Personal profile

Research interests

My research interests lie in the social and transregional history of the British Empire, especially the intra-imperial migration connections within the colonies, port-cities, and regions under the influence of the Empire. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in early colonial Hong Kong serve as a pivotal period for my investigations. As a native of Hong Kong, raised in both Hong Kong and Canada, I am consistently captivated by the transregional networks woven by historical individuals. My interest extends to understanding how these individuals have structured transpacific, maritime, and intra-imperial connections. I also contemplate the Hong Kong-based network not in isolation but rather as one dimension within a larger interconnected transregional and trans-imperial circulation.

 

My doctoral project focuses on the Chinese and Eurasian elite networks that received colonial education in early colonial Hong Kong, specifically from the Government Central School (established in 1862) or the Diocesan Boys’ School (established in 1869). In my MA thesis at the University of British Columbia, titled ‘The Government Central School and the Elite Networks in Early Colonial Hong Kong,’ I provided a case study explaining how elite alumni – primarily graduates from the Central School – structured interconnected and functional networks over time. My PhD thesis, tentatively titled ‘Imperial Graduates: Mapping Hong Kong’s Elites’ Networks across the British Empire, 1862-1941,” will expand on my MA thesis. The exploration transcends Hong Kong to study elite networks in a local, transregional, and intra-imperial context beyond Hong Kong and within the British Empire. I aim to scrutinize the formation of intricate networks through marriages, political collaborations, commercial ties, and civic partnerships. I will also incorporate a digital humanities project to support my main doctoral research.

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