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The historical versions can be found here.
The standalone version of the China Biographical Database (CBDB) contains data on over 535,181 men and women. Both Microsoft Access and SQLite Formats and their downloads are listed below:
Download Latest Microsoft Access Format
Please DO read the CBDB download and installation guide before you start using CBDB Access.
If you encounter an error on Windows 10: “Missing or broken reference” to a file MSCOMCTL.OCX, follow the instructions in the this PDF.
If you are having trouble downloading the file, please contact hongsuwang(at)fas.harvard.edu.
Download Latest Release SQLite Format:
https://github.com/cbdb-project/cbdb_sqlite/blob/master/latest.7z
The new release of the stand-alone China Biographical Database, CBDB_bg_20240208 in MS Access format is now available for download here effective 20240208. This release contains data on 535,181 men and women.
CBDB Data:
3215 Tang official titles have been linked to the corresponding bureaucratic structure (contributed by Wai-ho Wong).
1718 new persons from the Ming and Qing dynasties, along with 2391 alternative names, 1960 biographical addresses, 1053 entry records, 1297 writings, and 919 posting records, have been added from the 湖北詩徴傳略 (contributed by Kaini Xiong).
1166 new individuals from the Qing dynasty, with 3490 alternative names, 1863 biographical addresses, 104 entry records, and 15183 posting records, have been incorporated from Provincial education commissioner 清秘述聞 (contributed by Yiyi Wang).
1675 official titles and 754 addresses, from the Western Zhou to the Warring States period, have been imported (contributed by Yuqi Chen).
1083 sources have been added to existing persons in the Song Dynasty from Complete Song Prose 全宋文 (contributed by Yufeng Han).
82 book category translations in the TEXT_TYPE table have been meticulously reviewed (contributed by Lixiang Qian).
351 Lazarists and their 1217 biographical addresses have been added from Les Lazaristes en Chine 1697-1935 年在華遣使會士列傳 (contributed by Jianguo Liu).
462 Ming and Qing social associations have been added from 人名權威資料庫 Name Authority Database.
10,478 records of data have been either created or modified by the PKU editorial group from March 24, 2023, to February 8, 2024.
16,953 records of data have been either created or modified by the CBDB crowdsourcing group from March 24, 2023, to February 8, 2024.
CBDB Access Query System (Michael Fuller):
CBDB_bg_User_Build20231116
This build fixes a bug in the frmPickEntry_multi form in which the [All] option copied over no records to the temp search file ZZ_ENTRY_CODES.
CBDB_bg_User_Build20230930
This build fixes a major bug in all the multi-select forms.
CBDB_bg_User_Build20230915
This build guards against the last year of an office being set to 0 in LookAtOffices.
CBDB_bg_User_Build20230910
This build adds a search by office option to LookAtOffice.
CBDB_bg_User_Build20230824
This build fixes a bug in how the dynasties filter works in LookAt AssocPairs.
It also sets the default value for option "Restrict to Place" for the address filter in LookAtNetworks to TRUE.
CBDB_bg_User_Build20230821
In this build, I have added the sequence field to alternative names in the browser. To do that, I also added a record in the FormsLabels table to provide the translations for the label.
CBDB_20230324_DATA1_Build20230821
In this build, a new integer field, c_sequence, has been added to ALTNAME_DATA. The TablesFields table has been updated accordingly.
CBDB_20230324_DATA2_Build20230821
In this build, a new integer field, c_sequence, has been added to ZZZ_ALTNAME_DATA. The routine for creating ZZZ_ALTNAME_DATA has been changed to include the new field.
CBDB_bg_User_Build20230818
This build makes the associations and address tabs in the browser scrollable. The postings tab cannot be scrollable because it has subforms within it.