Author: James Lee

James Lee, Bamboo Ren, and Chen Liang Publish an Updated Version of their 2020 China Quarterly Article “Meritocracy and the Making of the Chinese Academe, 1912-1952”

Cover of Khanna and Szonyi’s edited volume Making Meritocracy

 

In “Meritocracy and the Making of the Chinese Academe Redux, 1912-1952”, a chapter in the new Oxford University Press volume edited by Michael Szonyi and Tarun Khanna Making Meritocracy: Lessons from China and India, from antiquity to the present, James Lee, Bamboo Y. Ren, and Chen Liang update the figures, maps, tables and related text from their earlier China Quarterly article to include domestic student data from five additional Chinese universities as well as data on many more overseas Chinese students from foreign universities.

Web page for Making Meritocracy at Oxford University Press

Full reference:

Lee, James, Bamboo Y. Ren, and Chen Liang. 2022. Meritocracy and the Making of the Chinese Academe Redux, 1912-1952. In Michael Szonyi and Tarun Khanna, eds. Making Meritocracy: Lessons from China and India. Oxford University Press, 137-169.

HKUST colleague Lawrence Zhang contributed a chapter to the same volume:

Sheth, Sudev and and Lawrence L. C. Zhang. 2022. “Meritocracy in Early Modern Asia: Qing China and Mughal India.”  In Michael Szonyi and Tarun Khanna. Eds. 2022. Making Meritocracy: Lessons from China and India, from Antiquity to the Present, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 85-117.

 

‘World-Leading’ Lee-Campbell Research Group Project on Social Origins of Students at Elite Universities in China, 1949-2002

Last month the Hong Kong Research Grants Council released the results of the 2020 Research Assessment Exercise assessing 16000 research outputs, 340 research impact case studies, and 190 research environment overview statements submitted by the eight Hong Kong University Grants Committee universities covering all research outputs in Hong Kong completed during the period from October 2013 to September 2019.

Only 26 of the 340 research impact case studies, including 4 of the 35 case studies submitted by HKUST, were considered to be 4 star, that is ‘world-leading in terms of originality, significance and rigour.’  We are pleased to announce that one of these four world leading projects was the collective research on Social Origins of Students at Elite Universities in China by the Lee-Campbell Research Group.

The UGC has just published on-line all the research impact case studies.

For the complete impact case study on Social Origins of Students at Elite Universities in China, please see

https://www.ugc.edu.hk/doc/eng/ugc/rae/2020/im/uoa34/uoa34_hkust_impact_case_study_001.pdf

The impact was based on the book 无声的革命, published in 2013, and an article with a similar title published in 中国社会科学 in 2012, which examined the social origins of students at Peking University and Suzhou University 1949-2002:

https://book.douban.com/subject/25732738/

For the overview statement on this and other impactful activities by the history faculty at HKUST, please see

https://www.ugc.edu.hk/doc/eng/ugc/rae/2020/im/uoa34/uoa34_hkust_impact_overview_statement.pdf

For all of the RAE 2020 impact case studies, please see

https://www.ugc.edu.hk/eng/ugc/activity/research/rae/2020/impactsubmissions.html

Chen Liang, Bamboo Y. Ren, and James Z. Lee publish a new article in《近代史研究》on the Geographic Origins of University Students During the Republic of China

Chen Liang (梁晨), Bamboo Y. Ren (任韵竹), and James Z. Lee 李中清 published a new article in 《近代史研究》(Modern Chinese History Studies) on the geographic origins of university students during the Republic of China using the CUSD-ROC, CUSD-OS, and CPOD-UE databases.

Here is the abstract:

民国大学生量化数据库收录有33所高校近12万学生个人层面的多维度信息，其地理信息包括籍贯、家庭住址、高中驻地和大学驻地四类。借助量化分析方法，对这四类信息进行分别计算和连接比较，能够动态呈现民国大学生群体地理来源的模式、特征和变迁。研究表明，清代科举体制下较均衡的全国性统一人才供给机制在民国时期被彻底打破，大学生的地理来源高度集中于东南地区和中心城市，人才供给规模省际差异显著。同时，在校大学生明显向中心城市集中，这一趋势伴随求学历程不断强化。民国不同地区人口接受新式教育的广度和层次差别甚大，这对国家近代化的进程与特征具有重要影响。

Full reference: Chen Liang 梁晨, Bamboo Y. Ren 任韵竹, and James Z. Lee 李中清. 2021. 民国大学生地理来源量化考析 (Quantitative Study of the Geographic Origins of University Students During the Republic of China)  《近代史研究》(Modern Chinese History Studies). 3 (May): 124-142

 

Bamboo Ren, Chen Liang, and James Lee publish new article in China Quarterly on “Meritocracy and the Making of the Chinese Academe, 1912-1952” using the CUSD-ROC, CUSD-OS, and CPOD-UE

This article takes advantage of three new big historical datasets to identify four salient features of the Chinese academe during the Republic of China. First, it was highly international in terms of training. Second, the proportion of female students was unexpectedly large. Third, there was a heavy emphasis on STEM subjects. Finally, the social and spatial origins of China’s university students and university faculty members changed from a national population of civil servant families to business and professional families largely from Jiangnan and the Pearl River Delta. The datasets are the China University Student Dataset – Republic of China, which includes almost half of all students to graduate from a Chinese university during the first half of the 20th century; the China University Student Dataset – Overseas, which includes the vast majority of all Chinese students to graduate from an North American, European or Japanese university during this same period; and the China Professional Occupation – University Employee Dataset, which includes almost all university faculty members in China, 1941–1950. The China University Student Datasets are described in detail here.

Here is a link to the paper at the China Quarterly page:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/china-quarterly/article/meritocracy-and-the-making-of-the-chinese-academe-19121952/91FDD1422C31D5CA8119F14BD2AD1162

 

<民国上海大学生社会来源量化研究，1913-1949> wins a prize

As part of their 2020 biennial competition, the Jiangsu academe awarded Chen Liang, Bamboo Yunzhu Ren, Yuqian Wang, James Z. Lee,  2017, <民国上海大学生社会来源量化研究，1913-1949>,  《历史研究》(Historical Research) 第三期 (May): 76-92,  a second prize (二等奖) for Outstanding Achievement in Philosophy and Social Science. This is the third publication by the Lee-Campbell Group to receive such recognition from the Jiangsu academe.  For full text please follow this link.

Here is the official announcement.

 

PRC Ministry of Education awards Lee-Campbell Group article an Excellent Research Achievement Award

The Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China awarded Chen Liang, Hao Dong, James Z. Lee, 2015,  <量化数据库与历史研究> (Big Historical Data and New Directions in Historical Research) 《历史研究》(Historical Research). Vol 2 (April 2015): 113-128 a 优秀青年成果奖 (Excellent Young Scholar Research Achievement Prize). This is the eighth triennial Excellent Research Achievement Award competition and the first to distinguish young scholars, below age 40, from more senior scholars.  Altogether 11 history publications, including nine books and only two articles, received this recognition.

Here is the official announcement at the PRC Ministry of Education website.

China Multi-Generational Panel Dataset Wins a Prize

At the 2020 Chinese Digital Humanities Annual Meeting (中国数字人文年会), the China Multi Generational Panel Dataset 中国多世代人口数据库 CMGPD was awarded the inaugural “最佳题材奖” Prize.  This is the 14th prize or similar recognition awarded to Lee-Campbell group research projects and our first for something other than a book or article.  See Publications and Prizes for a complete list.

New Milestones for Chen Liang

New milestones for Chen Liang, a 2019 青年拔尖人才 Outstanding Young Talent.  Nanjing University promoted Chen to Full Professor of History in Fall 2019, and to  Associate Dean of the College of History in charge of research and graduate training in Spring 2020.

Congratulations Chen!

《江山代有才人出，各领风骚数十年：中国精英教育四段论，1865-2014》wins a prize

The Jiangsu Academy of Social Science awarded 梁 晨 (Chen LIANG), 董浩(Hao DONG), 任韵竹 (Bamboo Y. REN), 李中清 (James Z. Lee).《江山代有才人出，各领风骚数十年：中国精英教育四段论，1865-2014》. 《社会学研究》第三期(May/June): 48-70, a 2017 third prize (三等奖) for Outstanding Achievement in Philosophy and Social Science. This is the second such recognition in the last five years by the Jiangsu Academy of Lee Campbell Research Group scholarship and our tenth best book, best article, or choice award from a scholarly organization.

Shuang Chen’s book, State-Sponsored Inequality: The Banner System and Social Stratification in Northeast China named a 2017 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title

We are pleased to report that Shuang Chen’s book State-Sponsored Inequality: The Banner System and Social Stratification in Northeast China was named a 2017 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title. According to the Association of College and Research Libraries which includes 2400 universities and research institutions, publishes Choice, and makes the awards:

Every year in the January issue, in print and online, Choice publishes a list of Outstanding Academic Titles that were reviewed during the previous calendar year. This prestigious list reflects the best in scholarly titles reviewed by Choice and brings with it the extraordinary recognition of the academic library community.

The list is quite selective: it contains approximately ten percent of some 6,000 works reviewed in Choice each year. Choice editors base their selections on the reviewer’s evaluation of the work, the editor’s knowledge of the field, and the reviewer’s record. The list was known as Outstanding Academic Books until 2000. The new name reflects an increase in reviews of electronic products and Internet sites.

In awarding Outstanding Academic Titles, the editors apply several criteria to reviewed titles:

  • overall excellence in presentation and scholarship
  • importance relative to other literature in the field
  • distinction as a first treatment of a given subject in book or electronic form
  • originality or uniqueness of treatment
  • value to undergraduate students
  • importance in building undergraduate library collections.