The Biographical Database provides short biographies of individuals involved in the progress of Chinese and relative East
Asian history.
The extensive nature of this database requires that entries be divided into five categories. In each, names
of people relevant to that era can be found. A master index of names found in all five categories can be found at the bottom of this page, with links
to their entries in the appropriate category.
There will be exceptions. For example, Nurhaci, who founded the Jin (金) or
Later Jin (後金) dynasty (later called the Qing dynasty) in 1616, may appear in both the Imperial China and Qing Era categories, because he was a Qing
emperor, but lived entirely within the time frame of the Imperial China category.
Chinese names will be alphabetically sorted according to Pinyin romanization of the Chinese name (they will appear without the pinyin
accent marks). Older pronunciations, former romanizations, other translations and variations will be present next to the pinyin translation. There may
be more than a few exceptions to this general rule, depending on the names most commonly associated with the person, independent of romanization issues,
such as Chiang Kai-shek.
Where possible, names will include Chinese character references in either traditional (BIG5) or
simplified (GB) characters or both.
Please follow this primer which defines the transliteration type and/or name type for
entries:
B5- Traditional characters (BIG 5)
GB- Simplified characters (GB)
Should both BIG5 and GB correspond, the character will be listed under B5.
BN- Birth name
CCN- Common name inside China
CN- Common name
TW- Taiwanese
POJ- Orthography for the Taiwanese language
PY- Pinyin romanization
WG- Wade Giles romanization
Y- Yale romanization
Western names will be alphabetically sorted according to western biographical standards, or by surname. If there is a Chinese
equivalent, it will be present next to the western name.
Dates reflecting a time period before the year '0' in
western terms, are categorized as BCE (Before the Common Era). This is equivalent to the widely used BC (Before Christ) and a.C.n. (Ante
Christum Natum "before the birth of Christ"). Dates reflecting a time period after the year '0' are categorized
as CE (in the Common Era). This is equivalent to the widely used AD (Anno Domini "In the Year of the Lord").
As the Chinese culture in the majority do not subscribe to the practice of Christianity as a religion, it seemed appropriate to signify these dates
in a neutral manner.
Dates before October 1582 are given in the Julian calendar, not in the proleptic Gregorian calendar.
Dates after October 1582 are given in the Gregorian calendar, not in the Julian calendar that remained in use in England until 1752.
The links to pictures are currently down for repairs. Please check back for updates or receive the to this site for automatic updates.
Below is the master index of all terms entered into all Biographical Databases.