The principal output of this project is a database of the service records of Qing officials that aggregates information from personnel files (lülidang 履歷檔) that record the career trajectories of thousands of officials. The original files are stored in the First Historical Archives in Beijing. This database will be used to identify larger patterns and statistics of official career trajectory of Qing officials that are otherwise invisible to us if examined on a case-by-case basis. As the records include basic biographical information of each individual official, his starting positions, promotions taken, methods of promotion, as well as occasional comments from the emperor, it is possible to see how, when, and how long it took officials to achieve their ranks, and the backgrounds and sometimes family ties of these officials.