The Lingnan Culture Studies Public Lecture & Research Paper Competition 2023 Award Ceremony, organized by the Research Programme for Lingnan Culture, Institute of Chinese Studies, CUHK, was held on 25 April 2024 and drew over a hundred CUHK colleagues and students, alumni, and members of the public. The Lingnan Culture Studies Research Paper Competition 2023 aims to promote international academic research on Lingnan culture, as well as to encourage local and overseas doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows who are aspiring to conduct in-depth research in the field. The competition received 30 research papers, which are subject to assessment by the selection committee and eight award winners were selected.

Prof. Steven B. Miles, Head and Professor of the Division of Humanities of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, was invited as the keynote speaker to deliver a talk on an interesting topic “Wet Guangzhou: Seasonality in a Southern Chinese City, 1820s–1880s” at the award ceremony. The lecture is part of a larger project on the rhythms of urban life in the southern Chinese port city of Guangzhou (Canton) during the nineteenth century. Through his analysis of wet-season disasters (flooding and storms), in contrast to dry-season disasters (fires), Prof. Miles conveyed a sense of the lived experience of city residents and revealed both how life was changing over the course of this transformative century and how observers perceived these changes in the lecture. His lecture, delivered in an engaging and accessible manner, was an inspiration to researchers as well as to the public.

*RGC Collaborative Research Project “Lingnan Culture and the World” (2023–2026)