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A CULTURE OF KINSHIP: CHINESE GENEALOGIES AS A SOURCE FOR RESEARCH INDEMOGRAPHIC ECONOMICS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2016

Carol H. Shiue
Carol H. Shiue*
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, NBER, and CEPR
*
Address correspondence to: Carol H. Shiue,University of Colorado,NBER, and CEPR,Boulder, Colorado,USA; e-mail: shiue@colorado.edu
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Abstract:

This paper discusses the use of Chinese genealogies for research on economicdemography. I focus both on what is known about the genealogy as a data source,and what are the open questions for future research. Chinese genealogies containrecords at the individual level. With the publication of new catalogs andefforts to collect genealogies, the number of genealogies is even larger thanpreviously thought, with most dating to the late Ming (1368–1644) andQing (1644–1911) Dynasties. These records contain a rich source ofinformation about the Chinese population history, over a period for which thereis no alternative source of information. Yet, the source still remains largelyunexploited. Although the work of transcribing the data is significant, andselection biases need to be carefully considered, preliminary analysis of thedata for a sample of married men for Tongcheng County in Anhui Province suggeststhese data are a rich source of information for demographic and economicsresearch.

Keywords

Genealogical dataChinese historical demographylineage populationintergenerational linked data

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Type
Data Section
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Journal of Demographic Economics , Volume 82 , Issue 4 , December 2016 , pp. 459 - 482
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2016 

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