Publications

Discussing the database

• Ren, Bamboo Yunzhu. Professional Education and Employment in China: Health and Engineering, 1905–1952. Diss. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Hong Kong), 2025.
• Pelzer, Thorben. Chinese Engineers Relational Database (CERD) Design Manual. Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2020.

Using the database

• Pelzer, Thorben. "Engineering Societies in China: Spaces of Professionalization and Participation, 1912–1949." East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal (2025).
• Pelzer, Thorben. "Engineers on the Move: Elite Geographic Mobility in Republican China." Twentieth-Century China 50.1 (2025): 25–55.
• Pelzer, Thorben. "Technocracy and Technostructure in Nationalist China." Modern China in Flux: Networks, Mobility, and Transformation (2025): 99–134.
• Pelzer, Thorben. Engineering Trouble: US–Chinese Experiences of Professional Discontent, 1905–1945. China Studies Vol. 52. Brill, 2023.
• Yi, Yuan. "Crafted for Mass Production: Imported Spinning Machinery on the Shop Floor, China, 1910s–1920s." Technology and Culture 63.4 (2022): 979–1004.

Raw data download

The raw data is available in a repository under doi 10.5281/zenodo.4075601.

Legacy interface

The legacy online interface, refered to in earlier publications, remains available here. The data is no longer up to date.

Sources

CERD v.1.8

Primary

• Chinese Who's Who (1944): Tseng, H. P., and Jean Lyon, eds. China Handbook 1937–1944: A Comprehensive Survey of Major Developments in China in Seven Years of War. Chongqing: Chinese Ministry of Information, 1944: 555–626.
• Diangong (1947): “Zhōngguó diànjī gōngchéngshī xuéhuì huìyuán lù.” 中國電機工程師學會會員錄 Diàngōng 16, no. 1 (1947): 85–91.
• Dongli gongcheng (1947): “Zhōngguó dònglì gōngchéng xuéhuì huìyuán diàochá biǎo.” 中國動力工程學會會員調查表 Dònglì gōngchéng jìkān 1, 1, 4 (1947): 100, 196.
• Gongchengren minglu (1941): Zīyuán wěiyuánhuì, 資源委員會. Zhōngguó gōngchéngrén mínglù. 中國工程人名錄. Changsha: Shāngwù yìnshūguǎn, 1941.
• Gongcheng xuebao (1925): “Directory of Nanyang Alumni Association in America.” Gōngchéng xuébào 1, no. 1 (1925): 130–34.
• Gongcheng xuehui huibao (1919): “Zhōngguó gōngchéng xuéhuì huìyuán lù.” 中國工程學會會員錄 Zhōngguó gōngchéng xuéhuì huìbào 1 (1919): 49–65.
• Guoli Zhongyang daxue fuxiao (1945): Guólì Zhōngyāng dàxué fùxiào dì èr jiè bìyè jìniàn kān. 國立中央大學復校第二屆畢業紀念刊. Nanjing: Nanjing Central University, 1945.
• Jiaotong (1922): Jiāotōng dàxué 交通大學, ed. Jiāotōng dàxué bìyè jìniàn cè. 交通大學畢業紀念冊. Shanghai: s. n., 1922.
• Journal of the ACAE (1927): “List of Members.” The Oriental Engineer 8, no.2 (1927): 31–44.
• Journal of the ACAE (1938): “List of Members.” Journal of the Association of Chinese & American Engineers 19, no.2 (1938): 95–102.
• Kuangye gongcheng xuehui huiyuan lu (1943): Zhōngguó kuàngyě gōngchéng xuéhuì, 中國礦冶工程學會, ed. Huìyuán lù. 會員錄. Chongqing: Zhōngguó kuàngyě gōngchéng xuéhuì, 1943.
• Nanjing zhongyang daxue xiaoyou tongxun (1989): Zhōngyāng dàxué xiàoyǒu huì Nánjīng (1940–1945) xiàoyǒu liánluò chù. Nánjīng zhōngyāng dàxué (1940–1945) xiàoyǒu tōngxùn. 南京中央大學（1940–1945）校友通訊. Nanjing: s. n., 1989.
• Qinghua daxue tumu gongcheng xuehui huikan (1944): “Huìyuán lù.” 會員錄 Guólì Qīnghuá dàxué tǔmù gōngchéng xuéhuì 6 (1944): 79–95.
• Qinghua daxue tumu gongcheng xuehui huikan (1949): “Huìyuán lù.” 會員錄 Guólì Qīnghuá dàxué tǔmù gōngchéng xuéhuì 7 (1949): 11–14.
• Shuili (1933): “Zhōngguó shuǐlì gōngchéng xuéhuì huìyuán lù.” 中國水利工程學會會員錄 Shuǐlì 5, no. 4 (1933): 49–53.
• The Chinese Students Directory (1931): Koo, Eugene Chen, ed. Chinese Students Directory for the Past Fifty Years. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1931.
• Tumu gongcheng (1935): “Běn huì lìjiè bìyè huìyuán yīlǎn.” 本會歷届畢業會員一覽 Tǔmù gōngchéng 3, no. 1 (1935): 197–201.
• Who's Who in China (1936): The China Weekly Review. Who's Who in China. Biographies of Chinese Leaders. 5th ed. Shanghai: The China Weekly Review, 1936.
• Zhongguo gongchengshi xuehui Wuhan fenhui (1933): Zhōngguó gōngchéngshī xuéhuì wǔhàn fēnhuì 中國工程師學會武漢分會, ed. Zhōngguó gōngchéngshī xuéhuì Wǔhàn fēnhuì huìyuán lù 中國工程師學會武漢分會會員錄. Wuhuan: s. n., 1933.
• Zhongguo ranhua jinian kan (1940): “Huìyuán lù.” 會員錄 Zhōngguó rǎnhuà gōngchéng xuéhuì chénglì jìniàn kān 2 (1940): 115–124.
• Zhonghua gongchengshi xuehui huiyuan lu (1924): Zhōnghuá gōngchéngshī xuéhuì 中華工程師學會, ed. Zhōnghuá gōngchéngshī xuéhuì huìyuán lù. 中華工程師學會會員錄. S. l.: Zhōnghuá gōngchéngshī xuéhuì, 1924.

Supplements

• Freeman Papers at MIT (1916–1932): Papers of John Ripley Freeman. MC.0051. MIT Libraries Distinctive Collections.
• Jiaoda jikan (1930): Waddell, John Alexander Low. “In Memoria[m]. K. Y. Kwong.” Jiāodà jìkān no. 3 (1930): 79–83.
• Journal of the ACAE (1924): “Yang Pao-ling.” Journal of the Association of Chinese & American Engineers 5, no.4 (1924): i–ii.
• Journal of the ACAE (1928): “The New President.” Journal of the Association of Chinese & American Engineers 9, no.1 (1928): i.
• Ling Hongxun Papers (1962): Líng, Hóngxūn 淩鴻勛. Hung-Hsun Ling Papers, Duì rì kàngzhàn bā nián jiāotōng dàshìjì chūgǎo. 對日抗戰八年交通大事記初稿. 1962, MS#0786. Columbia University Archival Collections.
• Oliver Julian Todd Papers (1899–1973): O. J. (Oliver Julian) Todd papers. 73087. Hoover Institution Archives.

CERD-Taiwan v.1.0

• CIE 1947: “Zhōngguó gōngchéngshī xuéhuì táiwān fēnhuì huìyuán lù.” 中國工程師學會臺灣分會會員錄 Táiwān gōngchéng jiè 1, no. 1 (1947): 21–24.
• CIE 1953: Zhōngguó gōngchéngshī xuéhuì 中國工程師學會, ed. Zhōngguó gōngchéngshī xuéhuì huìyuán lù 中國工程師學會會員錄. Taipei: s.n., 1953.
• CIE 1958: Zhōngguó gōngchéngshī xuéhuì 中國工程師學會, ed. Zhōngguó gōngchéngshī xuéhuì yīlǎn 中國工程師學會一覽. S.l.: s.n., 1958.
• CIE 1974: Zhōngguó gōngchéngshī xuéhuì 中國工程師學會, ed. Zhōngguó gōngchéngshī xuéhuì huìyuán lù 中國工程師學會會員錄. Taipei: s.n., 1974.
• Taiwan Chemical Engineers 1954: Zhōngguó huàxué gōngchéng xuéhuì 中國化學工程學會, ed.Huàxué gōngchéng xuéhuì huìyuán lù 化學工程學會會員錄. S.l.: s.n., 1954.
• Taiwan Mechanical Engineers 1964: Zhōngguó jīxiè gōngchéng xuéhuì 中國機械工程學會, ed. Zhōngguó jīxiè gōngchéng xuéhuì huìyuán lù 中國機械工程學會會員錄. Taipei: s.n., 1964.

Project lead (Concept, code, oversight)

• Thorben Pelzer (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)

Research funding

• “Chinese Engineers and their Spatial Imaginations”
  Grant SFB-1199-A6 awarded by DFG (2020–2024)
  Principal investigator: Elisabeth Kaske
  Postdoctoral researcher: Thorben Pelzer
• “The Pioneers of China’s Rise to Technological Power”
  Grant 01UL1909X awarded by BMFTR (2019–2022)
  Principal investigator: Hailian Chen

Student assistants

• Tsz-kit Gus Chan
• Chun Yeung Chung
• Oliver Dieckmann
• Ariane Kolden
• Chin Fung Ng
• Felix Opper
• Christian Staudte
• Mirjam Stretz
• Mo Wang

Special thanks

• Christian Henriot (online basemap)
• Jonathan Henshaw (data provision)
• Ian Johnson (original data input realised with Heurist)
• Elisabeth Köll (data provision)
• André Ourednik (online basemap under GPL-3.0)

Project contact

• Thorben Pelzer
  Assistant Professor
  3351 Academic Building, HKUST
  Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong
  Tel.: +852 2358-8908

Citation

• Pelzer, Thorben, et al., eds. (2022). “Chinese Engineers Relational Database (CERD).” Geneva, Budapest: Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4075601.
• Data available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence: Citation required.
• BibTeX file available here.