Recapping the Academic Seminar “Transnational Hong Kong: Fashioning Human, Cultural and Material Flows, 1950-1970” conducted by Dr. Katon LEE on 19 November 2020

Dr. Katon LEE of the College of International Education, Hong Kong Baptist University, was invited by the Department to deliver a lecture entitled “Transnational Hong Kong: Fashioning Human, Cultural and Material Flows, 1950-1970” on 19 November 2020.

Dr. LEE started the seminar by defining 3 groups of workers in the Hong Kong tailoring industry: Cantonese tailors, Shanghainese tailors and Hong Kong businessmen who owned tailor shops. Tailors did craftworks at workshops, while businessmen took care of sales and customer services at tailor shops. In early post-war Hong Kong, Chinese tailors established its tailoring communities called “Kaibu” and “Hangjia”. Because of their higher income compared with the workers of other industries, tailors were regarded as an undiscovered profession. In 1959, the first Hong Kong tailor, Mr. James LAU, entered the American market by running his first tailor shop in New York and changed the commercial practice of tailoring industry. Given the growing popularity of Hong Kong craftsmanship in the West, more Hong Kong tailors were attracted to America. Tailor shops became a transnational contact zone for Chinese tailors in America to meet and interact, and connect with Chinese diasporic communities under the title of “Hong Kong tailors”. This zone facilitated flows of people, culture, and materiality across the political borders. Dr. LEE’s study explores the role of Hong Kong in engaging with the outside world and re-understanding colonial Hong Kong from a transnational lens. At last, Dr. LEE ended the seminar with the theme of “Looking into Hong Kong, and beyond.”

 

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Recapping the Academic Seminar “Reading Trivialities: What Working Notes and Language Books Could Tell Us about China’s Long Eighteenth Century” conducted by Prof. CHING May Bo on 20 November 2020

Prof. CHING May Bo of the Department of Chinese and History, City University of Hong Kong, was invited by the Department to deliver a lecture entitled “Reading Trivialities: What Working Notes and Language Books Could Tell Us about China’s Long Eighteenth Century” on 20 November 2020.

 

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Recapping the Public Lecture “Institution, History, Game: The Secret of Shengguantu” conducted by Prof. PUK Wing Kin on 21 November 2020

Prof. PUK Wing Kin delivered a lecture entitled “Institution, History, Game: The Secret of Shengguantu” on 21 November 2020. Prof. PUK introduced the historical origin, evolution, and game rules of “Shengguantu” (the Table of Bureaucratic Promotion), an ancient Chinese board game, and its role in Sino-Western cultural exchanges. Before the end of the lecture, Prof. PUK played “Shengguantu” with audiences and answered the related questions.

 

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Workshops for the Final-Year RPg Students 2020-21

For enquiry, please call 3943 7448.

 

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Best wishes from the Department.

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2021!

The newsletter will resume on 11 January 2021.

 

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For teachers and students who have information to share with the Department,
please email your articles in both Chinese and English to chanfiona@cuhk.edu.hk by 4:00pm every Monday.