Summer 2014 China Multigenerational Panel Dataset Workshop at SJTU (English announcement)

The 4th China Multigenerational Panel Dataset Workshop
Shanghai Jiaotong University, Minhang Campus
Shanghai, China

July 14-25, 2014

中文版

The Center for the History and Society of Northeast China at the Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Humanities will hold its 4th summer China Multigenerational Panel Data workshop from July 14 to July 25.

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 have been released via the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Science Research.  The latest versions of the CMGPD document are available for download.

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 will be the primary lecturer. Guest lecturers will include Distinguished Professor and Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology James Lee; 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, 2) give current users an opportunity to learn more about the origin and context of the data, and 3) give participants basic instruction in the use of STATA to describe, organize and analyze 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.  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.

Please note that while there will be basic instruction in the use of STATA to organize and analyze the data, this is not intended as a class in STATA, or introductory statistics. Students looking specifically for instruction in STATA, statistics, or data management are encouraged to look elsewhere. Again, the class is intended for participants who want to assess whether CMGPD is suitable for their research interests, or are already considering the use of the CMGPD and seek basic instruction in the use of STATA to manipulate and analyze it.

The workshop will include daily exercises to introduce key features of the data, and STATA techniques for taking advantage of these features. Participants will also complete a small project of their own design using the data and present it on the last day of the workshop.

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

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.

Pending release of the CMGPD-SC through ICPSR, the data are available for download here.

Information

Dates
Monday, July 14, 2014 to Friday, July 25, 2014

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

Application deadline
May 1, 2014

See link below to download application

Application procedure

Please send your personal statement, curriculum vitae, and application form (English or 中文) as attachments to chinanortheast@gmail.com.

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 2014.  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 who are Chinese nationals will have accommodations. Participants who are not Chinese nationals will receive assistance with arranging accommodations, and will receive a housing subsidy to help offset their costs. 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 all travel and local expenses, health care expenses, and other incidentals. Participants coming from abroad are strongly encouraged to confirm that their health insurance offers international coverage, or purchase travel health insurance.

Participants who are not Chinese nationals will need to obtain visas. We will issue invitation letters to facilitate the visa application. We strongly urge that accepted participants who need visas begin the application process as soon as possible after they are notified of their acceptance.

At present we expect to be able to accommodate 25-30 participants.

Links

• Quick introduction to the CMGPD, with links to resources
• CMGPD Documentation
• Publications related to the CMGPD
• CMGPD related blog posts at Cameron Campbell’s site
• CMGPD-LN data download at ICPSR
• CMGPD-SC data download (temporary pending release via ICPSR)
• Application form in English or 中文

Required Reading

Read the following before the workshop begins.  The highest priority are the specified pages in in the CMGPD-LN and CMGPD-SC User Guides.

Documentation

The documentation below is available here.

• CMGPD-LN User Guide.  English pages 1-54, 90-96 or Chinese pages 13-64, 96-101.  Skim the descriptions of variables to look for ones that may be relevant to your research.
• CMGPD-SC User Guide.  English pages 1-47. Again, skim the descriptions of variables to look for ones that may be relevant to your research.
• CMGPD Training Guide. Pay particular attention to the sections at the beginning that introduce the data and highlight its distinctive characteristics.

Research Articles

• Campbell, Cameron and James Lee. 2002 (publ. 2006). “State views and local views of population: Linking and comparing genealogies and household registers in Liaoning, 1749-1909.” History and Computing. 14(1+2):9-29.  http://papers.ccpr.ucla.edu/papers/PWP-CCPR-2004-025/PWP-CCPR-2004-025.pdf
• Bengtsson, Tommy, Cameron Campbell, James Lee, et al. 2004.  Life Under Pressure: Mortality and Living Standards in Europe and Asia, 1700-1900. MIT Press.  Published in Chinese as 托米·本特森,康文林,李中清等. 2008. 压力下的生活：1700～1900年欧洲与亚洲的死亡率和生活水平. 北京： 社会科学文献出版社. Translated by 李霞 and 李恭忠.  Appendix A.
• Campbell, Cameron and James Z. Lee. 2011. “Kinship and the Long-Term Persistence of Inequality in Liaoning, China, 1749-2005.” Chinese Sociological Review. 44(1):71-104.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23596557

Review Articles

• 康文林 (Cameron Campbell).  2012.  “历史人口学 (Historical Demography).”  Chapter 8 in 梁在编 (Zai Liang ed.) 人口学 (Demography).   北京:人民大学出版社 (Beijing: Renmin University Press), 233-265.

Select one or two of the following research articles based on your own interests (or another published article that uses the CMGPD), and read before the workshop starts

• CHEN Shuang, James Lee, and Cameron Campbell. 2010. “Wealth stratification and reproduction in Northeast China, 1866-1907.” History of the Family. 15:386-412.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21127716
• Bengtsson, Tommy, Cameron Campbell, James Lee, et al. 2004.  Life Under Pressure: Mortality and Living Standards in Europe and Asia, 1700-1900. MIT Press.  Published in Chinese as 托米·本特森,康文林,李中清等. 2008. 压力下的生活：1700～1900年欧洲与亚洲的死亡率和生活水平. 北京： 社会科学文献出版社. Translated by 李霞 and 李恭忠.  Chapter 10.
• Wang Feng, Cameron Campbell, and James Z. Lee. 2010. “Agency, Hierarchies, and Reproduction in Northeastern China, 1789 to 1840.” Chapter 11 in Noriko Tsuya, Wang Feng, George Alter, James Z. Lee et al. Prudence and Pressure: Reproduction and Human Agency in Europe and Asia, 1700-1900. MIT Press, 287-316.
• Chen Shuang, Cameron Campbell, and James Z. Lee.  Forthcoming.  “Categorical Inequality and Gender Difference: Marriage and Remarriage in Northeast China, 1749-1912.”  Chapter 11 in Lundh, Christer, Satomi Kurosu, et al. Similarity in Difference.

Software

If you are not familiar with STATA, prepare for the workshop by reviewing as many of the materials for learning and using STATA at UCLA IDRE as possible. You are also strongly encouraged to watch video tutorials at the STATA website. Ideally, by the time you arrive at the workshop, you should already be able to  carry out very basic operations in STATA such as loading and saving files, creating tabulations and so forth. Do try to download the CMGPD-SC or CMGPD-LN and make sure you know how to load them and carry out very simple operations.

Recommended Reading

• As much of the User Guides and Training Guide as you can.
• 定宜庄, 郭松义, 李中清, 康文林. 2004. 辽东移民中的旗人社会.  上海:上海社会科学出版社.
• Lee, James and Cameron Campbell. 1997. Fate and Fortune in Rural China: Social Organization and Population Behavior in Liaoning, 1774-1873. Cambridge University Press.
• 李中清，王丰.  2000.  人类的四分之一: 马尔萨斯的神话与中国的现实：1700-2000。  三联·哈佛燕京学术丛书。(English: Lee, James and Wang Feng.  1999.  One Quarter of Humanity: Malthusian Mythology and Chinese Reality, 1700-2000.)
• Bengtsson, Tommy, Cameron Campbell, James Lee, et al. 2004.  Life Under Pressure: Mortality and Living Standards in Europe and Asia, 1700-1900. MIT Press.  Published in Chinese as 托米·本特森,康文林,李中清等. 2008. 压力下的生活：1700～1900年欧洲与亚洲的死亡率和生活水平. 北京： 社会科学文献出版社. Translated by 李霞 and 李恭忠.

Tentative Schedule (at Onedrive)

Acknowledgements

Preparation of the CMGPD-LN and accompanying documentation for public release via ICPSR DSDR was supported by NICHD R01 HD057175-01A1 “Multi-Generation Family and Life History Panel Dataset” with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Preparation of the CMGPD-SC and accompanying documentation for public release via ICPSR DSDR was supported by NICHHD R01 HD070985-01 “Multi-generational Demographic and Landholding Data: CMGPD-SC Public Release.”

The CMGPD summer workshops in Shanghai have been supported by Shanghai Jiaotong University, the School of Humanities, the Department of History, and the Center for the Society and History of Northeast China.  We are also grateful to staff at a variety of campus units at SJTU for their logistical support.