Chinese temple networks in Southeast Asia: A WebGIS Digital Humanities Platform for the collaborative study of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia

This article introduces a digital platform for collaborative research on the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, focusing on networks of Chinese temples and associations extending from Southeast China to the various port cities of Southeast Asia. The Singapore Historical Geographic Information Syste...

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Main Authors: YAN, Yingwei, DEAN, Kenneth, FENG, Chen-Chieh, HUE, Guan Thye, KOH, Khee-Heong, Kong, Lily, ONG, Chang Woei, TAY, Arthur, WANG, Yi-Chen, XUE, Yiran
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Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2020
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3309
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4566/viewcontent/religions_11_00334_v2.pdf
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spelling sg-smu-ink.soss_research-45662021-05-24T08:44:34Z Chinese temple networks in Southeast Asia: A WebGIS Digital Humanities Platform for the collaborative study of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia YAN, Yingwei DEAN, Kenneth FENG, Chen-Chieh HUE, Guan Thye KOH, Khee-Heong Kong, Lily ONG, Chang Woei TAY, Arthur WANG, Yi-Chen XUE, Yiran This article introduces a digital platform for collaborative research on the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, focusing on networks of Chinese temples and associations extending from Southeast China to the various port cities of Southeast Asia. The Singapore Historical Geographic Information System (SHGIS) and the Singapore Biographical Database (SBDB) are expandable WebGIS platforms gathering and linking data on cultural and religious networks across Southeast Asia. This inter-connected platform can be expanded to cover not only Singapore but all of Southeast Asia. We have added layers of data that go beyond Chinese Taoist, Buddhist, and popular god temples to also display the distributions of a wide range of other religious networks, including Christian churches, Islamic mosques, Hindu temples, and Theravadin, which are the Taiwanese, Japanese and Tibetan Buddhist monasteries found across the region. This digital platform covers a larger area than the Taiwan History and Culture in Time and Space (THCTS) historical GIS platform but is more regionally focused than the ECAI (Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative) By incorporating Chinese inscriptions, extensive surveys of Chinese temples and associations, as well as archival and historical sources, this platform provides new materials and new perspectives on the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. This paper: (1) outlines key research questions underlying these digital humanities platforms; (2) describes the overall architecture and the kinds of data included in the SHGIS and the SBDB; (3) reviews past research on historical GIS; and provides (4) a discussion of how incorporating Chinese epigraphy of Southeast Asia into these websites can help scholars trace networks across the entire region, potentially enabling comparative work on a wide range of religious networks in the region. Part 5 of the paper outlines technical aspects of the WebGIS platform. 2020-07-01T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3309 info:doi/10.3390/rel11070334 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4566/viewcontent/religions_11_00334_v2.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection School of Social Sciences eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Chinese temples clan and regional associations network relations WebGIS collaborative digital humanities platform Asian Studies Geographic Information Sciences Religion
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Chinese temples
clan and regional associations
network relations
WebGIS
collaborative digital humanities platform
Asian Studies
Geographic Information Sciences
Religion
spellingShingle Chinese temples
clan and regional associations
network relations
WebGIS
collaborative digital humanities platform
Asian Studies
Geographic Information Sciences
Religion
YAN, Yingwei
DEAN, Kenneth
FENG, Chen-Chieh
HUE, Guan Thye
KOH, Khee-Heong
Kong, Lily
ONG, Chang Woei
TAY, Arthur
WANG, Yi-Chen
XUE, Yiran
Chinese temple networks in Southeast Asia: A WebGIS Digital Humanities Platform for the collaborative study of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia
description This article introduces a digital platform for collaborative research on the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, focusing on networks of Chinese temples and associations extending from Southeast China to the various port cities of Southeast Asia. The Singapore Historical Geographic Information System (SHGIS) and the Singapore Biographical Database (SBDB) are expandable WebGIS platforms gathering and linking data on cultural and religious networks across Southeast Asia. This inter-connected platform can be expanded to cover not only Singapore but all of Southeast Asia. We have added layers of data that go beyond Chinese Taoist, Buddhist, and popular god temples to also display the distributions of a wide range of other religious networks, including Christian churches, Islamic mosques, Hindu temples, and Theravadin, which are the Taiwanese, Japanese and Tibetan Buddhist monasteries found across the region. This digital platform covers a larger area than the Taiwan History and Culture in Time and Space (THCTS) historical GIS platform but is more regionally focused than the ECAI (Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative) By incorporating Chinese inscriptions, extensive surveys of Chinese temples and associations, as well as archival and historical sources, this platform provides new materials and new perspectives on the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia. This paper: (1) outlines key research questions underlying these digital humanities platforms; (2) describes the overall architecture and the kinds of data included in the SHGIS and the SBDB; (3) reviews past research on historical GIS; and provides (4) a discussion of how incorporating Chinese epigraphy of Southeast Asia into these websites can help scholars trace networks across the entire region, potentially enabling comparative work on a wide range of religious networks in the region. Part 5 of the paper outlines technical aspects of the WebGIS platform.
format text
author YAN, Yingwei
DEAN, Kenneth
FENG, Chen-Chieh
HUE, Guan Thye
KOH, Khee-Heong
Kong, Lily
ONG, Chang Woei
TAY, Arthur
WANG, Yi-Chen
XUE, Yiran
author_facet YAN, Yingwei
DEAN, Kenneth
FENG, Chen-Chieh
HUE, Guan Thye
KOH, Khee-Heong
Kong, Lily
ONG, Chang Woei
TAY, Arthur
WANG, Yi-Chen
XUE, Yiran
author_sort YAN, Yingwei
title Chinese temple networks in Southeast Asia: A WebGIS Digital Humanities Platform for the collaborative study of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia
title_short Chinese temple networks in Southeast Asia: A WebGIS Digital Humanities Platform for the collaborative study of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia
title_full Chinese temple networks in Southeast Asia: A WebGIS Digital Humanities Platform for the collaborative study of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia
title_fullStr Chinese temple networks in Southeast Asia: A WebGIS Digital Humanities Platform for the collaborative study of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia
title_full_unstemmed Chinese temple networks in Southeast Asia: A WebGIS Digital Humanities Platform for the collaborative study of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia
title_sort chinese temple networks in southeast asia: a webgis digital humanities platform for the collaborative study of the chinese diaspora in southeast asia
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2020
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3309
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4566/viewcontent/religions_11_00334_v2.pdf
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