
Autonomous University of Barcelona, Department of Translation, Interpreting, and East Asian Studies
Jing Hu is a social historian of Chosŏn Korea, specializing in the social mobility of the chungin (“middle people”) and digital Korean studies. She obtained her MA degree in Cultural Informatics from the Academy of Korean Studies in 2014. Following two years as a researcher at Renmin University of China, she continued her studies as a PhD candidate at Leiden University (2016-2022) and KU Leuven (2022-), and holds a post as the Subject Specialist for Korean Studies at the Berlin State Library concurrently with her position on the Aftermath project.
Jing’s research sheds light on the upward mobility of Chosŏn official interpreters (yŏkkwan) by examining the variables affecting the social status of the chungin such as birth, degree, economic capital, and cultural networks. Her research approach features digital methods including social network analysis, digital annotation, ontology design, and GIS. During her doctoral studies, she took part in development projects such as the Korean text annotation platform K-MARKUS and the text comparison platform ZGZY Parallels. As part of the Aftermath of the East Asian War project, Jing provides Digital Humanities training and support for the Aftermath team and is investigating the downward social mobility of Chosŏn Korea from the 17th century onwards, with a particular focus on the downward mobility of military officers (muban) after the Imjin War.
Publications (selected):
Hu, J. (2023), Mining networks in MARKUS: A study of Chosŏn interpreters’ trade networks in Qing China. International Journal of Digital Humanities: 4, 61–86. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42803-022-00056-5.
Christina HAN, CHI Yeong Won, HU Jing & RYU Intae. (2022). 한국 詩話 시맨틱 데이터 아카이브 구현 방안 모색 : 『詩話叢林』 대상 개념적 데이터 모델링을 중심으로 (A Foundational Design for Creating a Sihwa (詩話) Semantic Data Archive). Journal of Korean Literature in Chinese: 63(0), 105-146.
Hu, Jing (2019), 数字人文在韩国史研究的应用探索——以杂科中人社会网络分析为中心 (Digital Inquiry into Korean History Research A Study on the Social Network of the Chungin Group), Chinese Journal of Korean Studies:36, 214-233.
Digital Platforms:
Hilde De Weerdt, Hu Jing, Mees Gelein, Brent Ho, Kim Hyeon, and Kim Baro. K-MARKUS: Korean text analysis and reading platform 2019. https://dh.chinese-empires.eu/markus/beta/
Hilde De Weerdt, Mees Gelein, Gabe van Beijeren, Hu Jing, and Brent Ho. “Reading The Essentials of Governance Digitally,” v.2. 2022. https://chinese-empires.eu/zgzy