Introducing Timothy Cheuk Yin Chan

One of the Centre’s missions is to nurture a new generation of Hong Kong historians.

An Early Career Scholar Network was created under the Hong Kong History Centre in June 2023. It is intended to help create a community of Hong Kong historians and offer a platform for face-to-face interaction and academic exchange among young scholars. Research students and fresh doctoral graduates working on socioeconomic, political and cultural history of Hong Kong and its global relevance are welcomed. We usually meet thrice a year (February, June and October) with participants taking turns to present their works in each meeting. Financial support is provided for our network members attending these sessions.

Please write to Prof. Ray Yep, Research Director of Hong Kong History Centre, at rekmy@bristol.ac.uk, if you are interested in joining this Network.

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In this post, we would like to introduce Timothy Cheuk Yin Chan, a member of the Network.

Timothy Cheuk Yin Chan is a PhD student at University of Manchester. In the note written by him below, he shares with us his reflections on his academic journey and current doctoral project on the development of Hong Kong’s monetary system between 1841 and 1870.

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The starting point of my journey must be traced back to the Children’s Library of the Ma On Shan Public Library. Someday in 2008, my mother brought me there, and I discovered two comic books, which were about the history of the Ming Dynasty and the origins and development of the First World War, respectively. From that day on, my interest in history has gradually expanded. After reading all history-related comic books in the Children’s Library, I began to challenge those on the book shelves of the adult sector, and then, other public libraries. The more I read, the more I am curious about what happened in the past and how the past connects to the present. My burning desire, thus, brought me to Beijing, Hong Kong, and then Manchester, where I am doing my PhD project.

Although I was interested in history in my early years, I had little idea about Hong Kong’s history until the second year of my MPhil studies. During my undergraduate studies at Peking University, I focused on China’s diplomatic and economic relations with foreign countries, particularly before the Opium War. In my undergraduate thesis, I studied the use of bills of exchange in the Sino-foreign trade during the Canton era. Although Hong Kong was barely mentioned, my undergraduate years laid the groundwork for my PhD study, as Hong Kong’s monetary system was rooted in the long-standing commercial traditions and practices between the Chinese and Westerners that spanned 300 years before the Opium War.

Then, I reached a turning point in the second year of MPhil because I was assigned to be the teaching assistant of the undergraduate course “History of Hong Kong.” Since I received the notification, I understand that I could not be a good tutor unless I equip myself through intensive reading. Therefore, I began to do all I could to learn the history of my home city. That is why even though my MPhil thesis has nothing to do with Hong Kong, my passion for Hong Kong’s past massively grew in those two years. I realised that to be a good historian, I have to understand the connection between myself and my birthplace, and so, what gave birth to Hong Kong. That is the root that makes me where and who I am. The process of thinking drew my personal experience, my own knowledge, and my enthusiasm together, and that was how I focused on the development of the monetary system in early Hong Kong.

My PhD project studies the development of Hong Kong’s monetary system between 1841 and 1870 and revisits the rise and fall of the Hong Kong Mint from a global perspective. In my research, I argue that the Hong Kong Dollar and the Hong Kong Mint were not merely colonial enterprises, but were an imperial project by which Britain planned to expand its political and economic influence in East Asia. Furthermore, I attempt to unearth how Britain’s decision and the fate of the Hong Kong Mint were affected by various major historical events around the world, such as the 1866 Panic, the American Civil War, the French Intervention in Mexico, and the Second Opium War. One might ask, “Why does your research matter?” On the one hand, the introduction of Hong Kong Dollars influenced other Great Powers to utilise money in their empire-building effort. Coins became an effective tool to carve spheres of influence in China. Britain’s decision to sell Hong Kong’s mint machinery to Japan resulted in Japan’s rapid modernisation. On the other hand, the Hong Kong Dollar is one of the most traded currencies in the world. The strong presence of Hong Kong Dollars in today’s world commerce evidently tells us the far-reaching consequences of Britain’s decision in 1863.

Since its opening, Hong Kong has always been tied to the world. The various kinds of connections make Hong Kong mean more than its size in the global politics and economy. Studying the root cause of Hong Kong Dollars’ creation not only remind us that Hong Kong should never be confined by the framework of Chinese, British or Hong Kong’s history, but also press us to consider what would be the future of the city and its currency when the world ceases to be what it used to be as in the unstable 1860s.

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我的研究歷程必須追溯到馬鞍山公共圖書館的兒童圖書館。2008 年的某一天，我在那裡發現了兩本漫畫書，分別關於明朝歷史和第一次世界大戰的起源與發展。我對歷史的興趣自那天起與日俱增。看完兒童圖書館內所有與歷史有關的漫畫書後，我開始挑戰成人區書架上的歷史類書籍，然後再到其他公共圖書館「照辦煮碗」。讀得越多我便愈好奇過去的事情以及古今之間的連結。正是這股求知的慾望把我帶到北京、香港，然後再到曼徹斯特。如今，我正在這座孕育出英國工業革命的城市攻讀博士學位。

雖然我早就對歷史懷有興趣，但直到攻讀哲學碩士課程的第二年，我對香港歷史仍所知甚少。在北京大學的本科階段，我主要研究中國在鴉片戰爭前與外國的外交及經濟關係。在我的本科畢業論文中，我探討了廣州貿易時期中外貿易中匯票的使用。雖然當中鮮少提及香港，但這段經歷為日後攻讀博士奠定了基礎，因為香港的貨幣制度根植於中西間三百年來的商業傳統與實踐之中。

碩士第二年，我被指派擔任本科課程「香港史」的助教。自收到通知起，我便知道若不將勤補拙，我便難以勝任此職。因此，我竭盡所能學習自己家鄉的歷史。也正因如此，儘管我的碩士論文與香港無關，我對香港歷史的熱情卻在攻讀碩士時大幅增長。當時，我意識到要成為一名優秀的歷史學家，我便必須了解自己與出生地之間的聯繫，以及香港誕生的緣由。通過這些問題反思自己的身份與存在。這段思索過程將我的個人經驗、知識與熱情緊密結合，並促使我最終聚焦於早期香港貨幣制度的發展。

我的博士研究探討1841年至1870年間香港貨幣制度的演變，並以全球視角重新審視香港造幣廠的興衰。在這份研究中，我主張港元與香港造幣廠並非單純的殖民事業，而是英國為擴張其在東亞的政治與經濟影響力而推動的一項帝國計畫。此外，我嘗試揭示英國的決策及香港造幣廠命運如何受到世界各地重大歷史事件的影響，例如1866年經濟恐慌、美國南北戰爭、法國干涉墨西哥，以及英法聯軍之役。有人或會問：「你的研究有何重要性？」一方面，港元的引入影響了其他列強，使各國開始利用貨幣來推進帝國擴張。貨幣成為劃分中國勢力範圍的有效工具。英國把香港造幣廠的機器售予日本，促使日本迅速實現現代化，改變了日後東亞以至世界的政經格局。另一方面，港元是當今世界上交易量最大的貨幣之一。港元在今日國際商業中的地位，正正顯示英國在1863年的決策所帶來的深遠後果。

自開埠以來，香港始終與世界緊密相連。這種多元聯繫使香港在全球政治與經濟中的意義遠超其地域規模。探究港元誕生的根本原因，不僅提醒我們不應把香港的歷史局限於中國史、英國史或香港史的框架之中。再者，我希望我的研究能讓讀者思考當今世界如1860年代般波譎雲詭，香港與其貨幣又將何去何從。