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Dear Friends of HKSI,
As we offer our thoughts to the brave people of Ukraine and to all who have been affected by this (and other) senseless war, my colleagues and I will forge on and continue the work we have set out to accomplish. Do join us and our colleagues in different parts of the world for much-needed reflections and conversations.
With very best wishes,
Leo K. Shin 單國鉞
Associate Professor, History and Asian Studies
Convenor, Hong Kong Studies Initiative 共研香江
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver
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Screening + Director’s Q&A
Friday, 11 March 2022, 18:30–21:00 PST
Fear(less) and Dear 誠惶 (不) 誠恐，親愛的 (2020)
Dir. Anson Hoi Shan Mak 麥海珊
Asian Centre Auditorium, UBC
1871 West Mall, Vancouver
Free and open to all
A City Reassembled event
Registration: hksi.ubc.ca/events/event/screening-fearless-and-dear/
Please join us for our first in-person event in two years. Film screening will be followed by a (remote) Q&A session with Director Anson Mak.
Hong Kong has been going through one of the toughest periods in its history as a result of social turbulence and the COVID-19 pandemic. Director and visual artist Anson Mak invites three local artists who are also parents—performing artist and district councilor Clara Cheung, political comic artist Justin Wong, and writer Cheung Yuen-Man—to genuinely share their stories regarding the notion of fear. How do young parents feel? What do they think about fear, their kids, and the future? Their artworks also powerfully respond to political unrest and personal innermost emotions, as this film in itself.
106 mins. | Cantonese with English subtitles
Trailer:
https://fb.watch/9XyjI8CsOW/
★ 2020 Busan International Film Festival
★ 2020 Hong Kong Asian Film Festival
★ 2021 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
Anson Hoi Shan MAK is a researcher-artist who specializes in moving image and sound. She is especially interested in experimental ethnography. Her works have been shown in many international film festivals and exhibitions, including the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, the Golden Horse Film Festival, and the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Dr. Mak is also an associate professor in the Academy of Visual Arts at the Hong Kong Baptist University.
This screening+conversation is organized by the UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative and co-sponsored by: Department of Asian Studies, Department of History, Centre for Chinese Research, Centre for Migration Studies, Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies, Public Humanities Hub, and the Interdisciplinary Histories Research Cluster.
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Thursday, 17 March 2022, 19:00–20:30 PDT
Hong Kong Identity: Past, Present, and Future
Prof. Gordon Mathews, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
via Zoom
A City Reassembled event
Registration: hksi.ubc.ca/events/event/webinar-hong-kong-identity
Hong Kong identity emerged in the 1970s; until then, most Hongkongers throughout the city’s history felt that they were Chinese. During the 1970s and 1980s, senses of Hong Kong identity were linked to the “refugee mentality” of those who had fled China. In the 1980s and 1990s, identity became more rooted in popular culture: Cantopop and the Hong Kong films attracting attention across the globe. To the surprise of many analysts, senses of Hong Kong identity did not diminish after Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997; instead, Hong Kong identity became stronger, with many Hongkongers continuing to emphasize their differences from mainland China, extolling democracy and not comprehending “love of country” in a way that people elsewhere in the world, not least in mainland China, have taken for granted. Hong Kong, in this era, was “a city of protest”; however, that era now seems over. With the passage of the National Security Law in 2020, and expanded Chinese control over Hong Kong, is Hong Kong identity coming to an end? Will Hong Kong identity survive only in diaspora, in London, Vancouver, Taipei, and Melbourne and elsewhere? Or can Hong Kong identity also continue as a distinctive identity within China, but taking new, presumably apolitical forms, with “Hongkongese” being something similar to “Shanghainese” as an identity?
Gordon Mathews is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He has written or co-written What Makes Life Worth Living? How Japanese and Americans Make Sense of Their Worlds (1996), Global Culture/Individual Identity: Searching for Home in the Cultural Supermarket (2001), Hong Kong, China: Learning to Belong to a Nation (2008), Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong (2011), and The World in Guangzhou: Africans and Other Foreigners in South China’s Global Marketplace (2017).
This webinar is organized by the UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative and co-sponsored by: Department of Asian Studies, Department of History, Centre for Chinese Research, Centre for Migration Studies, Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies, Public Humanities Hub, and the Interdisciplinary Histories Research Cluster.
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| CANTONESE LANGUAGE PROGRAM |
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The UBC Cantonese Language Program is hosting a series of master classes on alternate Fridays this semester. Be sure to check out the upcoming talks this month!
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HKSI Faculty Associate Dr. Helena Wu was invited by the European Association of Taiwan Studies to contribute a report on how the UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative has been promoting the teaching and research of Hong Kong since its launch in 2017.
// Despite the challenges of the “new normal” in the post-pandemic world, the path ventured by the HKSI, together with the growing inter-institutional and inter-continental network, has thus far resonated the possibility of empowerment in times of change and crisis. Looking forward, the HKSI will continue to invite academics and the public to reflect critically on the experiences of Hong Kong across different disciplines and in different local, translocal, diasporic, and historical contexts, by means of the methods and strategic positions offered by Hong Kong studies. //
Full report: eats-taiwan.eu/global-taiwan-studies-news/newsletter/issue-19
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China and the Modern World: Hong Kong, Britain, and China 1841–1951
We are pleased to announce that, with the support and hard work of many colleagues (especially Reference and Collections Librarian Mr. Keith Bunnell), the UBC Library has acquired this important resource for the teaching and research of the history of Hong Kong.
// This collection of British Colonial office correspondence relates to Hong Kong as a British colony between 1841 and 1951, and provides detailed information on the political, military, social, economic, and external development of Hong Kong. It also sheds light on the British Empire in Asia, China’s transformation from empire to republic, mainland China-Hong Kong relations, and the international politics of East Asia.
The hand-written material included in the collection will have Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) applied, making it one of the first Gale Primary Source archives to do so from scratch. HTR allows handwritten documents to be full-text searchable, just as Optical Character Recognition (OCR) allows printed books, newspapers, and other works to be searched. This enables unexpected discoveries not possible from traditional finding aids. This technology makes the documents in this collection more accessible to those without paleography skills and enables powerful inclusion in digital humanities/ scholarship projects. //
Details: resources.library.ubc.ca/page.php?details=china-and-the-modern-world&id=2634
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Conversation
Thursday, 3 March 2022, 17:00–18:30 PST
Finding Truth under the National Security Law: A Journalistic Perspective
James Pomfret, Reuters
with Prof. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, University of California, Irvine
// Award-winning journalist James Pomfret discusses his work in Hong Kong before and after the implementation of the National Security Law. Through a lively conversation with Jeffrey Wasserstrom, the author of Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink, this event invites the audience to explore the nature and practice of news reporting in Hong Kong. //
This conversation is hosted by the Global Hong Kong Studies @ University of California.
Details: globalhks-uc.org/finding-truth-under-the-national-security-law
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Webinar
Wednesday, 16 March 2022, 16:15–18:00 CET
Sharing Screen: Community Building and Creative Engagement in Hong Kong
Dr. Helena Wu, The University of British Columbia
// In Hong Kong, the practice of screening films in venues outside of the theatre is not new, but its growing influence in the 2010s indicates an ever-changing spectatorship in the making and aspirations for community building. As part of the speakers series in the Asia Days 2022, the talk will address how creative engagement, industry practices, and audience behaviours respond to identification issues and the changing cultural landscape of Hong Kong. //
This event is organized by the Asia Club at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Details: eventbrite.com/e/sharing-screen-community-building-and-creative-engagement-in-hong-kong-tickets-276582043337
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Screenings
Hong Kong Film Festival UK
March 19–27, 2022 (London)
March 30–April 6, 2022 (Manchester, Bristol, and Edinburgh)
// The theme of this year’s HKFF (UK) is Rupture and Rebirth. It features pieces that portray the city’s recent ruptures: resistance, brutality, traumas and reflections experienced by the people of Hong Kong. Since 2019, mass protests have erupted and evolved into a social movement, drawing worldwide attention. Courageous filmmakers risked their lives to shed light on the new situation through both documentaries and features. We hope to safeguard these banned yet precious films from the powers that be, by projecting them on a multitude of screens to keep them alive and vivid in our memories. //
This film festival is organized by the Hong Kong Umbrella Community.
Details: hkff.uk
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Hong Kong Studies Association Annual Conference
Hong Kong 25 Years After the Handover: Changes, Trends, and Reflections
June 10–11, 2022
// We invite papers on Hong Kong from the Arts and Humanities, Social Science, and Law, with a focus on diasporas, new theoretical lenses, and creativity in Hong Kong Studies.
The HKSA supports Ph.D. students in Hong Kong Studies with a designated panel and best paper award. Invited Ph.D. student speakers will receive a 50 GBP travel supplement.
The conference will also feature an exhibition of visual artistic expressions on the themes of changes in Hong Kong and reflections of Hong Kongers. //
Deadline for abstracts: 28 March 2022
Details: hongkongstudiesassociation.co.uk/p/call-for-papers
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Scholarship
Hong Kong History Studentship
University of Bristol, UK
// The four-year award is open to students embarking on Ph.D. research starting in September 2022 in any aspect of the History of Hong Kong. We are looking for applicants interested in pursuing original research to be supervised by Professor Robert Bickers and Dr. Vivian Kong, and who also share a vision for public engagement of the discipline. //
Deadline for applications: 31 March 2022
Details: bristol.ac.uk/arts/study/postgraduate/funding
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February 18: In a wide-ranging talk, Professor Shelly Chan of the University of California, Santa Cruz, reflected on the idea of diaspora in the context of Hong Kong studies (webcast | photos).
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January 28: The webcast of our conversation with award-winning director Alvin Tsang on his 2015 documentary Reunification is now available on our YouTube channel.
For a full listing of our video recordings, please visit our YouTube channel or the “Video Library” section of our website.
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Please kindly consider a tax-deductible donation to HKSI (hksi.ubc.ca/support-us). Thank you, as always, for your support of the UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative.
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