Postgraduate Researchers

Ambiguous Nationality: British Subjects of Chinese Descent, c.1880-1962 Phyllis Chan's research looks at the legal nationality of people of Chinese descent born  in Hong Kong. Prior to the 1960s, English common law bestowed British subjecthood (which in turn conferred nationality rights) on all those born within British dominion, no matter their colour. However, due to imperial racial hierarchies, patchy birth registration, and the open border with mainland China, officials often

questioned the rights of subjects of Chinese descent, or saw their status as ‘doubtful’ or ambiguous. Her thesis will explore these cases to interrogate the legal and cultural criteria seen as necessary for being ‘British’, and identify the evidence used by subjects who claimed to fulfil them.

Seeking Home in the Colonial Port: Migration and Settlement of Chinese Workers in Hong Kong, c. 1900-1941 Alex Cheung's research examines the daily life experience of working-class migrants in early twentieth-century Hong Kong when lower-class Chinese moved across Asian port cities to seek fortunes. Many came to stay in Hong Kong, and colonial officials found it necessary to govern urban problems such as housing, labour force, and cross-border movement. Focusing

on the interaction of the colonial state and working-class migrants, he will explore both opportunities and restrictions of the British colonial port for its mobile residents. In the broader context of port city and migration in modern time, he seek to address on the meaning of mobility for lower-class port-city dwellers.

Hong Kong to Britain: Transnational Families and Migration, c. 1950-1997 Lamia Lung's project explores the experiences of Hong Kong diaspora in Britain from 1950 to 1997, examining the interplay between transnational family linkages, social mobility and identity construction. Hong Kong people who came to Britain had distinct cultural characteristics which set them apart from other Chinese ethnic communities and even their own families in Hong Kong. She seeks to demonstrate that

immigration to Britain was not a one-way process. Through their transnational connections, Hong Kong people from a diverse background with often different aspirations shaped social and political policies in Britain.

Imperial Graduates: Mapping Hong Kong’s Elites’ Networks across the British Empire, 1862-1941 Ryan Iu's project investigates the Hong Kong Chinese and Eurasian elite in a local, transregional, and intra-imperial context. These were the alumni of either the Government Central School (est. 1862) or the Diocesan Boys’ School (est. 1869). Through colonial education, they secured a pathway to elite status, and an access to an established ‘old boys’ network’ and the

political/ commercial opportunities to expand into Britain and across the Empire. In time, these local elites formed transpacific, maritime, and intra-imperial connections and significantly causing the origin of internationalism in early Hong Kong under colonial rule.

Governing Youth in post-WWII Hong Kong, 1945-1970s Tracy Leung's research examines how the colonial government’s strategy in the management of youth changed in relation to the evolving threat of communism in Asia and the global trend towards anti-colonialism in post-WWII Hong Kong. It will explain the staggering change in the government’s attitude towards youth welfare policies, looking into how the colonial state linked up with voluntary youth organizations to deal

with the problems of ‘juvenile delinquency’ and regulated youth leisure. It also engages the broader imperial context by examining how the post- war youth policy in Hong Kong compared with Britain itself and other British colonies, addressing to what extent it was an influential model in and of itself.

Duncan Ma The Making of Cold War Hong Kong: A Trans-national Cultural Geography Study of the Kai Tak Airport, 1945–1998 Duncan Ma’s research examines the formation of Cold War Hong Kong through the lens of Kai Tak Airport. In response to the ever-changing Cold War geopolitics, refurbishments on the Kai Tak Airport had been conducted since 1950s and was finally replaced by the one located in Chek Lap Kok, the

current Hong Kong International Airport. This project narrates the Kai Tak Airport was not merely an urban infrastructure, but it will examine the Airport in pragmatic, imaginary, and experiential spaces throughout Hong Kong, East Asia, and the Global World. With a special attention to cultural productions, it accesses Kai Tak Airport as a landmark. By deciphering the Kai Tak landscape iconography, it will form a better understanding toward the trans-national and cross-cultural dynamics that re-present the Cold War Hong Kong.