Global China AI LabGCAIL · HKUST

Global China AI Lab

Discovering new patterns in Global China mobility & connectivity.

Global Studies Sinophone Studies Global China Belt & Road Migration & Mobility Global Asia Greater China Spatial Turn GIS GeoAI Computer vision AI in the Humanities Structure discovery Language models Distant reading
Founded by
Co-presented by
Director David C. Chang
Manager Thorben Pelzer

Mission

  • Methodological innovation & primary research
  • Frontier AI models, run on the HKUST SuperPOD
  • Automated inference and dataset generation
  • Discovering new patterns in Global China research

Pillars

Data inference

LLMs · decision models

Language models and decision models extract persons, places, dates, and relations from reports, directories, and catalogues into structured datasets.

GeoAI

Historical GIS · pattern detection

Geocoding of historical place names and mapping of individual itineraries to trace mobility.

Structure discovery

Embeddings · clustering

Embeddings and unsupervised clustering to find recurring structures, such as career types, in the resulting datasets.

Projects

Routes to Captivity

Chang · Pelzer

  • AI-assisted inference of archival Korean War interrogation reports
  • Automated mapping of mobility in everyday soldiers’ careers
Map of northern China and Korea with the inferred itineraries of Chinese prisoners of war, and a timeline panel for one soldier.

Governance of Asia

Pelzer

  • AI-assisted inference of Japanese Who’s Who directories
  • Traces movement & mobility, career stages, family, and more for 170,000+ individuals across the Japan-controlled territories
Screenshot of the Governance of Asia Database interface: filters, a table of individuals, and a profile with career entries and a map.

Po Leung Kuk Letters

Groves

  • AI-assisted transcription and translation of 2,356 letters by migrant workers to the Po Leung Kuk, Hong Kong
  • Quantitative analysis with 1,520 officer reports, 1880s–1960s
A handwritten Chinese letter on aged paper, addressed to the Po Leung Kuk, 1880s.

China Novels Atlas

Ma · Zhou · Pelzer

  • AI-assisted catalogue of the creation, translation, marketing, and reception of novels in China

Returned Scholars Database

Cheng · Chang · Pelzer

  • AI-assisted analysis of the careers of returned Chinese students

Team

David C. Chang

David C. Chang

Director, Global China Center

Associate Professor, Division of Humanities

Thorben Pelzer

Thorben Pelzer

Manager, Global China AI Lab

Assistant Professor, Division of Humanities

Michael Chung

Michael Chung

Advisor

Assistant Professor, Division of Humanities

Julian McAllister Groves

Julian McAllister Groves

Po Leung Kuk Letters

Associate Professor of Social Science Education, Division of Social Science

Steve Ma

Steve Ma

Advisor

Lecturer II, Division of Humanities

Xiaolu Ma

Xiaolu Ma

China Novels Atlas

Associate Professor, Division of Humanities

Liping Zhou

China Novels Atlas

Independent Study Student Assistant, Global China Studies

Publications

  1. T. Pelzer, “作為方法的人工智能：中國歷史研究” [AI as a Method in Chinese History Research]. 二十一世紀 [Twenty-first Century], 2027.

Connections

Founded by
Global China Center, HKUST
Co-presented by
Division of Humanities (HUMA), HKUST
Friends
HKUST Digital Humanities Initiative
China (Un)Plugged: Digital Explorations of the Northwest
U-2 / KH Declassified Reconnaissance Imagery