[AI Summary]: This talk presents an AI-powered genealogical research project that uses advanced technologies including layout analysis, OCR text recognition, and large language models to process and extract structured information from genealogical records. The project has processed over 8,000 genealogies containing information about more than 80 million individuals, enabling research on historical demography topics including changes in Chinese lifespan over millennia and gender inequality in life expectancy throughout history.
This lecture takes place on October 14, 2025, from 9:30-11:30 AM China Standard Time at Wuhan University.
- Speaker: Lin Zhan (林展), Associate Professor at Renmin University of China, Qing History Research Institute
- Location: Humanities & Social Sciences Building B305, Wuhan University
- Format: In-person lecture
- Host: Zheng Wei (郑威), Professor at Wuhan University School of History
- Language: Chinese
Speaker Bio
Lin Zhan is Associate Professor at the Qing History Research Institute, Renmin University of China, and researcher at the Digital Humanities Research Center and China Economic History Research Center. He serves as editorial board member and deputy editor of Qing History Studies, co-editor of Quantitative History Research, Fellow at HKU’s Quantitative History Research Center, and co-principal investigator of Hong Kong’s “Areas of Excellence” project on quantifying Chinese history. His research focuses on Chinese economic history, quantitative history, and AI applications in historical research.
Organizers
- Host: Wuhan University Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Co-organizers:
- Laboratory for Intelligent Computing of Cultural Heritage (Ministry of Education)
- Wuhan University Big Data Research Institute
- Wuhan University School of History, Institute of Historical Geography
- Silk Road Han-Tang Documents Research Team