Transregional Hong Kong: Social and Political Nexuses from Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

Panel Convenor(s)

• FM

  Florence Mok

  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Panel Chair(s)

• FM

  Florence Mok

  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Presenter(s)

• FM

  Florence Mok

  Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
• JW

  John Wong

  The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
• EC

  Edmund Cheng

  City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
• AP

  Allan Pang

  University of Bristol, United Kingdom

Using historical and quantitative methods, this panel examines the under-explored transregional histories of political, economic and infrastructural networks in colonial and post-colonial Hong Kong from the 1960s to 2020s. It investigates how borderland politics and geopolitics, such as the Sino-American rapprochement, evolving Cold War dynamics and changing Sino-British relations, influenced developments that involved both Hong Kong and China. Three papers examine how the colonial government managed infrastructures of Hong Kong, notably transport (the Kowloon-Canton Railway ) and education (revision of official curricula and containment of left-wing educational institutions), and how other historical agencies and actors, such as postcolonial governments in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong communities and marginalised leftists, responded to the creation and regulation of these infrastructures. Two papers explore the origin and transformation of the ‘Greater Bay Area’, which redefined Hong Kong’s role in the region. The government’s efforts of regional integration and the configuration of commercial and social networks continue to affect today’s Hong Kong, China and the region. By unfolding these pivotal processes and networks, this panel adds a new perspective on shifting Sino-Hong Kong relations, with implications for today’s changing diplomatic, political and social relations.

Presentations:

• 09:00 – 10:45 (GMT+7)

  Battling for Hearts and Minds: State Security and Left-wing Education in Cold War Hong Kong, 1949-1970s
  

  Presenter: Florence Mok – Nanyang Technological University
• 09:00 – 10:45 (GMT+7)

  Hong Kong in the Greater Bay Area (GBA)
  

  Presenter: John Wong – The University of Hong Kong
• 09:00 – 10:45 (GMT+7)

  The Nexus and Temporality in the Making of City-Region in South China
  

  Presenter: Edmund Cheng – City University of Hong Kong
• 09:00 – 10:45 (GMT+7)

  Networks of Knowledge Production: Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and British Examination Syndicates since the 1960s
  

  Presenter: Allan Pang – University of Bristol