In my earlier work, I have begun to collect three types of data about Buddhist monasteries: genealogical records of abbots, biographies of clergy, and local gazetteers that record detailed information about the succession of abbots and their sectarian affiliations. These data enable me to map three key elements of the monastic network in China by using GIS: the location of monasteries, the abbots of monasteries in a given year, and their sectarian affiliations. In association with other geographical and cultural parameters such as main transportation routes, merchant networks, and the number of exam degree holders, the powerful analytic tools provided by ArcView, the most sophisticated software developed by Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), will allow me to analyze the relationship between the geographical distribution of the monastic sites, the pilgrimage network, and regional cultural and economic development. ¡@ The first phase of this project is to design a pilot database with the help of a student worker who is specialized in GIS modeling and our consultant Lex Berman, who is project manager of Harvard University China GIS (funded by Henry Luce Foundation). Their job is to devise a workable database model according to the relationships of different types of data and to deal with potential technical problems. In the meantime, to complete the data concerning monasteries, I plan a trip to the Library of Congress that holds the most complete collection of local gazetteers of Chinese monasteries. (These sources are rare books and are not accessible through interlibrary loans.) Then Chinese-English bilingual student workers will input these data by using Microsoft Access. The software for inputting Chinese character is NJStar which allows Unicode input. (Due to the large amount of data, this project will first concentrate on data concerning monasteries in seventeenth-century China.) The primary task is to input three types of information: location of monastery, name of the presiding abbots, and their sectarian affiliation. In addition, this GIS database will also document architectural and natural features with digital photography if these data are available. Furthermore, for famous monasteries, portions of local gazetteers relevant to the monasteries and notes about available studies on these monasteries will be incorporated. These data will be available and searchable in translated English, Pinyin romanization, and classical Chinese characters. After the completion of data input in Microsoft Access, I will connect the database with ArcView and ArcInfo. After testing and revising, this GIS system should be searchable by year, location, monastery, and abbot name in both English and Chinese. It will be published on a project website designed by student workers and produced in 10 additional copies to be distributed to other interested scholars and institutions for further testing and revision. ¡@
After the completion of this project, I will apply to the National Endowment for Humanities or the Henry Luce Foundation for further funding to expand this database beyond the seventeenth century. Efforts will be made to connect this GIS database to other major databases about Chinese history and religion to facilitate multidisciplinary studies on Chinese Buddhism. These databases and projects that I seek to connect include: Harvard University China GIS project founded by Henry Luce Foundation Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiatives (ECAI)¡XChina Team, University of California at Berkley Center for the Analysis of Sacred Space, University of California - Santa Barbara In conclusion, this project will make a large body of almost inaccessible data available to researchers and will provide new insights to the role played by Buddhism in Chinese history and culture. ¡@ ¡@ |