The Hong Kong Studies Initiative (HKSI) Newsletter

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June 6, 2023

Hosted by the Department of Asian Studies, the Hong Kong Studies Initiative (HKSI) at the University of British Columbia is devoted to promoting the teaching and research of this most-improbable metropolis, both as an extraordinary Chinese city and as a spectacular international and transnational hub.

Dear Friends of HKSI,

We are excited about the "State of Hong Kong Studies" international workshop to be hosted at the University of British Columbia from June 9th to 11th. We look forward to bringing together an international—and multidisciplinary—team of emerging and established scholars, and we are grateful to have this opportunity to help build capacity for future research.

To conclude this year's event series "City Rebegins", we will be hosting a talk by authors and co-translators Dorothy Tse and James Shea about contemporary Hong Kong literature in translation on June 15th at the UBC Library.

We look forward to seeing you.

Dr. Helena Wu
Canada Research Chair, Hong Kong Studies
Assistant Professor, Asian Studies
Convenor, Hong Kong Studies Initiative 共研香江
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver

WORKSHOP

State of Hong Kong Studies
9–11 June 2023
University of British Columbia

It is the aim of the workshop to take stock of the state of the field of “Hong Kong studies” and to stimulate further research. The workshop, which consists of over 30 presentations, will offer an overview of the state of a (sub)field of scholarship and locate the study of Hong Kong in broader theoretical, comparative, and/or global contexts. Five special talks to be delivered by Profs. John M. Carroll, Eliza Lee, Francis Lee, Yiu-wai Chu, and Ho-fung Hung will be available for live-streaming.

Details

This workshop is hosted by the UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative with the generous support of: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Watt Family-Hong Kong Studies Initiative Fund, Department of Asian Studies, Department of History, Centre for Chinese Research, and St. John's College.

BOOK TALK

Book Talk
Contemporary Hong Kong Literature in Translation:
Dorothy Tse & James Shea in Conversation
Thursday, 15 June 2023, 15:00 – 16:00 PDT
Dodson Room (302), Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, UBC Library

Join authors and co-translators Dorothy Tse and James Shea as they discuss contemporary Hong Kong literature in translation, including Moving a Stone: Selected Poems of Yam Gong, their co-translation of poems by the Hong Kong poet Yam Gong. Using shifting tonal registers, Yam Gong refashions borrowed language, including English song lyrics, Cantonese slang, Chinese folk stories, news reports, and prayers. Dorothy Tse will also discuss her debut novel Owlish, forthcoming in English translation by Natascha Bruce from Graywolf Press. The novel explores the relationship between a professor and a music box ballerina who tantalizingly springs to life.

RSVP

ON CAMPUS

Exhibition
Hearts of Freedom Exhibition: Stories of Southeast Asian Refugees
Friday, 2 - 9 June 2023
UBC Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre

// The national traveling exhibition entitled Hearts of Freedom: Stories of Southeast Asian Refugees is brought to BC by the Pacific Canada Heritage Centre – Museum of Migration Society and is an extension of a national research project that has documented an oral history of Southeast Asian refugees from 1975 to 1985 – the longest and largest migration and settlement of non-European refugees in Canada, and the stories of people who assisted them. //

Details

Exhibition
Ink Dance – Yim Tse: A Half Century of Calligraphy 墨舞
13 May-10 June 2023

// The exhibit features works by the late master calligrapher Yim Tse (謝琰), who worked with the UBC Asian Library for over 30 years as the Chinese Language Librarian until his retirement in 1999. //

Details

RELATED HAPPENINGS

Society for Hong Kong Studies Annual Conference 2023
16 – 17 June 2023

// The Hong Kong Studies Annual Conference 2023 will be organized by the Society for Hong Kong Studies in Hong Kong. This year’s theme is “Informality in Hong Kong” and the keynote speaker is Professor Alan Smart, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at University of Calgary. //

Details

PAST EVENT

May 13: A full house of audience joined the screening of To Be Continued in downtown Vancouver, followed by a virtual conversation with filmmakers Dora Choi and Haider Kikabhoy moderated by director of SFU Institute for Transpacific Cultural Research Prof. Helen Leung and HKSI convenor Dr. Helena Wu [photos].

May 17: Award-winning directors Ho Cheuk Tin and Ka Sing Fung shared their filmmaking experience in a public conversation moderated by independent filmmaker Jimmy Lo and HKSI convenor Dr. Helena Wu [photos].

May 27: In celebration of the Asian Heritage Month, this zine-making workshop set out to rethink histories and communities and to rewrite queer Asian narratives and places [photos].

For a complete list of our video recordings, please visit our YouTube channel or the “ Video Library" section of our website.

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.

Hong Kong Studies Initiative (HKSI)
UBC Department of Asian Studies
1871 West Mall, Unit 607
Vancouver British Columbia V6T 1Z2
Canada
hksi.ubc@ubc.ca
hksi.ubc.ca

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