Staffing Arrangements on University Holidays on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve

The following staffing arrangements for the University holidays on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve will apply on 24 and 31 December 2015 respectively. Departments/units should arrange for skeleton staff to be on duty on these mornings to handle urgent matters and enquiries. Offices will be closed in the afternoon. Skeleton staff (Terms [B] or [C]) on duty on each morning will be given compensation off of half a day.

For essential service units such as the University Health Service, the University Library System, the operations team of the Information Technology Services Centre, the Security Office, the Transport Office, and the Estates Management Office, adequate workforce should remain on duty to provide basic services.

Source: CUHK Newsletter, no. 467 [19 November 2015],
http://www.iso.cuhk.edu.hk/ebook/index.html#ui=en&page=8&issue_id=1546&lang=en

Acting Appointment

Prof. YIP Hon Ming, Department Chair, will be on academic leave from 5 to 7 December and 10 to 12 December 2015. Prof. CHOI Chi Cheung will serve as the Acting Chair during her absence.

Acting Appointments

Prof. POO Mu-chou, Division Head, will be on annual leave between 8 and 11 December 2015. During his absence, Prof. YIP Hon Ming (8–9 December) and Prof. CHOI Chi Cheung (10–11 December) will serve as the Acting Division Head.

Recapping the Academic Workshop for Memories and Monuments: A Comparative Study of Chinese Migration held on 27 November 2015

Twelve scholars from Australia, Singapore, Mainland China and Hong Kong were invited to present papers or act as moderators at the workshop. Participants exchanged views on themes relating to migration from South China to Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore; and comparative study on Chinese migration.

Recapping the academic seminar “Property and Identity in Republican Era Tianjin” conducted by Prof. Elizabeth LACOUTURE on 30 November 2015

Prof. Elizabeth LACOUTURE of the History Department, Colby College, was invited by the Department to present a lecture with faculty members and students.

Prof. LACOUTURE’s talk focused on the changes of Tianjin’s built environment and real estate market, and how these changes introduced new forms of local political participation based on property ownership. She also discussed property disputes between Chinese husbands and wives in Tianjin’s French Concession to illuminate how the 1929–31 Civil Code was enacted at the local level; how new legal concepts of individual property rights enabled the Chinese men living in Tianjin’s British Concession to build political power.

Recapping the academic seminar “Blood, Soymilk, and Vitality: The Diasporic Origins of Blood Banking in China, 1943–1945” conducted by Prof. Wayne Shi Lun SOON on 30 November 2015

Prof. Wayne Shi Lun SOON of History Department, Earlham College, was invited by the Department to present a lecture with faculty members and students.

Prof. SOON’s presentation focused on the changing meanings and practices of blood transfusion and banking in modern China through the history and legacies of the first Chinese blood bank. Through investigating the attitudes of Chinese soldiers and civilians towards the blood bank, this presentation revealed the multiplicity of motivations underpinning society’s attitudes towards blood banking and donation. The talk also provided an alternative to the cultural emphasis of blood banking in non-western societies by drawing attention to socio-economic and technological concerns in biomedical practices.

Recapping the academic seminar “How Do We Shape Chinese Immigration History? Newspaper Network, Merchant Elite and Making Chinese Australia in the early 20th Century” conducted by Dr. KUO Mei-fen on 1 December 2015

Dr. KUO Mei-fen of the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland, was invited by the Department to present a lecture with faculty members and students.

Recapping the academic seminar “The Unwitting Ally: The U.S.’s Role in the Rise of the CCP” conducted by Dr. LU Xun on 1 December 2015

Dr. LU Xun, Research Associate of the Department, presented a lecture to faculty members and students.

For decades, the Stilwell-Marshall-Romanus-Eastman account of wartime U.S.-China relations has dominated not only the English world but, curiously enough, Mainland China also. Underexplored was CCP’s seemingly minor share in the diplomatic triangle with Chiang and the U.S. During the talk, Dr. LU examined the relationship between the CCP and Stilwell, as well as the U.S.’s unwitting assistance to the Communists in several critical junctures during the Civil War.

Recapping the academic seminar “盧梭《社會契約論》的第一個漢譯本與清末民初中國知識分子的革命觀” conducted by Dr. FAN Guangxin on 1 December 2015.

Dr. FAN Guangxin of the History Department, Hong Kong Baptist University, was invited by the Department to present a lecture with faculty members and students.

Best wishes from the Department
Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2016!

The newsletter will resume on 4 January 2016.

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 Tuesday.