The China Historical Christian Database (CHCD) quantifies and visualizes the place of Christianity in modern China (1550-1950). It provides users the tools to discover where every Christian church, school, hospital, orphanage, publishing house, and the like were located in China, and it documents who worked inside those buildings, both foreign and Chinese. Collectively, this information creates spatial maps and generates relational networks that reveal where, when, and how Western ideas, technologies, and practices entered China. Simultaneously, it uncovers how and through whom Chinese ideas, technologies, and practices were conveyed to the West.
This project breaks new ground in providing quantifiable data about modern Sino-Western relations. Its intuitive interface generates visualizations, lists, and maps for use by the general public, students and teachers in secondary education and colleges, in the US and globally, with English and Chinese navigation. Advanced DH users have open access to its data for elaboration. BU’s digital infrastructure guarantees long-term sustainability, and CHCD’s international collaborations in the USA, Asia, and Europe help promote historical understanding between China and the rest of the world.
Here you can see the functions of our BETA platform in a VIDEO
Here you can read more technical details in our WHITE PAPER
UPCOMING WORKSHOP, Boston University, November 19-21, 2020: “Mapping Christianity in China, 1550-1950: Developing Relational and Geospatial Tools for the Study of Christianity in China”
The CHCD is based at the Center for Global Christianity and Mission, School of Theology, Boston University, in collaboration with the Department of History, College of Arts and Sciences
Institutional Partners
中国人民大学清史研究所Institute of Qing History, Renmin University of China, Beijing, PRC
The RICCI INSTITUTE for Chinese-Western Cultural History, University of San Francisco, USA
School of Oriental and African Studies Library & Department for History, Religious Studies and Philosophy, SOAS -University of London, UK
Passionist China Collection at The University of Scranton, Pennsylvania,USA
