Contemporary Chinese Village Gazetteer Data Project Workshop

In July 2018, the East Asian Library (EAL) of the University of Pittsburgh Library System (ULS) initiated the Contemporary Chinese Village Gazetteer Data (CCVG Data) project to create an open-access online dataset of statistics extracted from Chinese village gazetteers. This unique initiative has produced a dataset of significant value to the humanities and social sciences based on Chinese village gazetteers, which includes quantitative and qualitative data critical to supporting Chinese studies in fields such as politics, economics, sociology, environmental science, history, and public health. This workshop will start with a review of village gazetteers published in past decades, the background of initiating the project, followed by a presentation and demonstration on data extraction procedures, data structure, data dictionary, downloading instructions, etc. The current stage and the final goal of the project will be discussed as well. The East Asian Digital Scholarship Series, initiated by James Cheng and founded by Feng-en Tu and Sharon Yang, has been a monthly luncheon at Harvard-Yenching Library. This year, the Series will be conducted remotely and is sponsored by Harvard-Yenching Library with the support of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, and Korea Institute. The Series will cover a wide range of topics in East Asian digital scholarship.