and their careers. As of July 2020, the datasets include nominative information on the behaviour and life outcomes of approximately two million individuals. This article is a retrospective on the construction of these datasets and a summary of their findings. This is the first time we have presented all our projects together and discussed them and the results of our analysis as a single integrated whole. We begin by summarizing the contents, organization, and notable features of each dataset and provide an integrated history of our data construction, starting in 1979 up to the present. We then summarize the most important results from our research on demographic behaviour, family, and household organization, and more recently inequality and stratification. We conclude with a reflection on the importance of data discovery, flexibility, interaction and collaboration to the success of our efforts.
first_indexed 2024-12-18T10:23:51Z
format Article
id doaj.art-bb71e02b4fd34c4eaf0d4bd9ecf529b1
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2352-6343
language English
last_indexed 2025-02-16T13:40:25Z
publishDate 2020-09-01
publisher International Institute of Social History
record_format Article
series Historical Life Course Studies
spelling doaj.art-bb71e02b4fd34c4eaf0d4bd9ecf529b12025-02-02T10:36:14ZengInternational Institute of Social HistoryHistorical Life Course Studies2352-63432020-09-01Historical Chinese Microdata. 40 Years of Dataset Construction by the Lee-Campbell Research GroupCameron CampbellJames Lee The Lee-Campbell Group has spent forty years constructing and analysing individual-level datasets based largely on Chinese archival materials to produce a scholarship of discovery. Initially, we constructed datasets for the study of Chinese demographic behaviour, households, kin networks, and socioeconomic attainment. More recently, we have turned to the construction and analysis of datasets on civil and military officials and other educational and professional elites, especially their social origins and their careers. As of July 2020, the datasets include nominative information on the behaviour and life outcomes of approximately two million individuals. This article is a retrospective on the construction of these datasets and a summary of their findings. This is the first time we have presented all our projects together and discussed them and the results of our analysis as a single integrated whole. We begin by summarizing the contents, organization, and notable features of each dataset and provide an integrated history of our data construction, starting in 1979 up to the present. We then summarize the most important results from our research on demographic behaviour, family, and household organization, and more recently inequality and stratification. We conclude with a reflection on the importance of data discovery, flexibility, interaction and collaboration to the success of our efforts. https://acc.openjournals.nl/hlcs/article/view/9303ChinaHistorical demographyHistorical big dataQuantitative historyInequality
spellingShingle Cameron Campbell
James Lee
Historical Chinese Microdata. 40 Years of Dataset Construction by the Lee-Campbell Research Group
Historical Life Course Studies
China
Historical demography
Historical big data
Quantitative history
Inequality
title Historical Chinese Microdata. 40 Years of Dataset Construction by the Lee-Campbell Research Group
title_full Historical Chinese Microdata. 40 Years of Dataset Construction by the Lee-Campbell Research Group
title_fullStr Historical Chinese Microdata. 40 Years of Dataset Construction by the Lee-Campbell Research Group
title_full_unstemmed Historical Chinese Microdata. 40 Years of Dataset Construction by the Lee-Campbell Research Group
title_short Historical Chinese Microdata. 40 Years of Dataset Construction by the Lee-Campbell Research Group
title_sort historical chinese microdata 40 years of dataset construction by the lee campbell research group
topic China
Historical demography
Historical big data
Quantitative history
Inequality
url https://acc.openjournals.nl/hlcs/article/view/9303
work_keys_str_mv AT cameroncampbell historicalchinesemicrodata40yearsofdatasetconstructionbytheleecampbellresearchgroup
AT jameslee historicalchinesemicrodata40yearsofdatasetconstructionbytheleecampbellresearchgroup