Mr Thomas M Larkin

My core research interests concern transnational and transimperial histories, the history of Sino-Western interaction, and colonial society and culture. I am also interested in experimenting with and promoting global-microhistorical methods. My dissertation focused on Anglo-American relations in nineteenth-century China, and how competition and collaboration between the British, Americans, and Chinese influenced the development of Hong Kong society. I am currently revising this work for publication as well as pursuing further projects that emphasize the global social, cultural, and commercial networks linking America to China and to the British imperial world.

I am also generally interested in promoting the use of public-access tools for historical learning. Until April 2021 I oversaw the social-media side of the Historical Photographs of China project (hpcbristol); and as an extension of my graduate research I am continuing to expand a large database of merchants and the networks that they created in nineteenth-century Hong Kong.