Summer 2013 China Multigenerational Panel Dataset class at SJTU

The Center for the History and Society of Northeast China at the Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Humanities will hold its third summer China Multigenerational Panel Data workshop from July 15 to July 19.

The workshop will focus on introducing the China Multigenerational Panel Datasets (CMGPD) as sources for the study of demography, stratification, and social and family history. These include the China Multigenerational Panel Dataset – Liaoning (CMGPD-LN) and the China Multigenerational Panel Dataset – Shuangcheng (CMGPD-SC). The CMGPD-LN has already been released via the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Science Research. Data and documentation are already available for download: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/CMGPD/. Chinese language documentation for the CMGPD-LN are available for download here. Draft documentation for the CMGPD-SC are available for download here.

The CMGPD datasets have many unique features that make them useful not only for the study of Chinese population, social, and family history, but for the study of demographic, social and economic processes more generally. Their features also make them useful as testbeds for researchers developing novel quantitative techniques. The datasets are longitudinal, multi-generational, and structured at multiple levels, including the individual, the household, the kin group, the community, the administrative unit, and the region.

UCLA Professor of Sociology Cameron Campbell and Distinguished Professor and Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology James Lee will be primary lecturers. Guest lecturers will include Yuxue Ren, Professor of History at Shanghai Jiaotong University; and Dong Hao, PhD student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

This class is intended to 1) introduce researchers to the CMGPD datasets and help them decide whether they may be useful in their own studies, and 2) give current users an opportunity to learn more about the origin and context of the data. Researchers who have already started using the CMGPD-SC or CMGPD-LN are welcome to attend and take advantage of the opportunity to discuss any questions they may have with Lee, Campbell, and others who were involved in the creation of the dataset.

Lectures and discussion will focus on 1) the historical, social, economic and institutional context of the populations covered by the data, 2) key features of the data, and 3) potential applications. Because we have already released a Training Guide that provides instruction on carrying out basic and advanced analysis with the data, this year’s workshop will not provide instruction in STATA, or have computer exercises. There will be optional sessions to introduce the Training Guide and demonstrate basic procedures for downloading the data from the website and loading it into STATA.

At the end of the week, participants will be asked to make a brief presentation on their ideas for making use of the data. If participants are already working with the CMGPD, they will be welcome to make brief presentations on their work with it. There will not be any computer exercises.

If any non-Chinese speakers enroll, the lectures will be in English. If the participants all speak Chinese, lectures may be in Chinese. Discussion will be in English and Chinese.

The Shanghai Jiaotong University Center for the History and Society of Northeast China was established as a research unit by a collaboration of the Shanghai Jiaotong University (SJTU) School of the Humanities and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) School of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Datasets

China Multigenerational Panel Dataset – Liaoning (CMGPD-LN)

The CMGPD-LN is an important dataset for the study of China’s family, social and demographic history, and for the study of demography and stratification more generally. The dataset is suitable for application of a wide variety of statistical techniques that are commonly used in social demography for the analysis of longitudinal, individual-level data, and available in the most popular statistical software packages. The dataset is distinguished by its size, temporal depth, and richness of detail on family, household and kinship context.

The materials from which the dataset was constructed are Shengjing Imperial Household Agency household registers held in the Liaoning Provincial Archives. The registers are triennial. Altogether there are 3600 of them. We transcribed a subset of them to produce the CMGPD-LN, which spans 160 years from 1749 to 1909. At present, the dataset comprises 29 register series, and consists of 1,500,000 records that describe 260000 individuals over seven generations. The CMGPD-LN is accordingly an important resource for the study of historical demography, sociology, economics, and other fields.

The CMGPD-LN and associated English-language documentation are already available for download at ICPSR, following a free registration. Please visit the website:http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/cmgpd

China Multigenerational Panel Dataset – Shuangcheng (CMGPD-SC)

The CMGPD-SC covers communities of recent settlers in Shuangcheng, Heilongjiang in the last half of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth. It contains 1.35 million records that describe 100,000 people. The registers cover descendants of urban migrants from Beijing and rural migrants from neighboring areas in northeast China who came to the area in the first half of the nineteenth century as part of a government organized effort to settle this largely vacant frontier region. One of the distinguishing features of this dataset is the availability of linked, individual-level landholding records for several points in time. The data also include a rich array of other indicators of household and family context and socioeconomic status. We anticipate formal public release of the dataset via ICPSR in 2013 or 2014. We will provide participants in the summer class with access to drafts of the release and documentation.

Information

Dates

Monday, July 15, 2013 to Friday, July 19, 2013

Location
Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Humanities (SJTU Minhang Campus, Shanghai)
Application deadline

May 25, 2013

See link below to download application

Application procedure

Please send your personal statement, curriculum vitae, and application form as attachments to chinanortheast@gmail.com. We will have an English language application form available soon.

Applications from faculty, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students are welcome. Applications from graduating college seniors will also be considered if they have already been accepted into a graduate program beginning fall 2013. In that case, the application should include a copy of their graduate school acceptance. Any other interested parties should contact our staff at chinanortheast@gmail.com before applying to see if they will be considered.

Participants should be able to speak or read Chinese or English. No prior experience in statistics, demography, or Chinese history is required. Applicants must explain the reasons for their interest in the data in their application, and should demonstrate that they have background, experience or interests that in some way are relevant.

Participants will be offered free housing in graduate student dormitories at SJTU. Participants who want other accommodations will have to arrange them on their own and will be responsible for all associated costs. Participants should bring their own computer. Students are responsible for travel and local expenses. At present we expect to be able to accommodate 25-30 participants.

Links

·       Application form (Chinese)

·       Application form (English)

·       CMGPD-LN website at ICPSR, in English

·       CMGPD-LN User Guide, in Chinese

·       CMGPD-SC User Guide draft

·       Publications related to the CMGPD

Tentative schedule