Summary of Tables in CBDB

Summary of Tables in CBDB

1. Basic Entities

These represent the basic elements of the social world of pre-modern China. Each has a complex history and structure that are set out in additional ancillary tables. CBDB records the interaction of people with these aspects of their world in the secondary tables.

Table Name	Description
ADDR_CODES	the units in the administrative geography of China
ADDRESSES	a convenient reference table that displays the hierarchy
ASSOC_CODES	the non-kinship social relations that connected people
BIOG_MAIN	the people of pre-modern China
ENTRY_CODES	the means by which people entered into institutions
KINSHIP_CODES	the kinship categories of pre-modern China
OFFICE_CODES	the units of the bureaucratic organization of government
SOCIAL_INSTITUTION_CODES	a list of academies, monasteries, temples, etc.
STATUS_CODES	the means by which people attained social distinction
TEXT_CODES	the corpus of pre-modern writings and important secondary works

1. Relations between Basic Entities

Table Name	Description
ADDR_BELONGS_DATA	data for the hierarchical structure of administrative units
ALTNAME_DATA	the many names by which people were known
ASSOC_DATA	the non-kinship relations between people
BIOG_ADDR_DATA	relations between people and administrative geography
BIOG_INST_DATA	the relations of people to social institutions
BIOG_SOURCE_DATA	the list of sources used in defining the CBDB data for a person
BIOG_TEXT_DATA	the relations of people to texts
ENTRY_DATA	the initiating relations between people and institutions
KIN_DATA	the kinship relations connecting people
OFFICE_TYPE_TREE	the hierarchical structure of bureaucratic organizations
POSTED_TO_ADDR	the relations between people, office, and place
POSTING_DATA	the container table for postings: people linked to office
POSTED_TO_OFFICE_DATA	the details of people’s connection to office
STATUS_DATA	data on a person’s place in the system of social distinctions

1. Relationship Type Information

Table Name	Description
BIOG_ADDR_CODES	the categories of relations between people and places
ALTNAME_CODES	the categories of names by which people were known
APPOINTMENT_TYPE_CODES	the categories of relations between people and postings: regular, acting, probationary, etc.
ASSOC_TYPES	broader categories of social relationships that organize the many non-kinship association codes into groups
ASSUME_OFFICE_CODES	indicating whether a person took up the posting
BIOG_INST_CODES	the roles a person plays in relation to an institution
ENTRY_TYPE	broader categories of entry to organize the entry codes into groups
EXTANT_CODES	indicating degree of the source and its known existence
GENRE_CODES	the bibliographic classifications of texts
GENRE_TYPES	the broader categories of bibliographic classifications
LITERARYGENRE_CODES	the forms of literary composition
OCCASION_CODES	the events in which people participated
OFFICE_TYPES	the categories of offices
SCHOLARLYTOPICS_CODES	the categories of topics of learning and scholarship
SOCIAL_INSTITUTION_ADDR_TYPES	the type of address (actual or derived) used for an institution
SOCIAL_INSTITUTION_TYPES	the categories of social institutions
STATUS_TYPE	the categories of social distinction
TEXT_BIBLCAT_CODES	the fine-grained categories by which texts are organized
TEXT_BIBLCAT_TYPES	the larger units for textual categorization
TEXT_ROLE_CODES	the categories of relations between people and texts
YEAR_RANGE_CODES	the relative degree of exactness of a date

1. Historical Auxiliary Tables

Table Name	Description
CHORONYM_CODES	codes for the place + surname used to identify medieval clans
COUNTRY_CODES	codes for countries appearing in the data
DYNASTIES	codes for dynasties and periods
ETHNICITY_TRIBE_CODES	codes for ethnic groups appearing in the data
GANZHI_CODES	codes for the sixty two-character terms in the sexagenary cycle
KIN_MOURNING	codes for all kin relations and mourning obligations in the five degrees of mourning
MEASURE_CODES	codes for quantities of goods, money, books, and space
NIAN_HAO	codes for all reign period titles
SOCIAL_INSTITUTION_ALTNAMES	a list of alternative names for social institutions
SOCIAL_INSTITUTION_ALTNAMES_TYPES	codes for different types of alternative names

1. Analytic Auxiliary Tables

Table Name	Description
ASSOC_CODE_TYPE_REL	the relationship of specific social relations to larger categories of social relations
ENTRY_CODE_TYPE_REL	the relationship of specific modes of entry to larger categories of entry
GENRE_CODE_TYPE_REL	the relationship of specific genre codes to larger categories of genres
OFFICE_CODE_TYPE_REL	the relationship of specific offices to the office hierarchy
OFFICE_CATEGORIES	the categories of offices: rank, honorary, etc.
STATUS_CODE_TYPE_REL	the relationship of specific status codes to the larger categories of social distinction
TEXT_BIBLCAT_CODE_TYPE_REL

1. “Denormalized” Tables

Because the data tables for the relations between basic entities (group 2 above) are in normalized form that uses codes that refer to other tables for the entities, relations, and historical information, they are difficult to use for queries (See Chapter 4). In order to simplify the process of writing queries, CBDB provides a set of tables where the codes have been supplemented by the values (mostly text strings like the names of people, places, official positions, etc.) to which the codes refer. The main tables are listed below:

Table Name	Description
ZZZ_ALT_NAME_DATA	fills in alternate name type
ZZZ_BIOG_ADDR_DATA	fills in address and address type
ZZZ_BIOG_MAIN	fills in nianhao and ethnicity
ZZZ_BIOG_NAME_OFFICE	links surnames to posted office names (used in searching)
ZZZ_BIOG_TEXT_DATA	fills in the person’s name, the person’s role, and the text data
ZZZ_ENTRY_DATA	fills in the person’s name, entry type, etc.
ZZZ_KIN_BIOG_ADDR	the table for kinship that also provides the index place
ZZZ_NONKIN_BIOG_ADDR	the table for associations that also provides the index place
ZZZ_POSTED_TO_ADDR_DATA	fills in person name, office name, and address information
ZZZ_POSTED_TO_OFFICE_DATA	fills in person name and office information
ZZZ_STATUS_DATA	fills in person name and status description