The concept of "mobility" is a crucial characteristic of the period spanning the Two Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Among various forms of mobility, human migration stands out as the most significant phenomenon. This project refers to the movement during this period as migration, encompassing the various reasons behind people’s mobility. Diverging from previous qualitative studies, this two-year project aims to utilize the digital humanities research platform of the Academia Sinica along with relevant digital tools to conduct a quantitative analysis of narratives related to sojourning in the official histories of the Two Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. In the first year, the project initiated by focusing on representative events, completing the cleaning of test texts, and extracting named entities. This was done with the aim of establishing a database of migrants during the Two Jin Dynasties and the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

In the second year of the project, the focus will be on vocabulary. Utilizing the digital humanities research platform of the Academia Sinica and various digital tools, including generative AI, the project will extract high-frequency words, characteristic terms, co-occurring terms, and more, focusing on migration narratives in medieval Chinese official histories. These extracted terms, supplemented with temporal information, will be used to construct data content with a chronological aspect. The research will examine the diachronic changes in core words and co-occurring word clusters. Additionally, thematic classification and attribute analysis will be applied to the extracted vocabulary to observe quantitative and qualitative changes in terms related to "migration" during the Two Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Through the study of vocabulary, the project aims to analyze the narrative focus and perspectives on migration events in different periods of official historical writing, exploring how the various political entities during the Two Jin Dynasties and the Northern and Southern Dynasties perceived themselves, others, and the overarching worldview that emerged. 

In summary, this project, through the dual lenses of text and time, combines various digital tools and humanistic analysis. Starting from migration narratives, it seeks to unveil the diverse layers of society and culture during that time, along with historical changes, thereby expanding the discourse in the field of medieval Chinese studies.