Tag: cged-q

Paper on age dynamics of Qing officials in 近代史研究

Shuaiqi Gao, Chong Li and Cameron Campbell published a paper on the age dynamics of the careers of 19th century Qing officials 清代文官的年龄动态研究（1830—1911）in one of the leading Chinese history journals, 近代史研究. Here’s the announcement of the issue at the journal’s Wechat account: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/pKT33blHGmKZglydDOgDiw

Full text at CNKI Overseas and CNKI China

Reference:

康文林 (Cameron Campbell), 高帅奇 (Gao Shuaiqi), 李翀 (Li Chong). 2026. 清代文官的年龄动态研究（1830—1911）(Research on the Age Dynamics of Qing Civil Officials, 1830-1911). 近代史研究 (Journal of Modern Chinese History). 2(March): 93-116.

Here is the abstract:

清代文官在功名获取、任命、履职以及离职时的年龄变化，揭示了官僚系统内部的运行状态。通过关联中国历史官员量化数据库——清代缙绅录和同年齿录数据库，获得1830—1911年16913名进士、举人及贡生的382983条官员年龄信息记录。样本数据涵盖从地方教育官员至中央高级官员的所有官员类别。定量分析结果显示，官员首次入仕、履职以及离职时的年龄分布，明显受到其功名及品级的影响，呈现高度的离散性，这也反映出许多中举士子候缺及晋升的时间较长。相较于进士，举人首次候缺的时间更长。清代官僚系统内部的动态变化可能导致官员仕途晋升的困难，官员在职死亡是引发官僚体系人员流动的重要因素之一。官员年龄的动态变化，揭示了太平天国运动后大量新官员开始涌入清政府官僚系统，高龄官员不适度的离职率对年轻官员任命和晋升产生较大影响。

The age dynamics of Qing Dynasty civil officials upon obtaining their academic titles, appointments, assumption of office, and departures yield new insights into the internal workings of the bureaucratic system. By linking the quantitative databases of Chinese historical officials—the Qing Dynasty Official Records and the Records of Age of the Same Year—382,983 records of age information for 16,913 Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest imperial examinations), Juren (successful candidates in the provincial imperial examinations), and Gongsheng (tribute students) from 1830 to 1911 were obtained. The sample data covers all categories of officials, from local education officials to high-ranking central government officials. Results show that the age distribution of officials upon their first entry into officialdom, assumption of office, and departure is significantly influenced by their academic titles and ranks, exhibiting high dispersion. This also reflects the long waiting time for many Juren to be promoted. Compared to Jinshi, Juren had a longer initial waiting time. The dynamic changes within the Qing Dynasty bureaucratic system may have led to difficulties in career advancement for officials, and the death of officials in office was a significant factor in personnel turnover within the bureaucratic system. The changes in officials’ ages reveal that after the Taiping Rebellion, a large influx of new officials entered the Qing government’s bureaucratic system, and the low turnover rate of older officials significantly impacted the appointment and promotion of younger officials.

Paper on machine learning approach to nominative record linkage in Chinese historical sources

Yue YU lead-authored a new paper introducing a machine-learning approach to nominative record linkage in Chinese historical sources that is now online at Historical Methods. It was co-authored with Cameron Campbell, Yueran Hou and Yibei Wu. The paper is titled “A machine learning approach for nominative record linkage in Chinese historical databases.” It is a revised version of the working paper that we previously uploaded at SocArXiv. It demonstrates that a machine-learning approach yields substantial improvements over the probabilistic approach introduced in a paper by Cameron Campbell and Bijia Chen.

Reference:

YU Yue, Yueran Hou, Yibei Wu, Cameron Campbell. 2026. A Machine Learning Approach for Nominative Record Linkage in Chinese Historical Databases. (w/ Yue Yu, Yueran Hou, Yibei Wu). Historical Methods. Online access, 26 March 2026: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01615440.2026.2641454

Abstract

We introduce a generic machine learning-based pipeline for nominative linkage of records within and across Chinese historical datasets. The pipeline addresses key challenges, including character variations, incomplete data, and scalability issues specific to historical datasets in which names and other attributes are recorded with Chinese characters, not just for China, but potentially for Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Techniques developed for attributes recorded in phonetic alphabets are of limited use for Chinese characters not only because homonyms are common, but characters that are similar enough in appearance to be mistaken for each other may sound different. Our approach integrates stroke-based character embeddings for efficient blocking, supervised classification with active learning for record matching, and graph-based clustering for final linkage. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this pipeline using the career records of officials in the China Government Employee Database-Qing Jinshenlu (CGED-Q JSL). We achieve improved linkage quality compared to standard probabilistic methods, with longer linked sequences of career records and fewer aberrant transitions. To validate the generalizability, we also successfully apply the pipeline to another database and a cross-database linkage task. By minimizing the need for manual tuning, our pipeline offers a more accessible and effective solution for Chinese historical data linkage.

Xue Qin publishes an article in 近代史研究 on educational officials in the Qing dynasty

Xue Qin’s single-authored article “晚清中央教育官员的群体构成及近代转型（1850—1911）——以’缙绅录数据库’为中心的讨论 （Composition and Modern Transformation of Central Educational Officials in the Late Qing Dynasty (1850–1911): A Study Based on the Jinshenlu Database）” has been published on the latest issue of 近代史研究 (Modern Chinese History Studies). Using the CGED-Q, this article studies the transformation of educational officials in the central government, focusing on the shifts in Manchu-Han composition and official qualifications, particularly following the first Sino-Japanese War and the establishment of the Ministry of Education in 1905.

Full text is available here: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/2pQTPfzNPIrBv_xrWThaAA

Here is the Chinese language abstract:

在晚清改革背景下，中央教育官员的官制设置与群体构成既与传统学官迥异，也与其他官员群体有所区别。传统中央教育行政管理职能由国子监和礼部官员共同承担。咸同捐纳大开后，异途出身的官员逐渐增多，但国子监和礼部官员因涉科举和教育仍维持以科举正途为主的出身结构。甲午战后，在革命排满与人才匮乏双重影响下，清廷注重平满汉畛域，京师各衙门官员旗民比例发生改变，其中礼部的旗人官员不断增加，但国子监官员受影响较小。1905年学部成立，中国近代新式教育官员由此产生，其群体结构呈现趋新特征，选官不分满汉，且倾向于选用具有新式教育背景和教育管理经验的官员。清末中央教育官员群体构成的变迁，反映了中国教育近代化由“旧”入“新”的承续与转变。
关键词：教育官员　教育行政制度　缙绅录数据库

New CGED-Q JSL Training Guide

Chen Jun has created a R Markdown file that provides a tutorial for using R to analyze the CGED-Q, including executable code. The tutorial has been uploaded to the Lee-Campbell Group dataspaces at Harvard and HKUST, along with PDF of the output.

He has also produced updated Powerpoints showing how to use R to analyze the CGED-Q JSL.

Harvard Dataverse

R Markdown File: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/file.xhtml?fileId=11712534

PDF of output from R Markdown file: https://dataverse.harvard.edu/file.xhtml?fileId=11712535

Powerpoints

1&2-初识Rstudio和缙绅录数据库(v2.1.1).pdf

3-逻辑表达式和字符串处理的相关函数(v2.1.1).pdf

4-表格输出(v2.1.1).pdf

5-直方图、散点图和折线图的制作(v2.1.1).pdf

6-数据的整理与匹配(v2.1.1).pdf

7-官员个人编号的创建与运用(v2.1.1).pdf

8-制作GIS图像(v2.1.1).pdf

HKUST Dataspace

R Markdown File: https://dataspace.hkust.edu.hk/file.xhtml?fileId=2707

PDF of output from R Markdown file: https://dataspace.hkust.edu.hk/file.xhtml?fileId=2703

Powerpoints

1 & 2 初识Rstudio和缙绅录数据库(v2.1.1).pdf

3-逻辑表达式和字符串处理的相关函数(v2.1.1).pdf

4-表格输出(v2.1.1).pdf

5-直方图、散点图和折线图的制作(v2.1.1).pdf

6-数据的整理与匹配(v2.1.1).pdf

7-官员个人编号的创建与运用(v2.1.1).pdf

8-制作GIS图像(v2.1.1).pdf

Updated CGED-Q JSL User Guide now available

We have updated the CGED-Q JSL User Guide 中国历史官员量化数据库-缙绅录用户指南 to reflect the 1760-1798 data that we released last year. Chen Jun and Bijia Chen were mostly responsible for this update, though we had feedback from others. We have included new data on the variables, new information about the sources, and various other edits. The new version is available for download at the Harvard Dataverse and the HKUST Dataspace:

Harvard Dataverse

https://dataverse.harvard.edu/file.xhtml;jsessionid=decdf0d5f164007a167a94fd0309?fileId=11704482&version=7.0

HKUST Dataspace

https://dataspace.hkust.edu.hk/file.xhtml?fileId=2702&version=19.0

New article by Hu Cunlu using CGED-Q in 近代史研究

We were delighted to learn that Hu Cunlu (胡存璐), an assistant professor at Central China Normal University who recently completed her PhD at Renmin University, has just published an article “清代山西知县空间流动的量化分析 (A Quantitative Analysis of Spatial Mobility of County Magistrates in Shanxi in Qing Dynasty)” in 近代史研究 (Modern Chinese History Studies). The article makes use of China Government Employee Database-Qing Jinshenlu 中国历史官员数据库–清代缙绅录 (CGED-Q JSL) that we shared with her. She also makes use of county gazetteer data collected by Renmin University. We hope this article along with other recent publications using the CGED-Q will inspire others to use the public CGED-Q, or CGED-Q data that we have shared with them.

Here is the link to the article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/YwAUMJZfVz6DtwBKx-l2Dw

If you publish an article that makes use of the CGED-Q, please let us know so we can help publicize it!

CGED-Q JSL 1760-1798 Draft Release

We have made available a draft release of the China Government Employee Dataset-Qing (CGED-Q) Jinshenlu (JSL) 1760-1798 data at the HKUST Dataspace:

https://dataspace.hkust.edu.hk/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.14711/dataset/E9GKRS

We expect to release a final version later in the year reflected corrections to any problems identified by users.

We are grateful to Xue Qing and Bijia Chen who spotted issues with the data before it was released.

CGED-Q Research Seminar and Training Workshop at Central China Normal University, July 28-August 3, 2024

In conjunction with the next public release of data from the CGED-Q JSL, there will be a research conference and training workshop at Central China Normal University July 28-August 3 in conjunction with the next public release of data from the China Government Employee Dataset-Qing (CGED_Q) Jinshenlu. The conference will be July 29 and July 30. Papers that make use of Jinshenlu and related sources are welcome. The training workshop will be July 31-August 2.

Here is the announcement of the research conference in Chinese:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/_4A0DO6hglCS2iHW2xscQA

Here is the announcement for the training workshop in Chinese:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/XTGWh6r0dWxYUmJAEUtZWA

New paper on the organizational demography of Qing officialdom in 社會科學研究

A paper by Cameron Campbell and Shuaiqi GAO on the organizational demography of Qing officialdom has been published in 社會科學研究. You can read it in its entirety in a post at the journal’s official account. You can download the PDF at the entry for the paper at the journal’s website. The English version is available at Soc ArXiv.

The article was one of seven journal articles selected for inclusion in the History (历史) category in April 2024《中国社会科学文摘》(China Social Science Digest). https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/WYe_MogUK_DA2EfPHe2FqA

Abstract

中国历史官员量化数据库——（清）缙绅录（CGED?Q JSL）中文官的纵向关联记录揭示了19世纪清代文官整体的职业动态。定量分析的结果表明，清代官僚系统的总体情况就像一个当代的大型组织，文官离职率在任职的第一年内很高，然后下降，之后趋于稳定。19世纪下半叶，官员的离职率整体下降，但于清末十年中上升。官员离职率下降导致拥有功名的候缺待补官员群体谋求仕途和进一步晋升的机会不断减少。同时，异途官员的人数不断增加，加剧了官场竞争。不同类别、品级官员的职业动态在不同历史时期的变化趋势差异较大，尤其是高品级官员的离职率对清代后期的官场平衡具有深刻影响。清代文官的职业动态一方面揭示了清代文官组织人口学的基本特征，另一方面也为解释清代特定官员群体或特定时期的官员个案研究提供了重要参考。

We study the organizational demography of the Qing civil service from 1830 to 1911. Before the 20th century, the Qing bureaucracy was one of the largest non-military organizations in the world in terms of numbers of regular employees. At any given time, approximately 13,000 officials held formal appointments. We present the basic features of its organizational demography using data on nearly all civil officials with formal appointments from 1830 to 1912. We make use of longitudinally linked records of officials in the China Government Employee Database – Jinshenlu (CGED-Q JSL) to reconstruct rates of exit from service, the career lengths of officials, and the number of years since first appointment for currently serving officials. While previous studies of the Qing have examined turnover in specific types of posts, they have not considered the dynamics of complete careers. We find that exit rates in the first year of service were high and then low and stable afterward. While most officials only served for a short time, currently serving officials were relatively experienced. We also show that rates of exit from service declined for much of the last half of the 19th century, and then increased in the first decade of the 20th century. Declining turnover in the last half of the 19th century would have reduced opportunities for degree holders seeking posts and for officials seeking promotion at a time when the number of holders of purchased degrees competing for posts was increasing. We also compare different categories of officials. The results not only illuminate basic features of the organizational demography of Qing officialdom, but also provide a baseline for interpreting results from case studies of specific groups of officials or specific time periods.

Here is the full reference:

康文林 (Cameron Campbell) and 高帅奇(Gao Shuaiqi). 2024. 清代文官的组织人口学研究, 1830-1911 (The Organizational Demography of the Qing Civil Service, 1830-1911). 社会科学研究 (Social Science Research). 1:157-169.

New publication using process mining to study the careers of Qing officials in the CGED-Q JSL

Adam Burke at the Queensland University of Technology lead-authored a paper “State Snapshot Process Discovery on Career Paths of Qing Dynasty Civil Servants” that introduces a new process mining technique he calls ‘state snapshot process discovery’ and illustrates it by application to our CGED-Q JSL data on the careers of jinshi officials. Cameron Campbell is a co-author. The paper has been accepted for presentation at the 5th International Conference on Process Mining (ICPM2023), in Rome, Italy, in October 2023.

A pre-print of the paper is available at Adam’s website: https://adamburkeware.net/papers/burke_et_al_state_snap_qing_icpm2023.pdf

Here is a figure from the paper that summarizes the empirical reconstruction of the careers of first and second tier (一甲 and 二甲) jinshi in the years after they earned their degree. One of the attractions of the CGED-Q JSL for demonstrating this technique was that there were canonical career pathways specified by regulations for such high-ranked degree holders, thus it was possible to assess whether the empirical results derived from the data were consistent with the canonical career pathways. We hope that extensions of this technique, and possibly other techniques, can be used to explore the trajectories of officials with more mundane qualifications.

For this paper, Cameron Campbell helped Adam and the other collaborators (Sander Leemans and Moe T. Wynn) understand the data that we provided, and advise on adjustments to accommodate undocumented or otherwise unanticipated features of the data in successive iterations, and then assist in the writing of sections related to the data and the historical context, background on the social science studies of careers, the interpretation of the results.

We are happy to collaborate with computer scientists and other researchers developing techniques for understanding careers and trajectories more generally in complex longitudinal data, who need data like the CGED-Q to showcase their approaches.