The Department of History (HKU) is one of the most dynamic and innovative centres of historical teaching and research in Asia.
We are a vibrant and diverse Department offering a rich, balanced and varied curriculum. In our courses undergraduates explore key events and themes in history. Students and teachers interact in a supportive and intellectually stimulating learning environment. Our staff teach innovative courses informed by their own cutting-edge research. The History Major provides a thorough training in debate, c
09/05/2026
Yesterday we triumphantly concluded the 15th Spring History Symposium with Day 2.
Outstanding panels sparked brilliant discussions on modernity to contemporary narratives. Heartfelt thanks to speakers, chairs, participants, and organisers. See you next year!
09/05/2026
PANEL 7: Within Recent Memories: Historical Research in the Contemporary Moment
Chair: Hedda Lee, University of Hong Kong
Bingyi Gong (Chongqing University)
"Capitalist Computer Exports to China and the Transformation of the Cold War in East Asia"
Peilin Li (University of Leicester)
"Learning the Market: Values, Moral Reasoning, and Social Change in Reform-Era China"
Chan Yu Kiu Zita (University of Hong Kong)
"To Unite the City through Television: Exploring Hong Kong Cultural Changes In the Case of Enjoy Yourself Tonight"
09/05/2026
PANEL 6B: Mapping A Nation, One Frontier To Another
Chair: Alicia Le, University of Hong Kong
Ziang D**g (Hokkaido University)
"Voices from the Historical Margins: Ethnicity, Nation, and Identity in Ainu Periodicals (1910–1948)"
Huimin Miao (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
"Strategic Orthodoxy and Frontier Integration: Textbook Politics, Sovereignty, and Nation-Building in Alxa, Inner Mongolia, Republican China (1927–1945)"
Colin Lam (The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
"Busy October: National Day(s), Public Space and Chinese Associations in Portuguese Macau"
09/05/2026
PANEL 6A: Surviving the Winter: Technological Exchanges in Cold War East Asia
Chair: Iris Boyun Lei, University of Hong Kong
Jingqi Su (University of Hong Kong)
"The Chinese Red Cross and Medical Training during the Korean War, 1950–1953"
Jaeyoung Ha (Tsinghua University)
"“A Good Tree is a Fast-Growing Tree”: South Korea’s Reforestation in the 1950s and the Making of Cold War Ecology in East Asia"
Linquan Ma (King’s College London–University of Hong Kong)
"Staged Encounters: Visiting Experts and the Politics of Medical Exchange in Cold War China, 1949–1966"
08/05/2026
PANEL 5B: Lest We Forget — Memories of War and Violence
Chair: Jingqi Su, University of Hong Kong
Jan Kutílek (University of Pardubice)
"Sexualised Violence and Community Destruction In and Beyond Post-Habsburg Galicia, 1918–1920"
Alison Choi (Northwestern University)
"Labour and Protest: Korean Prisoners-of-War in Honouliuli Camp during World War II"
Michael Kosei Delphia (Yenching Academy of Peking University)
"Memorialising Manchukuo: The Manmōen and Imperial Memory in Post-War Japan"
08/05/2026
PANEL 5A: Cosmopolitan Modernity, Chinese Republicanism
Chair: Jiayin Wan, University of Hong Kong
Lingshu Liu (University of Alberta)
"Translating the Divine, Picturing the Glocal: Chinese Christian Posters as Transcultural Archives"
Yuehan Dai (Hong Kong Baptist University)
"Seeing the Frontier: Technology, Geopolitics, and Gender in the Visual Making of Yunnan (1880–1949)"
Frieda Yunyang Liu (Universität Leipzig)
"The Transformation of Incineration: The Evolution and State Requisition of Buddhist Cremation Spaces in Modern Wuhan (1912–1966)"
08/05/2026
PANEL 4: Hong Kong: Pearl of the Orient?
Chair: Ron Cheng, University of Hong Kong
Iris Boyun Lei (University of Hong Kong)
"Internal Circulation and Labor Recruitment: Transoceanic South China Networks of Chinese Prostitution in Hong Kong, 1904–1935"
Shirui Zhang (University of Edinburgh)
"Between China and Britain: Identity Formation of the Tang Lineage in Hong Kong’s New Territories, 1898–1997"
Peishan Ju (University of Hong Kong)
"Institutional Platform and Financial Practice: HSBC and Hong Kong’s Role as an Inter-Imperial Financial Intermediary (1929–1935)"
07/05/2026
Today, we successfully held the 15th Spring History Symposium. We are grateful to all speakers, chairs, participants, and organisers for making the event a meaningful success. See you on Day 2 tomorrow!
07/05/2026
PANEL 3: Rethinking Diaspora: Kinship and Belonging on the Margins
Chair: Nicole Vaughan, University of Hong Kong
You Lan (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
"At the Edge of Intimacy: Women, Minglingzi, and the Fear of Possibility in Emigrant Households"
Alicia Le (University of Hong Kong)
"Notes from Childhood Fields: The Translational Politics of Modern Vietnamese Memoirs"
Jieluan Huang (King's College London)
"Between Systems: A London Chinese Medical Family and the Making of Diasporic Medicine"
07/05/2026
PANEL 2A: Knowledge Production in the Making of East Asian Imperialism
Chair: Linquan Ma, King's College London–University of Hong Kong
Yutao Chen (Harvard University)
"Winds of Empire: Japan's Maritime Meteorological Observation in the Pacific during the Interwar Period"
Ran Tai (University of Groningen)
"The Last Imperial Civil Service Examination and the Debate on the Meaning of Civilisation in Early 20th-Century Vietnam"
Tianlin Fu (University of Hong Kong)
"Institute Networks and Knowledge Production in the Shanghai Problem: Lionel Curtis and the Feetham Investigation, 1927–1932"
