Historical simulation: A study of civil service examinations, the family line and cultural capital in China

Authored by Setsuya Kurahashi, Takao Terano

Date Published: 2008-04

DOI: 10.1142/s0219525908001568

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

Platforms: No platforms listed

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Mathematical description

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

In this study, we investigate what would happen in a Chinese historical family line. We have analyzed a particular family line which had a great many candidates who passed the very tough examinations for Chinese government officials over 500 years. First, we studied the genealogical records Zokufu in China. Second, based on the study, we implemented an agent-based model with the family line network as an adjacency matrix, and the personal pro. le data as an attribution matrix. Third, using the “inverse simulation” technique, we optimized the agent-based model in order to fit the simulation profiles to the real pro. le data. From the intensive experiments, we have found that both grandfather and mother have a profound impact within a family in ( 1) transmitting cultural capital to the children, and ( 2) maintaining the norm system of the family. We conclude that advanced agent-based models are able to contribute to the discovery of new knowledge in the fields of historical science.

Tags

multi-agent model inverse simulation Genetic algorithm cultural capital historical simulation