In November 2021, Lee-Campbell Group coders completed the entry of all the quarterly editions of the rosters of Qing civil officials jinshenlu 縉紳錄 and military officials zhongshubeilan 中樞備覧 available to the Lee-Campbell Group, including editions from the published Tsinghua University Library collection, editions at Harvard and Columbia University libraries, and other editions in the National Library and Shanghai Library.
As of November 2021, the CGED-Q JSL consists of 4,375,151 records of 312,128 officials for the period between 1760 and 1912. 3,785,195 are records of civil offices in editions of the jinshenlu and 589,956 are records of military offices in editions of the zhongshubeilan. The data we have entered so far spans the period between 1760 and 1912 and is most complete for the period 1830 to 1912. Of the 312,128 officials, 242,005 were civil officials, 561,690 were military officials, and 8,433 made appearances as both civil and military officials. Our counts of numbers of officials may change because they are based on record linkage. The counts of officials may change if we change our procedures for nominative linkage.
Figure 1 (below) summarizes the coverage of the entered 縉紳錄 editions by decade (black bar) and compares it to the potential coverage if all the editions in different collections were entered. In the 1840s, and then from 1870 to 1912, we have at least one edition per year entered. In the 1830s, and then from 1850 to 1869, for 9 out of 10 years in each decade we have at least one edition entered. Between 1800 and 1830, the coverage of our entered data is spottier, We have at least one edition in 7 out of 10 years in the 1800s, 4 out of 10 years in the 1810s, and 6 out of 10 years in the 1820. From 1760 to 1800, coverage is less complete, with 2 to 4 years per decade which have at least one edition entered.
Based on our review of the catalogs of other collections, it should still be possible to improve coverage of the last half of the 18th century and first half of the 19th century. The heights of the green bars represent the numbers of years for which at least one edition appears to exist in other collections. Most of these are in the Peking University Library and the Palace Museum. We hope very much to gain access to these collections at some point in the future, but so far have not succeeded.
Figure 2 presents a more detailed view of the coverage of the editions so far. From about 1865 onward, we have 3 or 4 editions per year entered all the way to 1911. From 1830 to 1865 or so, we have at least one or two editions per year entered, except for one year each in the 1850s and 1860s where we have no editions at all. Before 1830, it is more common to have one or two editions entered, or none at all.
For more details about the CGED, please see the project page.