Epidemics and Civil Conflict in Imperial China, 1368–1911

Prefecture-level panel data from the Ming and Qing dynasties (AD 1368–1911) investigates the relationship between epidemics and civil conflicts. The dataset was created by Zheng Su and is hosted on the International Studies Quarterly Dataverse. It was last updated on 2026-05-26.

Use Cases

• Modeling the probability of civil conflict outbreak based on epidemic occurrence.
• Analyzing the mediating role of resource scarcity and government legitimacy in the epidemic-conflict link.
• Investigating the moderating effect of secret society organizations on conflict risk.
• Testing the impact of local state capacity, proxied by imperial post stations, on conflict dynamics.

Strengths

• Data covers a long historical period of 543 years (1368–1911).
• Analysis is conducted at the prefecture level, providing sub-national granularity.
• The description indicates the main findings held up to numerous robustness checks and endogeneity tests.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• The dataset's license is unspecified, which may restrict usage.

Provenance

Source

International Studies Quarterly Dataverse

Collection Method

Likely compiled from historical records for Ming and Qing dynasties.

Time Range

AD 1368–1911

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-26 20:17:34; freshness should be verified.

Geography

China (prefecture-level)