Visiting Speaker Series 2019-20

Professor Edmund Cheng of City University and Professor Samson Yuen of Lingnan University visited CUHK on 23 September to lead a roundtable discussion about Hong Kong's anti-extradition protests. The two professors shared data from on-site surveys, shedding some light on the make-up and motives of protestors and discussing how the online forum LIHKG provides space for coordination and debate for a movement with no leader. The event, co-organized with CUHK's Centre for Social Innovation Studies, was a welcome opportunity for participants to examine Hong Kong's current sociopolitical environment through an academic perspective.

On 11 October, Professor Joel Andreas of John Hopkins University gave a talk based on his recently published book, Disenfranchised: The Rise and Fall of Industrial Citizenship in China (OUP, 2019), which examines the transformation of industrial relations in China since 1949. Professor Andreas traced the development of Chinese factory workers' political status from the proclamation of the PRC to the present. Based on his 10 years of field research, he concluded that the Chinese labour force is increasingly losing its ability to shape working conditions and claim rights to participate in decision making.

In her 16 October talk, Professor Daisy Yan Du of HKUST subverted the common misconception that the period from the late 1940s to the 1970s was one of cultural isolation for China due to unrest and war. Drawing on her newly published book, Animated Encounters: Transnational Movements of Chinese Animation, 1940s-1970s (University of Hawaii Press, 2019), Professor Du challenged the notion of an essentialist "Chinese" animation by delineating the impact of international forces such as Japan, America, the Soviet Union, and China's ethnic minorities on Chinese animation in its formative years. 

China Research Colloquium

On 10 September, over 100 students and members of the public attended the first research colloquium hosted by CCS. In her talk entitled "Being Caught Up in the Information Operations among Hong Kong Protests", noted media professional and former chief editor of Initium, Zhang Jieping, dissected the ways information is weaponized to stir emotions and manipulate public opinion. Zhang concluded the colloquium by stressing the importance of individual actions, urging attendees to critically examine their media diet and sift facts from rumors.

CCS Book Talk
Renowned China-watcher and CCS instructor Professor Willy Wo-Lap Lam gave a talk in the University Bookstore on 25 October to introduce his new book, The Fight for China's Future: Civil Society vs. the Chinese Communist Party (Routledge, 2019). In both his book and book talk, Professor Lam explained the struggle between China's vibrant civil society and the CCP, examining the latter's policy towards the former and exploring possible future changes.

CCS Film Screenings
This past semester, the CCS hosted four public screenings in the series Protest in Hong Kong: A History and Dialogue through Film. The selected films, Ordinary Heroes (千言萬語, Ann Hui, 1999), Sunless Days (沒有太陽的日子, Shu Kei, 1990), Umbrella Diaries: The First Umbrella (傘上：遍地開花, James Leong, 2018), and Lost in the Fumes (地厚天高, Nora Lam, 2017), offer insight into advocacy for the rights of Yau Ma Tei boat people, the Tiananmen Square protests, and Umbrella Movement, exploring the nature of violence and role of the police. Together, these films offer a broad historical sketch of Hong Kong social movements and protests since the 1970s, showing both continuity and dramatic change. Each screening was followed by a Q&A session with an actor, director, or producer involved in the making of the film. This moment of interaction between filmmaker and audience enacted the call for dialogue and better mutual understanding in Hong Kong amidst the ongoing protests.