China Data Lab

The center has launched the China Data Lab to lead the field of China studies toward more data based empirical research.

Once the domain of scholars schooled in history and anthropology who invested time and effort in mastering the language, China studies is entering a new era when contextual knowledge about China is tested, corroborated and corrected by social scientific methods. Data-driven analysis will shed new light on the dynamics of change in Chinese politics, society and economy. It will also will bring the study of China into the mainstream social sciences research, which in turn will enrich social science theories.

Under the rubric of the China Data Lab, faculty investigators will study a wide scope of topics in Chinese politics and political economy, including the operational logic of censorship and government control over the Internet and media in China, the nature of Chinese public opinion and the Communist Party’s evolving ideology, and the political economy of China’s domestic and international policies, including factional politics, the politics of cadre promotion and central-local relations.

Currently there are several projects under the rubric of China Data Lab:

1. China internet and media
2. Chinese elites, career mobility and policy networks
3. Chinese ideology and public opinion
4. Chinese multinational corporations at home and abroad
5. Law and gender equality in China
6. China digital library to support core research

Training workshops will also be held in conjunction with annual conferences for graduate students and junior scholars through an international consortium to be formed between the center and data research centers from leading Chinese universities.