HISTORICAL SIMULATION: A STUDY OF CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATIONS, THE FAMILY LINE AND CULTURAL CAPITAL IN CHINA

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 profile 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 profile 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.