Research Resources for China Studies (Quantitative)
The University of Washington Library, China Studies Program
provides an excellent research guide for China study materials available at the University of Washington Libraries.
Contemporary China
National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China
Chinese: 国家统计局, abbreviated as NBS, is a government agency directly under the State Council and is responsible for collection, investigation, research and publication of statistics concerning the nation's economy, population and other aspects of the society. Specifically, it publishes the national economic and population census.
This platform compiles data from several official sources (including the NBS and City Statistical Yearbooks), and provides one of the most complete and current coverage of standard data sets on China at the national, provincial, prefecture, and county level. UW students can access the platform on campus.
Chinese Private Enterprise Survey (CPES)
The CPES is the largest private enterprise survey in China. It started in 1993 and is conducted every other year, with 13 rounds of surveys completed so far. Data is available for year 1993, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018.
Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS)
Annual or biannual questionnaire survey of China's urban and rural households aiming to monitor systematically the changing relationship between social structure and quality of life in urban and rural China. Registration is required. Years available: 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2015.
China Family Panel Studies (CFPS)
China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) is a nationally representative, annual longitudinal survey of Chinese communities, families, and individuals launched in 2010 by the Institute of Social Science Survey (ISSS) of Peking University, China. The studies focus on the economic, as well as the non-economic, wellbeing of the Chinese population, covering such topics as economic activities, education outcomes, family dynamics and relationships, migration, and health.
China Household Finance Survey (CHFS)
China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) is a nationwide survey, aimed at collecting micro-level information on household income, expenses, assets, liabilities, insurance and securities, population and employment, etc. Four rounds of the survey have been conducted so far, in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017. Simultaneously carried out with CHFS, the center also conducts China Grassroots Governance Survey (CGGS) which aims at gathering information on China’s grassroots units (residential committees and village committees) about public service facility, community politics, social organization, environment, health, social security, education, culture, the rule of law at the grassroots level, etc. It respectively surveyed 320 communities in 2011, 1048 in 2013, 1396 in 2015 and 1428 in 2017.
China Household Income Projects (CHIPS)
The purpose of the Chinese Household Income Project was to measure and estimate the distribution of personal income in both rural and urban areas. Data were collected through a series of questionnaire-based interviews conducted in rural and urban areas in 1988, 1995, 2002, and 2007. Individual respondents reported on their economic status, employment, level of education, sources of income, household composition, and household expenditures. ICPSR holds data from the first three collections.
Chinese Patent Data Project (CPDP)
Historical China
China Biographical Database Project (CBDB) - Projects at Harvard
The CBDB is a freely accessible relational database with biographical and geographical information about approximately 370,000 individuals in Chinese history, primarily from the 7th through 19th centuries.
The China Historical Geographic Information System, CHGIS
The CHGIS is a free database of historical administrative units and place names for the Chinese Dynasties. CHGIS provides a base GIS platform for researchers to use in spatial analysis or to visualize the historical divisions of China as digital maps.
It is the largest digitized database for Chinese classic ancient books and historical gazetteers. All texts are provided in full text and image format, allowing for a direct comparison both between digitized text and original text image and in some cases between different editions of the text. Keyword search is available.
International Studies - Cross-Country Comparisons
The World Bank database provides the most current, complete, and accurate global development data available. The database provides access to several sub-datasets, including the World Development Indicators (WDI) (which is the primary collection of development indicators compiled from officially recognized international sources), Doing Business (which provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across economies), Gender Statistics (Data on key gender topics including demographics, education, health, labor force, and political participation), and many others.
A global research project aims to explore people's values and beliefs, how they change over time, and their social and political implications. Since 1981 a worldwide network of social scientists have conducted representative national surveys as part of WVS in almost 100 countries.
Enterprise Surveys by the World Bank
As a comprehensive company-level data in developing economies, the Enterprise Surveys cover a broad range of business environment topics including access to finance, gender, corruption, infrastructure, innovation, competition, informality, and performance measures. Firm-level surveys have been conducted since 2002 by different units within the World Bank.