Individual itineraries and the circulation of scientific and technical knowledge in East Asia (16th–20th centuries)

Project director : Catherine Jami (SPHERE); Jean-Pierre Dedieu (LARHRA)

The basic structure of the database

We kept this section as short as possible, but please read it carefully to avoid misinterpretation of the data.

The database is structured on the actors (persons, corporate entities, cultural objects) of the production and circulation of knowledge. The understanding of this structure is crucial to interpret the results of your queries.

One identifier, several spellings

Information concerning an actor can be retrieved using the various spellings found in the sources used for this database.

Names

For example, information concerning He Mengyao  何夢遙 will also be retrieved searching under one of his alternative names: He Xichi 何西池, He Baozhi [??] or He Yannong 何研農.

A search using any of these four ways of writing his name will yield all the data concerning him in the database, as a single identification number is used (in this example: 00000397).

Book titles

The title of Chinese books can be searched in traditional Chinese characters or in pinyin transcription. For the latter, there is a space between the transcription of each character.

Place names

The spelling used is that of the source from which the information is drawn. When the place has been inferred from context, the modern spelling (in pinyin plus traditional Chinese characters for Chinese place names). By using the identifier to research a place, you will retrieve all the entries that refer to the same place, regardless of the spelling and language used in the sources.

Whenever possible, places have been geo-referenced.

Chinese  historical place names are usually followed by the name of the present day province in which the place is located

Dates

Dates in the ICCM Database are expressed in two formats:

YYYY=MM=DD for beginning and ending dates.

The symbol = preceding a date indicates a precise date stated by the sources.

The symbol > preceding a date indicates that the date is posterior to the following date stated by the sources.

The symbol < preceding a date indicates that date is anterior to the following date stated by the sources.

YYYY<< ZZZZ indicates that an even took place between years YYYY and ZZZZ.

 


Last update on Tuesday 19 February 2013 (13:01) by  G. Foliot

 

 

© 2012 SHPERE - Projet Director: Catherine Jami
Site created by Gérald Foliot with webActors - Hosted by TGIR HUMA-NUM