Dept of Sociology

DEPT OF SOCIOLOGY

Researcher : Adorjan MC

Project Title:	Volatile and Contradictory Youth Justice in Hong Kong? Exploring and Advancing the Theory of Rehabilitative ‘Braiding’ Outside of Occidental Contexts
Investigator(s):	Adorjan MC
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	03/2010

Abstract:

Youth crime is a social problem that has garnered long-term international attention and research. At heart questions regarding the deviant and criminal behavior of young people bear upon larger questions of social order (Bakken 1993: 401) and human nature. This research aims to trace standpoints about troubled and troublesome youth in Hong Kong, the different ways over time in which young offenders have been problematized and how such claims have affected laws and policies governing youth. It seeks to explore how youth crime and young offenders are ‘represented’ within media sources, legislative debates and by those who work within Hong Kong’s youth justice system. Its larger aim is to render cultural comparisons between Western and Eastern youth justice systems and formulations of young offender identity and culpability. Specifically, it explores how salient the idea of hybridized ‘volatile and contradictory’ (O'Malley 1999) late modern forms of punishment are in Hong Kong compared with Western nations. Western systems of youth justice have been significantly impacted by neo-conservative calls for ‘law-and-order’ responses to youth crime, as well as neo-liberal social forces, signified by limits to what can be expected from the welfarist initiatives of formerly ‘big’ government (Garland 1996). However, Hong Kong’s youth justice system is a product of unique points of cultural assemblage that require further exploration in order to pinpoint where ‘glocal’ (Bauman 1998) patterns connect local exigencies with broader international trends. While there have been a series of ‘moral panics’ over youth crime in Hong Kong since the 1960s (Gray 1991; Traver 2002) which are similar to those found in the U.K. (Cohen 2002 [1972]) and the U.S. (Kappeler and Potter 2005), there are several points of contrast with respect to Western systems. The continuing influence of Confucianism promotes both obedience to parents and the primacy of the family unit and ostensibly tempers the perception, more dominant in the West, of young offenders as independent and willfully recalcitrant (Traver 2002: 209). Hong Kong is, simultaneously, a modern, cosmopolitan and progressive society that mediates Western influence through its “emphasis on individualism and the nuclear family” (Ngai and Cheung 2005: 462; Ngai, Cheung and Ngai 2007: 385). This raises the question of how these worldviews and value systems intersect in response to youth crime. Modernization and urbanization, for instance, have led to a number of social problems associated with divorcing families, drug use and triad gangs that have all negatively impacted upon young people (Oi-bing 1995). Specific attention is given in this research to exploring the ‘braided’ nature of formal and informal systems which engage youth crime. Gaylord (1996: 169) notes that despite some similarities to Western systems, informal practices permeate Hong Kong’s justice system, whereby individuals rely less on the government and draw more from personal resources. Familial interests and considerations preside over all others, whereby family is considered to be a “shelter”, especially given the continued influence of Confucianism. This raises the question of whether or not Hong Kong’s late-modern crime control system has been affected by the same neo-liberal forces that have come to shape youth crime control policies in the West. If the onus is placed not on ‘big government’ but on families to responsibilize young offenders, then it is possible that neo-liberalism has not taken hold in Hong Kong in the same way it has in the West. It is hypothesized that despite staving off a formal neo-liberal paradigm of crime control, Hong Kong’s uniquely hybridized culture promulgates a ‘braided’ model that requires further empirical exploration. Hong Kong’s youth justice system retains strong elements which would have resonated during the West’s ‘penal welfare’ era of youth justice, dominant from the early 20th century to the 1970s. Specifically, Hong Kong’s system can be characterized as one of ‘disciplinary welfare’ (Gray 1991), a paradigm that has remained dominant for many years (Wong 2000: 289). More than for adults, the punishment of young offenders is promoted not only as a deterrent but for its inclusionary encouragement of self-regulation and character transformation. Probation, residential care as well as custody are utilized to address informal social problems related to young offenders’ lives, i.e. within their family, school or peer groups (Gray 1991: 37). This reaction by justice professionals leads to increased discipline, control and punitive treatment. This system, in turn, has been argued to strengthen periodic ‘moral panics’ over youth crime (Gray 1991: 37). Movement away from the ‘penal welfare’ youth justice paradigm in the West was facilitated largely through criticism of a system that detained young offenders within custodial facilities for indeterminate periods in order to ensure efficacious rehabilitation and treatment. Criticisms grew, especially after the 1960s, regarding this system’s failure to protect newly established legal rights and protections of youth (Adorjan 2009). In contrast, Gaylord (1996: 167) notes that both training and detention center sentences for young offenders in Hong Kong are indeterminate, which, he suggests, allows for incarcerated youth to take advantage of early release and be helped to reintegrate into the community. However this leaves open the question of whether or not some youth are kept inside residential centers for extended periods of time in order to ‘ensure’ their successful rehabilitation, and fails to explore any of the justifications and rationales given for depriving youth of their freedom in order to enable technologies of rehabilitation. In addition, Hong Kong’s preventive welfare services have been accused of being “compartmentalized” and suffering from increasing fragmentation (Wong 2000: 286). This may relate to the ways in which youth justice reforms borrow from traditional as well as modern theories of youth crime governance, and draws from both local and global wells of knowledge regarding youth crime governance. "Conflicts over the goals of punishment become most evident with juvenile offenders, rather than adults” (Gaylord 1996: 165), due in large part to unresolved contention over the identity and culpability of young offenders. This research aims to explore these points of tension as related to social forces attempting to resolve formal and informal, as well as ‘glocal’ youth justice directions in Hong Kong.

List of Research Outputs

Adorjan M.C., Emotions Contests and Reflexivity in the News: Examining Discourse on Youth Crime in Canada, Canadian Sociological Association. 2010.

Adorjan M.C., Scott Kenney, Canadian Victims of Crime, Canadian Review of Sociology. Canada, 2009.

Researcher : Bakken B

Project Title:	Crime and Punishment in China
Investigator(s):	Bakken B
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	04/2007

Abstract:

According to the United Nations’ cross-cultural International Crime Victimization Survey of approximately sixty countries, among all of the countries’ residents the large representative sample of Chinese respondents surveyed were the most likely to favour harsh punishment (Zvekic and Alvazzi Del Frate 1995, Mayhew and van Kesteren, 2003). It has also been observed that China today executes more people than the entire rest of the world, and that recent surveys in China show unusually high levels of support for capital punishment (Fu, 2000). My project seeks to answer why such attitudes and practices prevail in today’s China. This will entail a comprehensive study of the role of punitiveness in China. I am convinced the topic should not be confined to the technicalities of law or analyses of criminology, but should be linked to a cross-disciplinary approach to explain fundamental cultural, moral, and structural changes in society. My focus is on present day China, but I see punishment in the perspective of a cultural and historical longue durée. I will engage the issues of Chinese punitive practices and attitudes through empirical research extending along several interrelated fronts, combining extensive interviewing with archival studies, a wide range of Chinese and Western scholarship, as well as local and comparative survey material. The PI is fluent in Chinese (putonghua), and brings to the research a wide range of knowledge on China. While my main focus is in sociology/criminology, I intend to approach the issue from different angles according to my background in sinology, social history, sociology and criminology. The effort will be to explain the experiences of the People's Republic of China, with a keen observance of historical sociology, into a new framework. Thus, in addition to examining the state-imposed system of punishment in terms of political and social control, I wish to go beyond that in an attempt to describe what might be termed a ”punitive society”. In doing this, I distance myself from the old paradigm of totalitarianism, where an all-powerful state seemed to be in full control of all aspects of punishment, which we regard as far too simplistic to be able to explain adequately the phenomena in question. Although some of this literature is still valuable, the analytical framework is insufficient, often leading to flawed conclusions found in works like Lifton (1961), Friedrich & Brzezinski (1968), and Wu (1992). While a punitive system concerns the state apparatus of power and control, it also touches upon wider issues of moral values, rationalities, and the emotional forces and sensibilities held in a society. Pieter Spierenburg (1984) has described the evolution of repression and punishment in European societies from the medieval period throughout industrialization, basing his analysis on Norbert Elias’ (1982) sociological/historical theory on the Civilization Process, which ties the control of individual impulses to the growth of powerful states and courts. He argues that the intensity of emotions (and thereby the use of cruelty and violence) during the medieval period was ”tamed” or contained by the introduction of the nation state, and that the acceptance of ”blood” sacrifice and violence decreases over the centuries, while sensibilities about suffering increase. This approach has been supported by rich empirical evidence, and has been utilized to explain developments in crime, violence and punishment in medieval and early modern Europe (Sveri 1974, Diederiks 1989) to mention a few), but the thesis has never previously been tested against the Chinese experience. I refute the idea that Europe represents a microcosm of humankind, and it would add to the general knowledge of crime, violence, and punishment to investigate recent Chinese experience in these terms, exposing a possible European empirical bias in civilization theory. China does not have a cultural or historical inclination towards harsh punishment as some have claimed (Gao 2004). On the contrary there is much evidence of restorative justice and what I term ”legal mercy” (McKnight 1982) in the Chinese tradition. I will try to prove that the cultural argument is inadequate in explaining the present hard punishment regime in the People’s Republic of China. I do not belong to a ”school”, however, and the civilization approach or the historical school of criminology is but one approach to the issue of punitiveness that I will explore. I will seek alternative ways of explanation by drawing upon modern sociological theoeretical approaches to punishment like those of David Garland (1990), to mention one of the main works in the field. One alternative approach is that war and revolutionary violence legitimated by the state carry higher levels of violence into peacetime and post-revolution decades (Archer & Gartner 1984), and that part of the punitive processes we see today can be explained by the after-effects of the traumatic upheavals in recent Chinese history. I will also address theories of the violence triggered by purity and political campaigns (Schmitt 1932). I will also need to locate Chinese beliefs about punitiveness in the historical practices of a Leninist state, dominated by Mao Zedong, that for decades tightly controlled education and mass communication and propagated a belief in class struggle (Mao, 1927/67), but also include Deng Xiaoping’s belief in harsh deterrence in that overall picture. to be able to explain present practices (Deng 1984). For reference list, see attachment

Project Title:	10th Biennial Conference of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia (CSAA) Crime and Punishment in China towards 2020: A Scenario
Investigator(s):	Bakken B
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	06/2007

Abstract:

N/A

List of Research Outputs

Bakken B., "Shiji zhijiao de Zhongguo fanzui" (Chinese crime at the turn of the millennium), In: Xiong Jingming, Guan Xinji, Shiji chu de Zhongguo (China at the start of the millennium). Hong Kong, Chinese University Press, 2009, 223-252.

Bakken B., "Vold og straff i fattigfolkets Kina" (Violence and punishment in poor people's China), Materialisten. No. 3. Oslo, Norway, 2009, in print.

Bakken B., China. A Punitive Society. The article was Published Online May 2010. Paper edition in press will be included in the coming issue of Asian Journal of Criminology, Asian Journal of Criminology, DOI number (10.1007/s11417-010-9086-3) . 2010, Vol 5, Issue 2.

Bakken B., Death Penalty Attitudes in China, 1st International Oslo Symposium on Death Penalty in Asia, University of Oslo, Department of Criminology and the Sociology of Law, March 18-20, 2010.

Bakken B., Harshness Norms and the Death Penalty in China Changing Conceptions, Asian Criminology in a Global Context, Changes and Prospects, University of Macau, December 18-20, 2009.

Bakken B., In: Sonny ShiuHing Lo, The China Journal, No.63, January 2010, pp. 197-200, The Politics of Cross-Border Crime in Greater China: Case Studies of Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau. 2010.

Bakken B., Violence and Punishment in Poor People’s China (Vold og straff i fattigfolkets Kina”, in Norwegian), Materialisten. 2009, Vol 37, No. 3: 20-46.

Bakken B., “Påfuglene flyr mot sørøst” (The Peacocks fly towards the South-East: On Migrant Crime in China), Kina og vi (Our China). Oslo, Norway, Norway-China Association, 2009, Vol. 40: 56-64.

Bakken B., “The Politics of Cross-Border Crime in Greater China. Case Studies on Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, by Sonny Shiu-Hing Lo, China Journal. 2009, (forthcoming).

Researcher : Chan CSC

Project Title:	An Exploratory Study of the Survival of Traditional Chinese Pharmacy in mainland China
Investigator(s):	Chan CSC
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	06/2009

Abstract:

This project has two major objectives. First, it seeks to understand how indigenous Chinese industries and companies survive and evolve in the face of an influx of multinational industries and corporations. Second, it examines the fundamental characteristics of Chinese business organizational practices, and their differences from those of foreign corporations. The surge in foreign pharmaceutical enterprises and the survival of the traditional Chinese drug companies in mainland China will be used as a case study to serve these objectives. Since the economic reforms launched by Deng Xiao Ping, the pharmaceutical industry in China recorded an annual compound growth rate of 16.7 percent between 1978 and 2003. As part of the conditions of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization, the Chinese authorities have tightened rules on intellectual property, revised laws, and opened the door wide to foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers and retail pharmacies. By 2004, nearly all global pharmaceutical companies have already completed their accession into the Chinese market. As of 2007, China held 1,800 foreign-funded drug enterprises, including the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world. Under this context, how do the traditional Chinese drug companies survive? When “science” or “scientific” in this era is defined in terms of positivistic knowledge, rooted in the scientific revolution in the West, what is the legitimate basis of the traditional herbal medicines? What strategies the traditional Chinese drug companies deploy to claim legitimacy and authority? How do they compete with western pharmaceutical enterprises that produce primarily synthetic drugs and secondarily biotech-related products? To what extent, and in what way, their operations have been influenced by the western drug industry? At present, over 150 traditional Chinese pharmacies, established between the mid-19th century to the first quarter of the twentieth century, can be found in China. Most of them enjoyed over a hundred years’ longevity, though all of them have experienced dramatic ups and downs since the 1930s. A common characteristic of these traditional Chinese medicine companies, prior to Mao’s regime, could be identified. The founders of these companies were almost all traditional Chinese medical doctors. Instead of relying on laboratory tests, “experience” was the primary source of their legitimacy. They set up their pharmacies when they discovered some formulas effective for curing certain diseases. Based on the philosophy of benevolence, the pharmacies were run with high moral standards. The recent immoral practices of a few drug and food companies in China were totally alien to the business ethics of these traditional Chinese pharmacies. The high quality of the medicines and the high moral standards in running the business serve as another source of legitimacy and recognition from the public. The quality of the drugs was guaranteed when the manufacturing procedures were highly regulated and supervised by the owners. More often than not, the manufacturing took place right behind the retail stores. In the 1950s, most of these traditional Chinese drug companies, however, became state-owned. Since 1978, especially during the 1980s, most of them were re-privatized and became joint-stock companies. One of the interesting questions is: How did the operation and the management of these pharmacies change with the transfer of ownership in the 1950s and in the 1980s respectively? Furthermore, the political and institutional environments prior to the 1930s were vastly different from those in the 1950s and in the 1980s. Since the 1990s, the influx of foreign pharmaceutical companies created another challenge to these traditional drug manufacturers. How did the political and institutional changes impact the organizational practices of the traditional Chinese drug companies? This study, therefore, traces the historical evolutions of the traditional Chinese drug industry, with special focus on the changes in the past 30 years. The specific objectives can be spelt out as follows: 1. To examine the business organizational practices of the traditional Chinese drug companies and their changes under different political and institutional settings from prior to the 1930s to the present. These practices include the production procedures, labor management, marketing and distribution, and business ethics. 2. To investigate the impacts of the advent of western medicine and foreign pharmaceutical companies on the organizational practices of the traditional Chinese drug companies. 3. To identify, if there are any, fundamental characteristics of the business organizational practices of the traditional Chinese drug companies so as to generate hypotheses about Chinese capitalism and varieties of capitalism in relation to globalization. 4. To understand the cultural logics of the “Chinese characteristics” of organizational practices.

Project Title:	The 4th Annual International Conference on Sociology For Life or For Death: Culture, State, and Life Insurance Markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan
Investigator(s):	Chan CSC
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	05/2010

Abstract:

N/A

Project Title:	Trust and Obligation in Social Ties in Contemporary Chinese Societies
Investigator(s):	Chan CSC
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	06/2010

Abstract:

The key objective of this research is to expand my theoretical contributions to the social network literature concerning the role of guanxi in economic activities in Chinese societies. Built on my earlier work that investigates how social ties of different strengths (such as strong ties, medium ties, and weak ties) affect economic transactions, this project will ask two important questions. First, my earlier work focuses on dyadic direct transactions, leaving the role of mediated ties and mediated transactions understudied. Hence, I ask how social ties of different strengths function differently in indirect, mediated transactions (i.e. transactions through mediators). This question is a necessary step to extend the insights on Chinese guanxi to a network perspective. Second, my earlier study says little about how different types of social relations, other than tie strengths, affect economic transactions. To deepen the understanding of the role of guanxi in Chinese economies, I ask how the mechanism of trust and obligation may vary when trading with kin, personal friends, and business friends. This project is in dialogue with two sets of theoretical debates in economic sociology and Chinese studies. The former is concerned with the role of different tie strengths and tie categories in social networks and the latter is about the role of personal favoritism in Chinese economies. Mark Granovetter (1985), the founding father of new economic sociology, puts forward an argument that weak ties (loosely connected social relationships) serve a better function than strong ties (closely connected social relationships) of helping people in getting a desirable job. The problem of strong ties, he argues, is that members in closely connected social circles tend to share the same information and, hence, they limit themselves to obtain other market information. On the other hand, people whom we know casually--the weak ties--have access to very different information, diversifying our knowledge base in the market. Granovetter’s insights have been criticized by Yanjie Bian (1997) for not as applicable to Chinese societies. Bian’s study of job allocation in Tianjin reveals that “information” was of less important than “influence” associated with social ties. He found that although a free labor market was not seen in China in the late 1980s, people largely mobilized their guanxi networks to contact job-assigning authorities. They did so in order to gain favors and influence from the control agents, hoping that they would be assigned a good job. Bian argues that, in the Chinese context, strong ties are more influential than weak ties because of the high degree of trust and sense of obligation inherent in those ties. My earlier research on the creation of a life insurance market in Shanghai indicates that insurance sales agents increasingly preferred to sell to mediated ties (i.e. prospects referred by friends, kin, or clients). This empirical phenomenon will provide a good research site for gaining insights about the role of strong versus weak ties in triadic connections that form social network structure. The second theoretical concern of this project is the role of personal favoritism in Chinese economic practices. The debates over this issue started as early as the 1960s, when EzraVogel (1965) argues that personal particularism was largely replaced by comradeship in Chinese society in the 1950s and 1960s. Thomas Gold (1985), on the other hand, argues that the system of comradeship in place was only superficial and the practices of personal particularism persisted throughout the Communist era and shored up in the post-1970s economic reform. Doug Guthrie (1998), nonetheless, asserts that the significance of guanxi has been declining as a consequence of rationalization and institutionalization in urban China. My study (Chan 2009b) reveals that the role of guanxi in economic activities was still significant despite an increasingly rationalized context in mainland China. However, the relation between guanxi and economic transactions was much more complicated than the common notion that the former always facilitated the latter. I found that despite the instrumental values of guanxi in Chinese economies, there still existed a boundary between ethical-affectively defined personal relationships and instrumental-monetarily defined economic relationships. My findings are suggestive but preliminary, because different types of guanxi, other than tie strengths, are lumped together under one category--personal relationships. In the coming project, I intend to examine how different types of guanxi between the agents, the mediators, and the prospects may generate different types and different degree of influence on economic transactions. The research questions of this project are as follows: 1. How do tie strengths between mediators and agents and between mediators and prospects affect economic transactions? Four possible triadic connections are identified to examine the variations. They include two-strong-link connections (i.e. mediators have strong ties with both agents and prospects), one-strong-link connections between mediators and agents, one-strong-link connections between mediators and prospects, and two-weak link connections (i.e. mediators have weak ties with both agents and prospects). Hypotheses based on these four triadic connections in relation to the level of trust and obligation will be derived for empirical inquires. 2. How does the nature of trust and obligation inherent in kinship, friendship, and long-term business relationship differ from one another? How do their differences affect the economic exchanges among different categories of social ties? 3. How do tie strengths interact with tie categories in mediated ties? Which variable carries more weight and why?

List of Research Outputs

Chan C.S.C., A Decade’s Struggle: Ideology, Frame Transformation, and Collection Action of the Falun Gong, presentation at Interdisciplinary China Lunch Seminar, Hong Kong Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences. 2010.

Chan C.S.C., Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the Twenty-First Century. By Giovanni Arrighi. Verso Press, 2007. , Social Forces. 2010.

Chan C.S.C., Culture, State, and Varieties of Capitalism: A Comparative Study of Life Insurance Markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan, presentation at the Cross-University Sociology Junior Faculty Seminar, Department of Sociology, Chinese University of Hong Kong. . 2009.

Chan C.S.C., Doing Ideology amid a Crisis: Collective Actions and Collective Discourses of the Falun Gong, presented at the Cross-University Sociology Junior Faculty Seminar, Department of Sociology, Chinese University of Hong Kong.. 2010.

Chan C.S.C., For Life or For Death: Culture, State, and Life Insurance Markets in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Invited Lecture at the School of Sociology and Anthropology, Sun Yat Sen University, Guangzhou. 2010.

Chan C.S.C., Invigorating the Content in Social Embeddedness: An Ethnography of Life Insurance Transactions in China, American Journal of Sociology. Chicago, USA, University of Chicago, 2009, 115 (3).

Chan C.S.C., Research Output Prize for the Faculty of Social Sciences, HKU's Outstanding Researcher Awards Scheme 2009-2010. 2009.

Chan C.S.C., Social Protection for Urban Poor in China: A Paradigm Shift in Achieving Social Inclusion, Launch Conference for the Journal of Asian Public Policy “Governing the Asian Giants: The Search for Good Governance and Sustainable Development in China and India, at Hong Kong Institute of Education. 2010.

Chan C.S.C. and Yao Z., Sociological Theory and China. , The Newsletter of the Research Committee on Sociological Theory, International Sociological Association, Autumn/Winter issue. . 2010.

Researcher : Chiu WK

List of Research Outputs

Chiu W.K., Criminal interrogation and the right to remain silent – a study of the Hong Kong Customs service, International Journal of Police Science & Management. Isle of Man, UK, Vathek, 2009, 11(2): 217-235.

Chiu W.K., Media Representation of Drug Law Enforcement by Hong Kong Customs, The 59th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems. San Francisco, 2009.

Chiu W.K., To nip the pot in its bud is to sniff out the dirty laundry: as the Hong Kong till rings, The Inaugural Meeting of the Asian Criminological Association, 17-20 December 2009, University of Macau. 2009.

Researcher : Chu YK

Project Title:	Triad involvement in economic organised crime in Hong Kong
Investigator(s):	Chu YK
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Small Project Funding
Start Date:	11/2003

Abstract:

To describe the trends of credit card fraud, pirated compact discs and currency counterfeiting in Hong Kong in the last decade; to analyse how these three counterfeiting products are manufactured and distributed; to assess the role of triads in the operation of these three types of economic organised crime; to exam how to combat economic organised crime from legal, law enforcement, private sector, and community perspectives.

List of Research Outputs

Chu Y.K., Hong Kong Organized Crime: Problems and Challenges, Center for Housing Innovations of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. 2009.

Tsang S.K.M. and Chu Y.K., Social cohesive efforts to meet youth development needs in Tin Shui Wai in Hong Kong, In: Prof. Mok Ka Ho, Social cohesion in greater China: Challenges for social policy and government.. Imperial College Press (London) and World Scientific Publish, 2009.

Researcher : Evans GRJ

Project Title:	7th International Conference on Thai Studies
Investigator(s):	Evans GRJ
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	07/1999

Abstract:

N/A

Project Title:	53rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies Do People Still Dream of Kings? The Discourse of Monarchy in Laos
Investigator(s):	Evans GRJ
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	03/2001

Abstract:

N/A

Project Title:	102nd American Anthropological Association Meeting Revival of Buddhist Royal Family Commemorative Ritual in Laos
Investigator(s):	Evans GRJ
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	11/2003

Abstract:

N/A

Project Title:	First International Conference on Lao Studies Tiao Phetsarath and Lao Issara Joking and Lao Social Structure
Investigator(s):	Evans GRJ
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	05/2005

Abstract:

N/A

Researcher : Kong TSK

Project Title:	The Modern Passions of the Cut Sleeves: Identity, Exclusion and Health of MSM (men having sex with other men) in Mainland China
Investigator(s):	Kong TSK, Laidler KA
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	07/2007
Completion Date:	10/2009

Abstract:

Homosexuality has long been a taboo topic in modern China. Certain male homosexual conducts were considered as a violation of the criminal codes before 1997 and not until 2001 that homosexuality was ruled out as a psychological disease. Although not illegal, homosexuals in China still suffer from a wide range of discriminations (Ruan and Tsai, 1992; Li, 1998; Gil, 2002; Jones, 2005). It is extremely difficult to estimate the size and composition of a stigmatized population, but it is believed that at least 2-4% of the male population in China (13-26 millions) is homosexual (Zhang et al, 2001; Zhang et al 2002). Based on the PI’s preliminary work (Kong, 2005), the current salient features of homosexuality in China are: (1) Most gay men are married. Living a double life is still a common practice for most gay men in China. In big cities, different “sites of desire” (e.g., parks, saunas, bars and discos, internet cafes, etc.) provide significant cultural space for Chinese gay men to identify with others through sexuality, language, and values. In (semi-) rural areas, social stigma on homosexuality is still strong such that most Chinese gay men can live in secrecy with few gay friends and little social support. (2) The existence of male sex workers in entertainment venues appears to be a distinctive feature of the gay scene in modern China. These entertainment venues serve two functions, one being a socializing place and the other a place for purchasing sex. From the PI’s work thus far, this pattern differs from many other cities (Kong, 2005). These young boys, whether gay or straight, are looking for survival and upward mobility through linking up with gay men who are more economically secured. Against this backdrop, this exploratory project will examine the lives of MSM (men having sex with other men) in mainland China. The purpose of this research is to examine the life stories of MSM in certain chosen sites of China and understand their lives and works in relation to their sexuality. Specifically, this research aims to contribute and link the following three areas: (1) Gay Identity, Coming Out and Social Exclusion Academic studies on homosexuality in Chinese societies are rare. They are mainly historical (e.g. Hinsch, 1990), focus on Asian American experiences (e.g. Leong, 1996), Hong Kong (e.g., Kong, 2002, 2004) and Taiwan (e.g., Fran, 2003). This research addresses a serious gap and attempts to uncover the complex interplay between individual biographies, local social institutions and the wider social-political environment in mainland China. This project looks at Chinese MSM’s difficulties in identity formation within a neo-Confucian family and community setting. Specifically we examine how their gay sexuality is shaped and shapes their family and the community at large. Given the constraints of these relationships, we hypothesize that they seek refuge in a distinct social space, that is, the gay entertainment venues. (2) Poverty, Sex Work and Tourism Gay tourism to Mainland China is a new but increasingly popular way in which Hong Kong MSM channel their sexual gratification. This is link to a variety of reasons, including the close proximity of Hong Kong to China, the reluctance to come out to their families in Hong Kong, the relatively inexpensive and different scene offered in China, and the anonymity of pursuing desire. Moreover, China’s joining the World Trade Organisation intensifies the already severe urban-rural inequality and further accelerates the growth of migrant labour underclass. Mainly coming from rural areas, a lot of young Chinese men (18-24) circuit the big cities for survival. For some, sex work is a more financially attractive occupation compared to the wages of an average manual or white collar worker. Studies on male sex work are scare, both internationally and locally (Aggleton, 1999; de Villiers and West, 1993; Kong, 2005). The second aim of this research is to give a preliminary understanding of the routes of gay tourism in Mainland China, identify various aspects of vulnerability and discrimination of male sex workers and examine the relationship between poverty, homelessness and sex work in light of the political economy of sexuality. (3) Love, Work and HIV/AIDS The Chinese government recently recognizes the “existence” of MSM in China and accepts that they are one of the major areas of health concern (SCMP, 2 Dec 04). The government also forecasts 10 million people infected with HIV by 2010 unless immediate prevention action will be carried out (China UN Theme Group, 2001). If only 1% of the population is MSM (the most conservative estimation), there will be over 1 million MSM requiring care. Preliminary observations (Kong, 2005) suggest a complicated picture of how MSM in China engage in safer sex. Many MSM are ambivalent in condom use with their steady partners (e.g., wives, boyfriends or girlfriends) even though they might have a number of casual sexual encounters. MSM who are sex workers insist on practicing safer sex at work but are ambivalent in their private life. In both cases, having unprotected sex with “love” has a significant symbolic meaning and, ironically, becomes the most dangerous sex act. Their sexual practices seem to be governed by the love (=safe=trust)/lust (=unsafe=work) dichotomy that undermines their safer sex practices. A full program of safer sex and HIV/AIDS campaign should not simply focus on the epistemological aspect of safer sex knowledge and even the availability of condoms but lies in the greater challenge of dealing with the hegemonic sexual ideology (Rubin, 1993) deeply rooted in the society at large. From these three areas of concern, our overall research questions:  Within the institutionally and culturally oppressive structures of contemporary China, how do MSM navigate their relationships with their (neo-Confucian) family and significant others, and at the same time, make sense of and negotiate their own sexual identity?  In what way is this negotiated identity connected to their participation in the emerging circuits of desire and to the health risks emerging in the tangle of love, work and HIV/AIDS?

Project Title:	Gay and Grey: Oral History of Hong Kong Gay Elders
Investigator(s):	Kong TSK
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Small Project Funding
Start Date:	01/2009

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to fill a gap in the studies of gay men and lesbians in Hong Kong by increasing our understanding of the life of older gay men who were born before the 50s using oral history approach. There are many defining moments of the lesbian and gay history in Hong Kong: homosexuality was first criminalized in 1841 when the British took over Hong Kong; the MacLennan incidence in 1980 that triggered off the subsequent 10 years of public and legal debate of whether homosexuality should be decriminalized or not; the arrival of AIDS in 1984 and its hitherto alleged associated with GAYS; the decriminalization of homosexuality in 1990; the mushrooming of gay and lesbian organizations and the emergence of a substantial gay infrastructure (e.g., bars, clubs, saunas, massage parlours, cafes, bookshops, etc.) since the 1990s; the equalization of age of consent in 2005; and International Day against Homophobia marches since 2005; and probably many more. Parallel with this social-historical transformation of homosexuality is the studies of homosexuality, which have mainly started in the late 1980s but have focused overwhelmingly on gay men and lesbians who were born in the 1950s and after. Academic studies have documented how gay and lesbians struggle with their sexual identity (e.g., Chou 1996, 1998; Ho 1995, 1997; Kong 2002; Yau 2006; Wong 2007; Tang 2008), perform sexual practices (e.g., Ho and Tsang 2000 a), form intimacy and relationships (e.g., Kong 2009; Tang, 2008; Wong 2006), live under the stratified gay and lesbian worlds (Kong 2004; Tang 2008), fight for equality (Hong Kong Christian Institute et al 2006; Yau 2006), challenge media representations (Kong 2005; Leung 2008), and many more (see also Samshasha 1997; Chou 2000; Ho and Tsang 2000b). But what is missing from this oversimplified history and the studies of homosexuality is the history of the early generations (born before the 1950s) and their present lives. We know very little about the past of gay elders, from their problems of identity formation, coming out issues, to their struggle in creating a social and sexual space for community networking during the pre-decriminalization of homosexuality era. We also know nothing about their present lives, any problems that they might encounter in their private and social lives, both in the straight and the gay worlds. This project aims to fill this gap by documenting and examining the lives of gay elders (born before the 1950s) in Hong Kong using an oral history approach. This project has two specific objectives: (1) It seeks to understand how gay elders lived in the early days (1920s -1980s): how they realized their gayness; how they hung out, where to go for social and sexual liaison; how they related to the underground gay subculture or “community"; how they formed intimate relationships or family; how they managed their double life in marriage (for those who got married), and how they managed their closeted life at work, etc. (2) It then seeks to understand the present lives of gay elders who are now in their 60s or beyond (the 1990s-): How they handle their aging process and possible internalized homophobia; how they deal with their family, e.g., parents, siblings, wives, children, and grandchildren (if any); how they cope with social isolation and ageism from the gay and lesbian community; and how they survive under the limited access to gay-friendly health care and other social services. Through the oral history of Hong Kong gay elders, this project aims to grasp the complex intersections of individual biography, interpersonal processes and socio-historical transformations of Hong Kong history with two purposes: (1) to unfold how these individuals lived as a gay person in a heterosexist and homophobic environment in the eras (the 1920s – the 1980s)when they might encounter extreme prejudice, personal boycott, family disapproval, and social discrimination; and (2) to show how they live as an old and gay person (the 1990s-) in both the straight and gay worlds where heterosexism, homophobia, and ageism are apparently evident.

Project Title:	The Challenges and Negotiation of Urban Citizenship among Rural-to-urban Migrant Male Sex Workers in China
Investigator(s):	Kong TSK
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	General Research Fund (GRF)
Start Date:	01/2010

Abstract:

1) To understand the ways a neglected group of migrants, money boys, experience discrimination due to their three interlocked identities of rural migrants, sex workers, and MSM. 2) To examine the ways money boys cope with discrimination, particularly their strategies with respect to stigmas due to their rural origin as “low quality”, the nature of sex work as “immoral”, “dirty”, or “diseased”, and same-sex sexual activities as “immoral”, “perverted”, or “sick”, and the interactions among these stigmas. 3) To compare and contrast their experiences of discrimination and coping strategies in two specific locales, Beijing and Shenzhen, which have different political ideologies, economic autonomies and social and cultural variations. 4) To link the studies of money boys to other studies of marginal individuals in the city which in turn enhance our understanding of “a hierarchy of citizenship” along the lines of class, work, gender, sexuality, origin of birth, etc. 5) To balance the present intersection between migration and sexuality studies, which either ignore prostitution as a form of work migrants may engage in, or focus principally on female migrants who become sex workers in a public health paradigm.

Project Title:	Reinstating Transgression: Emerging political economies of queer space Outcast Bodies that Travel: Transnational Migrant Citizenship of Money Boys in China
Investigator(s):	Kong TSK
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	04/2010
Completion Date:	04/2010

Abstract:

N/A

List of Research Outputs

Kong T.S.K., "Outcast Bodies That Travel: Transnational Migrant Citizenship of Money Boys in China", Reinstating Transgression: Emerging Political Economies of Queer Space, 17-18 April 2010, American University, Washington D.C., USA. . 2010.

Kong T.S.K., "Outcast Bodies: Money, Sex and Desire of Male Sex Workers in Mainland China", In: Yau Ching, As Normal As Possible: Negotiating Sexualities in China and Hong Kong. Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press (Queer Asia Series), 2010.

Kong T.S.K., "Sex and Work in a Queer Time and Place: Identity Politics of Citizenship of Male Sex Workers in China", ISA - ABRI Joint International Meeting: Diversity and Inequality in World Politics, 22-24 July 2009, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 2009.

Kong T.S.K., "Transient Queer Labour: The Challenges and Negotiation of Urban Citizenship among Rural-to-urban Migrant Male Sex Workers in China”, Crossroads 2010, 17-21 June, Lingnan University, Hong Kong. 2010.

Researcher : Kuah KE

Project Title:	State, society and religious philanthropy in the Chinese diaspora: a comparison of buddhist philanthropic culture in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan
Investigator(s):	Kuah-Pearce KE
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	General Research Fund (GRF)
Start Date:	01/2007
Completion Date:	12/2009

Abstract:

(1) The first is to describe and analyse the tripartite relationship among Buddhism, State and Society in the formation of a religious charity/ philanthropic culture in contemporary Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. (2) The second is to explore the dynamic relationships and influence of religious charity on the three societies through the study of the delivery of welfare, education and medical and other forms of social services. Through this the findings in study, I hope to establish a conceptual framework for the study of religion, politics and philanthropy in modern societies.

Project Title:	10th Biennial Conference of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia Emerging Cosmopolitanism: Conceptualising Chinese Migration and Diaspora in Global Space
Investigator(s):	Kuah-Pearce KE
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	06/2007

Abstract:

N/A

Project Title:	Transnationalizing charity and philanthropy in Mainland China: A case study of Medecins Sans Frontieres (A French NGO)
Investigator(s):	Kuah-Pearce KE
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	France/Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme - Travel Grants
Start Date:	01/2008
Completion Date:	12/2009

Abstract:

The primary objective of this research is to examine how foreign non governmental organisations (NGOs) contribute to the definition of a new and the emergence of a philanthropic culture in Mainland China.

Project Title:	Mother-Superiors and the Business of Globalising Compassion: Mother Teresa and Master Cheng Yen
Investigator(s):	Kuah-Pearce KE
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	05/2008

Abstract:

Two extraordinary women, two different faiths but one common goal – to spread love and compassion to the poorest of the poor. The primary objective is to ask a simple question: how do these two women achieve so much in their lifetime amidst all forms of obstacles placed in front of their path? This study is a comparative study of the ideological and religious thoughts and works of Mother Teresa and Master Cheng Yen in globalizing compassion that have reached all continents. To both these women, compassion transcends political, socio-ethnic and religious boundaries. With their extraordinary energies, commitments and dedication, Mother Teresa and Master Cheng Yen have helped established the Missionaries of Charity and the Tzu Chi Foundation that have brought aids and relief to the poor and needy. Through acts of charity, these two women religious leaders have propelled religious philanthropy to new heights. While millions have benefited from these two extraordinary women’s efforts, they are not spared judgments by many who disagreed with their approach to compassion. Thus, this study will also explore the tensions and dynamics within the two charity organizations and how each organization develops strategy to cope with dissenting views. Conceptually, this research will employ the Kantian philosophical framework of Cosmopolitanism, juxtaposing it with the Weberian and feminist frameworks to understand how the ideas of religious humanism, feminist willpower and religious rationalization have empowered Mother Teresa and Master Cheng Yen to stand up against the dominance of a predominantly male dominated religious order within Catholicism and Buddhism, resulting in their ability to transnationalize a local religious institution into a powerful international landmark with global influence. In arguing that these two mothers-superior have consciously rationalized their religious orientation from one of inner-worldly spiritual pursuit (that required them to be confined to a convent or ashram) to that of social engagement, these two nuns have restructured the monastic order into an engaged order that moved female monastic pursuit out of seclusion into this-worldly domain in the Weberian and feminist framwork. At the same time, by routinizing religious compassion into the everyday life of the members, both nuns have popularized and expand the boundary of compassion and establish a transnational religious philanthropic culture that transcends political, socio-ethnic and religious boundaries. This study enables us to understand the extent to which religion can be seen as a beacon for Kantian cosmopolitan ideal in a contemporary world that is fraught with imperfection.

Project Title:	Emerging Global Compassion: A case study of Medecins Sans Frontieres (A French NGO) in Mainland China
Investigator(s):	Kuah-Pearce KE
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Small Project Funding
Start Date:	01/2009

Abstract:

The primary objective of this project is to explore the roles of NGOs in the delivery of compassion on a global scale. Specifically, the research will explore a case study of Medecins Sans Frontieres in its delivery of welfare services in Mainland China. Medecins Sans Frontieres which started as a volunteer organisation which discharged much needed medical services in emergency situations to those in need of medical help in the developing world has now expanded into the global arena and has gained global recognition culminating in the organisation receiving the Nobel Prize of Peace. Its mission was to provide quick medical relief for all those in dire need of medical services. In China, MSF has played a significant role not only in providing emergency medical relief to victims of various natural disaster, the most recent of which is for the victims of the Sichuan earthquakes; but also established some forms of permanent services to the AIDS victims. Through such works, it not only treat the patients, but also bring to light the importance of understanding such diseases as well as negotiate a platform for them to continue living in the community.

Project Title:	Rising Dragons, Soaring Bananas International Conference 2009 Chinese Diaspora and the Transnationalisation of Buddhist Philanthropic Culture
Investigator(s):	Kuah-Pearce KE
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	07/2009

Abstract:

N/A

List of Research Outputs

Researcher : Kuah-Pearce KE

Project Title:	State, society and religious philanthropy in the Chinese diaspora: a comparison of buddhist philanthropic culture in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan
Investigator(s):	Kuah-Pearce KE
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	General Research Fund (GRF)
Start Date:	01/2007
Completion Date:	12/2009

Abstract:

Project Title:	10th Biennial Conference of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia Emerging Cosmopolitanism: Conceptualising Chinese Migration and Diaspora in Global Space
Investigator(s):	Kuah-Pearce KE
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	06/2007

Abstract:

N/A

Project Title:	Transnationalizing charity and philanthropy in Mainland China: A case study of Medecins Sans Frontieres (A French NGO)
Investigator(s):	Kuah-Pearce KE
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	France/Hong Kong Joint Research Scheme - Travel Grants
Start Date:	01/2008
Completion Date:	12/2009

Abstract:

Project Title:	Mother-Superiors and the Business of Globalising Compassion: Mother Teresa and Master Cheng Yen
Investigator(s):	Kuah-Pearce KE
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	05/2008

Abstract:

Project Title:	Emerging Global Compassion: A case study of Medecins Sans Frontieres (A French NGO) in Mainland China
Investigator(s):	Kuah-Pearce KE
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Small Project Funding
Start Date:	01/2009

Abstract:

Project Title:	Rising Dragons, Soaring Bananas International Conference 2009 Chinese Diaspora and the Transnationalisation of Buddhist Philanthropic Culture
Investigator(s):	Kuah-Pearce KE
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	07/2009

Abstract:

N/A

List of Research Outputs

Kuah-Pearce K.E., "Humanistic Buddhism and Its Global Philanthropic Reach, Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University. 2010.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., 1. Book Launch of our edited book "Social Movements in China and Hong Kong: The Expansion of Protest Space" of ICAS Publication Series ( during , , , The 6th International Convention of Asian Scholars in Daejeon, Korea.. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press), 2009.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., 1. State, Society and Religious Engineering: Towards A Reformist Buddhism, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp. xiv + 337 pp (including diagram). (November 2009). [second edition]. Singapore, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2009, pp. xiv + 337 pp.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., 3. “Forward” , Kinmen, Taiwan: Kinmen County Cultural Office (March 2010)[Chinese] , 序, In: Chiang Po-wei (江伯煒) (author), Kinmen People and Jinmen Clan Association in Singapore . (新洲浯民：新加坡金门人的总乡会馆), 台湾金门, 金门县文化局, 2010.

Kuah-Pearce K.E. and Guiheux G., 4. “Framing Social Movements in Contemporary China and Hong Kong” , In: Kuah-Pearce Khun Eng and Gilles Guiheux, Social Movements in China: Negotiating Protest Spaces. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2009, 9 - 24.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., Anti-Globalisation Movement as Protest Space in Hong Kong Society, Social Movements in China: Negotiating Protest Spaces. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2009.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., Coordinate Research Fellowship, Harvard-Yenching Institute, Harvard University. 2009.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., Doing Compassion: The Reach of Humanistic Buddhism into China, Harvard-Yenching Institute and Asia Center, Harvard University. 2010.

Kuah-Pearce K.E. and Guiheux G., Framing Social Movements in China, Social Movements in China: Negotiating Protest Spaces. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2009.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., Humanistic Buddhism and the Reach of Democratic Ideals in Asia, The 2010 Association for Asian Studies Southeast Conference . 2010.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., Invited ICAS 8 Book Prize Comittee Member (Reader), International Convention of Asian Scholars. 2009.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., Invited Speaker at the launch of 8 books in the ICAS Publication Series, 6th International Convention of Asian Scholars, 6 – 9 August 2009, Daejeon, Korea. Amsterdam University Press, 2009.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., Keynote Speaker, “Globalising Buddhism in Asia: Towards Neo-Enlightenment”, Symposium on Buddhism in Asia, organised by University Scholars Programme, National University of Singapore. 2009.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., Keynote Speaker, Symposium on Buddhism in Asia, orgnised by University Scholars Programme, National University of Singapore, 24 July 2009.

Kuah-Pearce K.E. and Guiheux G., Social Movements in China: Negotiating Protest Spaces. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2009.

Kuah-Pearce K.E. and Guiheux G., Social Movements in China: The Expansion of Protest Spaces, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press (July 2009), (co-editor: Gilles Guiheux) [Equal contribution]., In: Kuah-Pearce Khun Eng and Gilles Guiheux, Social Movements in China: The Expansion of Protest Spaces, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press (July 2009), (co-editor: Gilles Guiheux) [Equal contribution].. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2009, 313.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., State, Society and Religious Engineering: Towards A Reformist Buddhism, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, pp. xiv + 337 pp (including diagram). (November 2009). [second edition], Singapore, Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies,, 2009, xiv + 337 pp.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., Transnational Politics And Poetics In The Revival Of Chinese Death Rituals , Conference Theme: "Politics and Poetics of Asian Intangible Cultural Heritage" organised by Centre for Anthropological Research, HKU . 2009.

Kuah-Pearce K.E. and Guiheux G., Transnationalizing charity and philanthropy in Mainland China: A case study of Medecins Sans Frontieres (A French NGO) , International conference on volunteering and civic engagement in Chinese cities. 2010.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., “Anti-Globalisation Movement as Protest Space in Hong Kong Society” , In: Kuah-Pearce Khun Eng and Gilles Guiheux, Social Movements in China: Negotiating Protest Spaces. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2009, 91 - 116.

Kuah-Pearce K.E., “Framing Social Movements in China” , , In: Khun Eng Kuah-Pearce and Gilles Guiheux, Social Movements in China: The Expansion of Protest Spaces. Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2009, pp. 9 - 24.

Researcher : Laidler KA

Project Title:	Reducing Hong Kong's serious youth crime through community intervention: an evaluation of operation breakthrough
Investigator(s):	Laidler KA
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Small Project Funding
Start Date:	11/2003

Abstract:

To evaluate the impact of a community intervention program on serious young offenders in the NTN over a one-year period. The study will assess: (1) the patterns of arrest and re-arrest piror and subsequent to the intervention, and, (2) the attitudinal changes of serious offenders prior and subsequent to the intervention.

Project Title:	The Meaning of Heroin Use in the Age of Psychoactive Drugs: Generational Perspectives
Investigator(s):	Laidler KA
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	General Research Fund (GRF)
Start Date:	12/2008

Abstract:

1) The overall aim of this study is to understand the personal meaning and cultural world of heroin use among different generations of users in the context of Hong Kong’s changing drug market. 2) To compare the demographic, family, social and criminal history characteristics of younger (18-23 years of age) and older (24 years of age and above)heroin users. 3) To compare the heroin careers of younger and older heroin users in relation to experimentation, initiation, continuation and problems with heroin use and the set and setting of heroin use. 4) To compare the meanings and shifts in identity among younger and older heroin users in the context of changes in the drug market.

List of Research Outputs

Fazio A., Laidler K.A., Moloney M. and Hunt G., Gender, Sexuality and Ethnicity as Factors of Club Drug Use Among Asian Americans., Journal of Drug Issues. 2010, 40 (2): 405-432.

Laidler K.A., 2009 Paediatric Update No.3 - Screening for Illicit Drug Use in Hong Kong School Children: Psychotropic Drug Use among Youth, Hong Kong College of Paediatricians. 2009.

Laidler K.A., Lau G.L. and Li N.L., Differentiated Normalization?: Heroin and Psychotropic Drug Use in Hong Kong, Inauguration Conference of Asian Criminological Society. University of Macau.. 2009.

Laidler K.A. and Lau G.L., From Heroin to Psychotropics: Reflections on Human Rights in Hong Kong's Drug Scene, Stockholm Criminology Symposium. 2010.

Laidler K.A., Hong Kong's Shift from Heroin to Psychotropic Drug Use: Patterns, Problems and Policies , New Medico-Legal Society. Hong Kong. 2009.

Laidler K.A., Hunt G. and Moloney M., Tuned Out or Tuned In: The Drugs and Dance Scene in Global Perspective, Society for the Study of Social Problems. 2009.

Laidler K.A., Youth Drugs and Delinquency in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Police: Junior Command Course. 2010.

Lau G.L. and Laidler K.A., Crossing the Border: New Possibilities and Spiraling Risks for Mainland Chinese Sex Workers in Hong Kong. World Society of Victimology, 13th International Symposium on Victimology. Mito Japan, 2009.

Li N.L. and Laidler K.A., Gang Girls in Hong Kong, In: Moestue, H., 2010 Small Arms Survey Yearbook on Gangs. Geneva, Small Arms Survey, 2010, forthcoming.

Yip P.S.F., Cheung K.S.L., Tsang S.K.M., Wong P.W.C., Tse S.S.K., Wong O.L., Laidler K.A. and Wong L., Drug Abuse Among Youths and Family Relationship , 青年濫藥與家庭關係的研究, Central Policy Unit. 2010.

Researcher : Lau GL

List of Research Outputs

Laidler K.A., Lau G.L. and Li N.L., Differentiated Normalization?: Heroin and Psychotropic Drug Use in Hong Kong, Inauguration Conference of Asian Criminological Society. University of Macau.. 2009.

Laidler K.A. and Lau G.L., From Heroin to Psychotropics: Reflections on Human Rights in Hong Kong's Drug Scene, Stockholm Criminology Symposium. 2010.

Lau G.L. and Laidler K.A., Crossing the Border: New Possibilities and Spiraling Risks for Mainland Chinese Sex Workers in Hong Kong. World Society of Victimology, 13th International Symposium on Victimology. Mito Japan, 2009.

Researcher : Lee MSY

List of Research Outputs

Lee M.S.Y., Gender Violence in Bangladesh, Pakistan Journal of Criminology. 2010, 2: viii-xi.

Lee M.S.Y., Gender and Community Policing, International Conference on Gender, International Human Rights Law and Community Based Policing, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Organised by International Committee of the Red Cross and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit. 2010.

Lee M.S.Y., Human Trafficking and Victimology, British Society of Criminology Annual Conference 2009, University of Glamorgan, Cardiff, UK. 2009.

Researcher : Li NL

List of Research Outputs

Laidler K.A., Lau G.L. and Li N.L., Differentiated Normalization?: Heroin and Psychotropic Drug Use in Hong Kong, Inauguration Conference of Asian Criminological Society. University of Macau.. 2009.

Li N.L. and Laidler K.A., Gang Girls in Hong Kong, In: Moestue, H., 2010 Small Arms Survey Yearbook on Gangs. Geneva, Small Arms Survey, 2010, forthcoming.

Researcher : Lui TL

List of Research Outputs

Lui T.L., Governing a global city in the context of political transition, In: K.H. Mok and Y.W. Ku, Social Cohesion in Greater China. Singapore, World Scientific, 2010, 149-185.

Lui T.L., Hong Kong's Changing Opportunity Structures: Political Concerns and Sociological Observations , Social Transformations in Chinese Societies. Leiden, Brill, 2009, 5: 141-163.

Lui T.L. and Smart A., Learning from Civil Unrest: State/Society Relations in Hong Kong Before and After the 1967 Disturbances, In: R. Bickers and R. Yep, May Days in Hong Kong: Riot and Emergency in 1967. Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press, 2009, 145-159.

Lui T.L., Moving the Goal Post: Middle Class Returnees Encountering Post-1997 Hong Kong and a Growing Chinese Economy, Home Sweet Home: Return Migration in Hong Kong and Its Implications/University of Toronto . 2010.

Lui T.L. and Yep R., Revisiting the Golden Era of MacLehose and the Dynamics of Social Reforms, Conference on "Centre and Metropolis: Autonomy of Hong Kong in Historical and Comparative Perspectives", City University of Hong kong. 2010.

Lui T.L., Social Transformations in Chinese Societies. 2010.

Lui T.L., The Dialectics of Political Distrust: Hong Kong After 1997 , 2009 Annual Meeting of Korean Association for Public Admin. & Asian Public Admin Forum, University of Incheon. 2009.

Lui T.L. and Liu S., The moral order of a middle class community in Beijing, WUN Contemporary China Center Virtual Seminar Series. 2009.

Lui T.L., What We Would Not Know From Social Mobility Studies , Researchers Forum, Central Policy unit, HKSAR Government. 2009.

Lui T.L., 那又長又彎曲的路: 龍剛電影的問題意識 (The long and winding road: the problematique of Lung Kong's films), In: 盛安琪, 劉嶔, 香港影人口述歷史叢書: 龍剛 (Oral History Series: Director Lung Kong), 香港, 香港電影資料館 (HK Film Archive), 2010, 170-177.

Lui T.L., 凝聚力量: 香港非政府機構發展軌跡 (Lending a Hand: Welfare NGOs in Hong Kong), 香港, 三聯書店 (Joint Publications), 2010, 287.

Lui T.L., 全球城市及其轉變中的社會結構：香港的中產階級作為案例 (Global city and its changing social structure: the case of Hong Kong), "城市社會結構的變動與重構"國際會議/中國上海華東師範大學 (Shanghai East China Normal University), 2009.

Lui T.L. and Liu S., 中產小區：階級構成與道德秩序的建立 (A middle class community: class formation and its moral order), "社會變遷與社會結構轉型"國際研討會, 南京師範大學 (Nanjing Normal University), 2009.

Lui T.L. and Chiu S., 成為中國的全球城市：香港(與上海)超越全球/地方的雙重地位 (Becoming a Chinese Global City: Hong Kong (and Shanghai) beyond the global-local duality), 上海崛起 (Shanghai Rising), 上海, 上海人民出版社 (Shanghai People's Press), 2009, 119-146.

Lui T.L., 創意、創意產業、創意城市：概念的反思 (Creativity, creative industries and creative cities), "澳門文化創意產業發展"學術研討會/澳門大學 (University of Macau), 2010.

Researcher : Martin JT

Project Title:	The London School of Economics and Political Science Conference on Justice in International Perspective Community, Policing and Justice in Modern Taiwan
Investigator(s):	Martin JT
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	12/2009
Completion Date:	12/2009

Abstract:

N/A

Project Title:	Cultures of Policing: A Comparison of Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Taipei
Investigator(s):	Martin JT
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	06/2010

Abstract:

This research examines the culture of policing, analyzing it as evidence of the historical processes of state formation. The proposal described here is a pilot study, collecting interview and focus group data as a way of exploring contrasts and convergences in the modes of policing presently extant in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Taipei. This project is designed to produce two practical outcomes: (1) establish the basis for a successful RGC proposal of larger scale through building a functional research network, identifying crucial substantive foci, and demonstrating methodological proof-of-concept; and (2) writing two article manuscripts for publication in anthropological or sociological journals. The Culture of Policing. Policing is one of the most intimate expressions of the relationship between a modern state and its subjects. This intimacy generates an intensity of concern. One need only turn on the television or internet, open a newspaper, or talk to a member of the general public to witness the profound significance that citizens find in their police. Every detail of the practical modalities through which official guardians of public welfare insert themselves into the field of social control - from the legality of their bureaucratic procedures to the propriety of their human connections, and from the technical efficacy of their tactical maneuvers to the strategic sophistication of their policy objectives - is saturated with meanings that resonate between immediate practical exigencies and founding ideals of the political community. The intensity of attention paid by the policed to these meanings is, perhaps, only surpassed by the degree of concern invested in them by those carrying the responsibility of policing, i.e. political representatives, policy architects, professional bureaucrats, street patrolmen, etc. Together, this overall field of meanings invested in the police power of the state constitutes the “culture of policing.” I take this culture as the object of my research. The purpose of the proposed project is to describe, analyze and compare the cultures of policing that presently exist in three major cities of Southeastern China. The theoretical standpoint of this study is that cultural concern with the substance of policing is not merely reflective; it is formative. By this, I mean that the culture of policing constitutes a key arena in which the forces of public sentiment and reflective debate mobilize in ways that exert, at least potentially, structural influences on the practical exercise of state power. And so, I argue, we should approach interpretations of the police-policed relationship as an arena in which the nature and role of “legitimate force” in reproducing a historically received social order is actually at stake. By examining the cultures of policing manifest in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Taipei, the proposed project contributes a unique comparative perspective to our understanding of the processes of modern state formation ongoing in the cities of Southeastern China. The Methodological Challenge of Research on a Disaggregate Cultural Nexus. The nexus of relationships substantiating the sociological reality of police work is defined by conflict, contradiction, coercion and contestation. The interpretive (i.e. “cultural”) dimensions of this field of struggle are an intrinsic and constitutive element of the socio-cultural work being done there. Indeed, the hegemonic powers of cultural domination fight their most consequential battles over the interpretation of legitimate force. This makes police culture a uniquely fractious and “disaggregate” object of analysis. A sophisticated interdisciplinary methodology is required to maintain an effectively objective/critical perspective on the ideological mystifications and sociological complications emergent at the leading edges of state power. This methodology must use theoretical tools that can account for the intersection of semiotic, institutional and material forces in a rigorous, empirical and scientific manner. My research (as described in Section VII) rises to this challenge by combining the sociological paradigm of the contemporary Law & Society Movement, techniques of semiotic analysis drawn from the Chicago School of interpretive anthropology, and the critical awareness of police-specific issues developing in the New Police Studies. These methods are directed to exploring three thematic foci, as follows: A. Sociologically speaking, where is “the action” of policing concentrated within these three cities? What kinds of institutional formations underlie the disaggregate field of police culture? Where are the crucial stress-points in the overall social “order”? I address these issues through a survey of the organization of policing in each city and historical consideration the issues driving the formulation of these contemporary policing regimes. This is supplemented by interview and archival research asking: What are the focal points of public concern about police? What kinds of incidents supply pretexts for consequential debates about policing? What kinds of voices are audible in these debates? How, in other words, is the culture of policing articulated with the larger municipal political economy? B. Culturally speaking, what are the effective foundations of legitimate force in these three cities? The sociological map resulting from the abovementioned work enables a sophisticated treatment of the contents of discourse as positioned inflections of a wider cultural field. I study this through interview and focus group protocols aimed at answering the following questions: What sorts of values supply the basis for areas of general consensus about legitimate uses of force? What values serve as standpoints for explicit critique of, or resistance to, police force? How are spaces of implicit or hidden critique of police force organized; what kinds of values substantiate these intimate formations as viable sites of collective resistance to state power? C. Historically speaking, what are the sources of and precedents for the organization of policing observed in these three cities? The final layer of analysis for this project is historical, describing connections between the social and cultural patterns identified above and the separate genealogies of modern policing in each city. What is the legacy of Hong Kong’s British colonial experience for its contemporary police? How is this different from Taipei’s Japanese colonial experience, or Guangzhou’s more complex semi-colonial experience? And, beneath these alternative pathways to modernity, how are elements of common cultural heritage expressed in the contemporary administrative practices of these three cities?

List of Research Outputs

Martin J.T., Community, Policing & Justice in Taiwan, Conference on Justice in Taiwan in Comparative Perspective. 2009.

Martin J.T., Genres of Representation in Taiwanese Policing, Whither Taiwanization. 2010.

Martin J.T., Institutionalizing Sentimental Control: Community Policing and Neighbourhood Justice in Taiwan, Hong Kong Sociological Association. 2009.

Martin J.T., The Colonial Architecture of Sentimental Control in Taiwanese Policing, East Asian Law & Society Conference. 2010.

Martin J.T., The Colonial Dimensions of Taiwanese Policing, Policing and the Policed. 2010.

Martin J.T., The Culture of Policing in Democratic Taiwan, Chinese University of Hong Kong. 2010.

Researcher : Moore M

Project Title:	Chinese entrepreneurship: comparative analysis
Investigator(s):	Moore M
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Hang Seng Bank Golden Jubilee Education Fund for Research
Start Date:	03/2004

Abstract:

To carry out comparative analysis on Chinese entrepreneurship.

Researcher : Ng CH

Project Title:	Development of multi-media project -based socio-cultural education
Investigator(s):	Ng CH, Chan SCL
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Teaching Development Grants
Start Date:	09/1997

Abstract:

To promote project-based, inter-departmental and inter-institutional learning and teaching activities; to create a task force unit to plan, organize and implement socio-cultural teaching and learning activities that make creative use of audio-visual media.

Project Title:	Reading Hong Kong Popular Culture
Investigator(s):	Ng CH
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Small Project Funding
Start Date:	01/2009
Completion Date:	10/2009

Abstract:

The objective is to identify and collate a selection of articles in Chinese analyzing Hong Kong popular culture, published since year 2000. From a somewhat marginal position in academic study, popular culture has become an important subject in the social sciences in Hong Kong. The subject is centrally concerned with the phenomena of modern media and consumption practices. They cover analysis of different media and genres of modern communication, from the printed press to comic books, popular music, television, film and the Internet. They also raise intriguing issues about consumption, lifestyles, gender identity and youth subculture. These issues are important in their own right a modern society like Hong Kong. They are the cultural manifestations as well as shaping agents of society. Furthermore, media and consumption practices are uniquely significant in Hong Kong in that for a long period in post-war Hong Kong, popular media and consumption practices have helped usurped the place of the state and intellectuals in shaping the collective identity of Hong Kong people. They continue to be one major site when the politics of identity of the new millennium plays out. Scholars and students in the social sciences and humanities have recognized this double importance of popular culture in Hong Kong, and its relevance for other Asian societies which similarly underwent a rapid modernization process from a colonial background. Research and teaching activities on the subject have thrived tremendously in the past ten years. There is a great demand for reference materials, especially in Chinese, which offer a uniquely intimate look at the meanings and nuances of the related cultural issues. We shall identity and collate the best articles in the subject to go into a book collection, complete with comprehensive guides to reading the articles. It will be an indispensable source book for teaching and research in the subject. The principal investigator had successfully applied for a Small Project Fund from the University in 1999 on a related project. The result went into the publication of a source book entitled READING HONG KONG POPULAR CULTURE 1970-2000 (Oxford University Press, Hong Kong, 2002). The current project builds on the previous one and will collate from the rapidly burgeoning pool of articles up to year 2009.

List of Research Outputs

Ng C.H., Born in 1974 - The life and times of Hong Kong popular culture, In: Sinn YW, Hong Kong Experience: Cultural inheritance and System Renewal. Hong Kong, Commercial Press, 2009, 141-163.

Researcher : Palmer DA

Project Title:	An anthropological study of volunteering in Chinese urban centres (preliminary phase)
Investigator(s):	Palmer DA
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	06/2009
Completion Date:	08/2010

Abstract:

The purpose of the study is to answer the following question: how do cultural norms motivate and structure the trajectories of volunteers in the contemporary Chinese world? Issues and hypotheses: 1. As a non-alienated and non-commodified form of labour, volunteering is a type of “gifting” which, occuring by definition outside the labour market, is shaped by other types of normative discourse concerning what volunteering is, the types of social roles and relationships constituted through volunteering, the types of goods, services and benefits which circulate through volunteering, and the ideal type of the volunteer. These norms are cultural, i.e. they are derived from moral discourses and values prevalent in the popular culture, and traditional and religious ideals. The norms and behaviour associated with volunteering can be called a “volunteering culture”, which is part of the broader culture within a given society, and can be taken as an object of anthropological study. 2. It follows from the above that, in polities with different religious, political and cultural histories, the volunteering culture will be different – affecting the types of volunteer behaviour, individual and collective expectations based on volunteering, and the desired outcomes of volunteering. We can thus assume that the culture of volunteering in the Chinese world differs from that in Western societies – and, within the Chinese world, that it differs in entities with divergent political histories such as mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. 3. There is a tension between traditional Chinese norms of reciprocity in relationship building (guanxi), in which “free” labour is limited to informal services within the sphere of kin and close relations, and the more formalized services to others without such pre-existing ties and reciprocal obligations, which are expected in modern models of volunteering. Chinese cultural resources for non-particularistic volunteering do exist, however. In the Chinese world, there are four major sources of values and norms which are likely to shape contemporary volunteer culture: (1) traditional religious culture and philanthropy and norms of merit-making and moral retribution; (2) Christian and reformed Buddhist values of universal love and compassion; (3) nostalgic ideals of revolutionary “service to the people”; (4) modern cosmopolitan norms of social engagement for progressive causes such as environmentalism. In the case of type (2); Christian influence is likely to be strongest in Hong Kong, with its strong Christian institutional presence, while reformed Buddhist influence is likely to be strongest in Taiwan, with the impact of the religious model of volunteering promoted by this-worldly Buddhist groups such as the Tzu Chi Compassionate Merit Society. Type (3) has an influence in mainland China. 4. While Hong Kong has a well-established and institutionalized volunteer culture, volunteering as a recognized type of activity has emerged only very recently in mainland China. The emergence of volunteer culture there thus likely involves some creative juxtapositions, combinations and distinctions between particularistic and universalistic norms coming from several sources. In cases of strong tension, where strong personal investment in volunteering leads to lessened commitment to, or even violation of particularistic norms of reciprocal obligation, we should expect a range of strategies to resolve the tension, ranging from attempts to reformulate and reconcile the conflicting expectations, to more radical solutions of rejection of traditional particularistic norms. Furthermore, in mainland China, since volunteering is not a widely recognized or institutionalized form of social behaviour, and even involves a certain degree of political risk, we can also expect to find a range of legitimizing strategies, flexibly appealing to different types of norms. 5. The values and norms which motivate and orient volunteers as individuals may or may not be in harmony with the values of the groups within which they offer their services. We may expect that such harmony or tension may affect the collective behaviour of groups, their effectiveness in attaining their objectives, and their orientation within civil society. The project will explore these issues through a comparative study of volunteer culture in Hong Kong and two cities in Mainland China. The focus will be on volunteers involved in the fields of environmental action, education, and religion/traditional culture. These three fields are chosen because they each have a strong value orientation and normative dimension. The choice of both secular and religious fields will make it possible to compare norms of volunteering drawing on traditional, modern and cosmopolitan sources of inspiration.

Project Title:	6th International Conference on Daoist Studies Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality
Investigator(s):	Palmer DA
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	06/2010
Completion Date:	06/2010

Abstract:

N/A

List of Research Outputs

Palmer D.A., Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality, International Conference on Daoist Studies, Loyola Marymount University. 2010.

Palmer D.A., Shu M.M. and Christian A., Participatory Action Research with Student Volunteer Groups involved in Post-Earthquake Community Service in Chengdu, Sichuan: Preliminary Reflections, International Workshop on Volunteering and Civic Engagement in Chinese Cities, Hong Kong University. 2010.

Palmer D.A., Religious Economy or Religious Ecology? Preliminary reflections based on field research in China, Conference on “Beyond the Market: Exploring Religious Fields in Modern China”, University of Wales at Lampeter. 2009.

Palmer D.A. and Billioud S., Religious Reconfigurations in the Peoples' Republic of China (Special Journal Issue), In: David A. Palmer and Sébastien Billioud, China Perspectives. 2009, 2009/4.

Palmer D.A., Review of Sigrid Schmalzer, The Peoples’ Peking Man: Popular Science and Human Identity in Twentieth-Century China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. , American Journal of Sociology. 2010, v. 116, no. 5: 1621-1623.

Palmer D.A., Review of Susan Brownell, Beijing’s Games: What the Olympics Mean to China. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. , American Anthropologist. 2009, v.111, no. 4: 526-527.

Palmer D.A., The Emergence of a Culture of Volunteerism in Contemporary China: A Preliminary Discussion of Significance and Conceptual Issues, Conference on Social Suffering and the Divided Moral Experience in China, Harvard University. 2010.

Researcher : Sim ASC

Project Title:	Invisible Communities: Undocumented Migrants in Hong Kong
Investigator(s):	Sim ASC
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	04/2009
Completion Date:	09/2010

Abstract:

I. Introduction: Sassen (2000) describes the global networks of interdependence that have emerged as ‘the counter-geographies of globalisation’ where people’s movements across borders rely on and reflect the relations of trade and politics between states. While these flows are characterized by migration from less developed countries to affluent countries, the search for livelihoods extend beyond economics. Migration spawns political tensions and while Asian migrants are becoming increasingly visible on the global landscape, (Skeldon, 2000:369) migration within Asia is also on the rise. (Curley and Wong, 2008). Asia is home to 1.6 billion people or 28 per cent of the world’s population and it is likely, according to Akaha (2004) to witness more migration into the region with increases in cross-border threats, such as the irregular/undocumented migration, spread of diseases, human/drugs trafficking and money laundering. Some flows are regulated while others are semi-licit or illicit, with the potential for producing undocumented communities at points of destination. (Sim, 2008). The term ‘undocumented’ includes those who have crossed borders legally but have become ‘undocumented’ through overstaying their visas, and those who have crossed borders without the use of proper documentation or with forged passports. II. Justification: Current academic approaches to undocumented migration focus on issues of governance, international relations, human rights of migrants and standards generated by international organizations, for example, various agencies of the United Nations. Research into different groups have been conducted in Hong Kong (See, Sim, 2008; Ahsan, 2005; Emerton, 2001, Laidler et al., 2007 and Shehu, 2005) but there has, however, been no systematic mapping of the political and cultural economies of undocumented communities in Hong Kong, in terms of how and why these develop and the personal motivations that contribute to their creation. Furthermore, little research exists for understanding the social capital that undocumented communities draw on and if their experience reveals gaps with standards enshrined in international agreements on migrants and their human rights. III. Previous research: Earlier research conducted by the Principal Investigator on Indonesian migrant workers showed that in neighbouring East Asian countries like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, undocumented communities are on the rise. (Sim, 2008). For example, • In Japan, one of every four Indonesian migrant women was undocumented in 2002; • In South Korea, there were nearly two undocumented Indonesian overstayers for each documented migrant in 2002; • In Taiwan, overstaying Indonesian migrants had grown by nearly 800 per cent in less than a decade from 1993. . In Hong Kong, Indonesian women migrants enter ‘legally’ despite falsifications to their passports by recruitment agencies to their ages, addresses, martial status, names, etc. In another study (Sim and Wee, in press) Indonesian women migrant workers from Hong Kong who were unable to stay due to immigration restrictions when they lose their jobs, leave for and form communities of undocumented migrants in neighboring Macau. The experiences of Indonesian migrants reflect some of the complexities encountered by migrant groups, and are not peculiar to Indonesian migrants. IV. Immigration data: In Hong Kong, 17,681 prosecutions were instituted against overstayers and 26,045 repatriation and deportation orders were issued in 1998. While the figures for breaching conditions of stay in Hong Kong in 2003 revealed that there was a sharp decline to 2,757, the same data was unable to show the breakdown by nationality, visa type, etc. indicating gaps in immigration data available for analysis; especially for emergent groups, such as those coming from South Asia, Africa, Latin America and the former states of the Russian Far East. Furthermore, existing immigration data could not show if invisible communities in Hong Kong are on the rise or decline if the reduction in prosecutions from 1998 to 2003 is not matched against migrant stocks or arrival-departure cards. The same can be said about publicly available prison records, which are not according to the requisite categories for analysis. Communications with both Hong Kong’s Departments of Statistics and Immigration Department also reveal that a breakdown of these numbers by nationality and occupation are not available. IV. Objectives: This proposed research will unpack the political and cultural economy of undocumented migrant communities in Hong Kong and examine the discourses, processes, practices and policies that bring these communities into existence. Respondents will be drawn from two major Asian sources for out-migration, China and India, and from other significant migrant groups in Hong Kong, that is, from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. This research builds on and augments earlier research conducted by the Prinicipal Investigator in: • 2004-5 on Indonesian overstayers in Hong Kong, funded by the Ford Foundation; • 2006-2007 on Indonesian overstayers in Macau; • An Application for Allocation from the General Research Fund (GRF) for 2009/2010, titled, Labour Migration and the Emergence of Invisible Communities: A Comparative Study of Undocumented Migrants in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, which aims to uncover the regional linkages, causes and consequences of drawing from similar migrant labour pools in the development of globalised, interdependent, urban clusters. V. Summary: The objectives of this study are to: • Map emergent communities of undocumented migrants in Hong Kong. • Examine the structural mechanisms that give rise to this phenomenon, for example, existing laws, policies and practices, actors, institutions and networks. • Explore state responses, for example, in operational terms of control and penal measures with preventive measure. • Uncover the gaps in immigration data in Hong Kong compared to existing international standards in use elsewhere. • Examine the reasons or motivations that has led migrants to become undocumented migrants. • Investigate the nature of social capital that undocumented migrants rely on for support and livelihood in Hong Kong. • Understand the experiences of undocumented migrants and their aspirations/options for the future—to stay on with undocumented status, to become naturalised, to be sent to a third destination or to be sent back to the country of origin. • Identify the deviations between civil and political rights of undocumented populations in practice, with those established in international conventions. (See Annex I for Bibliography)

Project Title:	8th Crossroads in Cultural Studies Conference Uncertain Routes, Uncertain Futures: Undocumented communities in Hong Kong
Investigator(s):	Sim ASC
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	06/2010
Completion Date:	06/2010

Abstract:

N/A

List of Research Outputs

Sim A.S.C., “Religion as Impetus: Volunteering among Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong” , International Workshop on Volunteering and Civic Engagement in Chinese Cities’, 10-11 June, 2010, The University of Hong Kong.. 2010.

Sim A.S.C., A Good Muslim Must Protest: Indonesian Migrant Workers organising around religion in Hong Kong, 16th World Congress of The International Union of Anthropological & Ethnological Sciences . China, , 2009.

Sim A.S.C., Foreign Domestic Helpers in Hong Kong: A Historical Perspective, In: Hong Kong Sociological Association, Public lecture for the Hong Kong Sociological Association, 9 January 2010, Joint Publishing, Hong Kong. Hong Kong, 2010.

Sim A.S.C., Keynote Address: Asia Pacific Conference of Migrant Service Providers on Undocumented Migrants and the Current Global Economic Crisis, In: Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, Asia Pacific Conference of Migrant Service Providers on Undocumented Migrants and the Current Global Economic Crisis, 16-17 June, 2010; Seoul, South Korea.. Seoul, Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, 2010.

Sim A.S.C., “A Good Place to Protest: Migrant Worker Activism in Hong Kong” , 11th Annual Conference, Hong Kong Sociological Association, 5 December 2009.. 2009.

Sim A.S.C., “The Headscarf Debate: Identity and Dress in Islam” , For the course YSOC0006 "Asian Heritages: Values and Symbols", Department of Sociology, 11 November 2009.. 2009.

Sim A.S.C., “Transitional Sexuality among Women Migrant Workers: Indonesians in Hong Kong” , In: Yau Ching, As Normal as Possible: Negotiating Sexuality in Hong Kong and China. . Hong Kong, Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong Press., 2010.

Sim A.S.C., “Uncertain Routes, Uncertain Futures: Undocumented Communities in Hong Kong” , Association for Cultural Studies—Crossroads Conference 2010, Hong Kong, 17-21 June, 2010, Lingnan University, Hong Kong.. 2010.

Researcher : Smith C

Project Title:	Bohemian Tokyo: A Study of Countercultural Youth Activism in Postindustrial Japan
Investigator(s):	Smith C
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	05/2010

Abstract:

The proposed project concerns recent trends in political activism and countercultural lifestyles among young people in urban Japan. In particular it focuses on the development of an “underground” network of people and places in Tokyo. It is an outgrowth of my current research on “freeters,” young part-time workers in urban service industries whose numbers have risen along with Japan’s prolonged economic crisis and postindustrialization over the past two decades (Smith, 2006, and forthcoming). As many of these freeters have been frozen out of the labor market, and an “ice age of unemployment” has set in (Genda, 2001, 2005), disaffection and alienation have spread through the ranks of the casual labor force, leading some to search for alternatives to mainstream society. During fieldwork in Tokyo last year, I became acquainted with a network of activists, most of whom are freeters, freelancers, or temp workers. Over the past five years this network has staged numerous public demonstrations called “sound demos” to raise public awareness of the poor labor market, call on government and industry to create jobs for young people, and to protest neoliberalism and globalization. They have also set up a number of countercultural bookstores, cafes, bars, websites, a ‘zine, event spaces, recycle shops, used clothing shops, and communal living spaces in central areas of the city, including Shinjuku, Yotsuya, Waseda, Shimokitazawa, Koenji. A strong DIY (do it yourself) ethos runs through the community in opposition to the values and practices of consumer society. Their counterculturalism also involves forming alliances and exchanges with anti-globalization and anarchist groups in Korea, Europe and North America. There is no name for this network or community (which has apparently been a strategic choice on the part of those at its core). For the sake of convenience, and because of the countercultural and artistic leanings of its members, I refer to this network as “Bohemian Tokyo.” It is the formation, conditions of possibility, and the prospects of Bohemian Tokyo that I propose to study. I see three promising issues for investigation at the outset. 1. The Tipping Point for Social Protest and Counterculturalist Movements. Bohemian Tokyo appears to be a response to a poor labor market for young people, which is perceived by many in the community as being directly related to globalization and neoliberalism. However, the youth labor market had actually been poor for more than a decade (since the early 1990s) before this network even formed. Why did it take so long? At what point do people decide to get involved with radical politics and attempt to overturn the status quo? In other words, who are the people who take part in public demonstrations and have come together to form an alternative to mainstream society? How bad do things have to get in a society before people will feel compelled to do something about it? This line of investigation aims at uncovering the connections between reasons for joining the network and the larger national and international milieu. How are the cultural and political economic processes of the time related to the personal problems of those who have sought out and created Bohemian Tokyo? 2. Contestation of Public Culture and Space in the Postindustrial and Global City Many of the activities of Bohemian Tokyo are about the assertion of an alternative way of socializing and using space to those dominated by consumer culture. This can be seen in the creation of a network of places in central areas of Tokyo, mentioned above, which can be seen as a form of resistance and contestation of public meanings and mainstream lifestyles (Highmore, 2002). In addition, members of the community have resisted and protested this consumerist domination through colorful artistic public demonstrations called “sound demos” which are meant to both parody consumer society spectacle and suggest an alternative DIY approach to it (Hayashi and McKnight, 2005). These sound demos use a combination of DJing, rave music, light shows, colorful costumes, folk music, and dancing to create spectacular effects. One example I witnessed related to the fight over Nike Inc.’s bid to turn a public park in Shibuya into “Nike Park,” which will result in Nike-themed amusements, kicking out homeless people who have set up camp there over the prolonged economic crisis, and charging everyone admission to what was once public space. This dimension of the proposed project builds on urban research about cultural politics surrounding official and commercial efforts to develop the “symbolic economy” in postindustrial cities (e.g., Zukin, 1998). 3. Bohemian Tokyo as Part of a Transnational Social Movement The formation of this community cannot be understood simply as a domestic development; it must be seen in terms of a transnational movement as well. The core members of the network are establishing linkages with activist networks in other countries, including Korea, Italy, Germany, and the US. They have participated in exchanges for May Day demonstrations, linked up for anti-globalization and anti-G8 protests in various countries, and have invited famous speakers and performers to come to Tokyo. Moreover, many of the core members are familiar with key works by authors whose writings inform worldwide anti-globalization movements (e.g., Bey, 2003; Graeber, 2004, 2007, 2009; Hardt and Negri, 2001, 2005). This begs the question of how transnational ideas mix with national culture and concerns. How “Japanese” is this movement? How “universal” is it? How easy is it to interpret and apply foreign ideas to local situations? How easy is it to transcend national cultural and political differences when forming alliances?

Researcher : Tang L

Project Title:	Artists’ Villages, Postsocialist Spaces, and Power in China
Investigator(s):	Tang L
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research
Start Date:	05/2010

Abstract:

This project is an ethnographic study of artists’ villages as transitional postsocialist spaces in urban China. It explores how artists assign cultural meanings to living and working in cities in China and the relationship between the production of art, the state, and processes of urbanization and globalization. Comparing the development and activities of artists’ villages in China’s largest urban arts centers—Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong—this research project traces regional differences in central and local state power, property laws and policy interventions, and patterns of city growth as reflected in local practices of artistic production, representation, and power. Recently, artists have responded to an increasing scarcity of affordable work and living spaces by migrating to and settling in defunct industrial zones or satellite neighbourhoods located on the social and geographic margins of major metropolitan hubs, such as Songzhuang and Feijiacun in Beijing, the M50 arts district in Shanghai, Xiaozhou Village in Guangzhou, and the Fotan artists’ studios in Hong Kong. These villages have become thriving communities where painters, photographers, designers, art dealers, curators, and collectors convene to work, exhibit shows, negotiate sales, and socialize in semi-rural enclaves. International media and art critical attention, and, especially in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympic Games, official state endorsement of contemporary arts activities, have launched the careers of dozens of Chinese artists and established the commercial success and global reach of Chinese contemporary art as an aesthetic genre. As a result, Chinese artists’ villages have become, along with the larger expansion of the contemporary Chinese art world, destinations for local and foreign tourists and given a significant boost to Chinese cities as global cities (Tang 2008). The proliferation of artists’ villages raises questions about art and power in the postsocialist period. Scholars of contemporary Western culture have identified artistic production as constitutive of the political economics of post-industrial urban reform and globalization and the cultural processes of gentrification and consumerism (Lloyd 2006; Zukin 1989). Focusing on the role of state actors in using cultural activities to promote their local economies and city image, these studies tend to view the “state” as in retreat, captured by neoliberal capitalist interests. Fewer studies, however, have examined the intersection of state interests and artistic production in the postsocialist setting, in which state power is far from weakening, but rather, has been institutionally reconfigured and socially reproduced through the amalgam of socialism and market incentives (Brandtstädter 2004; Grzinic 2007; Zhang 2001). Headline-making events involving the demolition of artists’ villages in Beijing and Guangzhou and public counter-protests by artists draw our attention to the uncertainties of land reform and privatization in the postsocialist period. Measures such as the passage of the household responsibility system in the early 1980s, the Land Management Law (passed in 1986; 1988; and1998) (Ho and Lin 2003) and Real Property Rights Law (passed in 2007) (Lee 2009) have gradually established greater clarification of the administrative boundaries between urban and agricultural land and private ownership rights in the PRC. However, in practice, the legal status of artists’ villages is routinely called into question, leaving artists caught in skirmishes with local officials and private property developers that have at times resulted in the wholesale destruction of neighbourhoods (Tang forthcoming). This study proposes to contribute to understanding of the following aspects of the production of transitional socialist spaces, urbanization, and the market: 1) Artists’ villages as transitional postsocialist spaces This research attends to a theoretical gap in understanding of the relationship between artists and the state across different regions of China. It pays particular attention to artists’ villages as spaces in which social relations of power are constituted and inscribed in everyday practice (Lefebvre 1991) through the use of in-depth case studies and visual methodologies (see Section VII). Are there significant differences in the development of artists’ villages across regions, e.g., given relative proximity to the historical and political central seat of power? This study investigates artists’ villages as transitional postsocialist spaces as an analytical framework for addressing the broader issue of cultural production and state power in the reform period. 2) Patterns of urban settlement China’s rapid urbanization and migration over the past three decades have been particularly salient features of the transition from a central command to market economy of the reform period beginning in 1979. Disparities resulting from the uneven distribution of wealth and access to urban citizenship (Solinger 1999) have focused scholarly attention to issues of stratification and inequality (Chen and Sun 2006) and power (Zhang 2001). How and why do artists decide to move to artists’ villages on the edges of China’s largest cities? What type of work do they produce there? What cultural significance do they assign to their residence in these urban border zones, which are typically associated with low-wage migrant workers and villagers (Liu et al. 2010)? This research project seeks to pinpoint how artistic production is influenced by new regimes of private property development, and how artists have accommodated or resisted the destruction of their studios. Nearly synonymous with being under-regulated or illegal in status, artists’ villages can illuminate the processes by which state actors respond to threats of social and political disorder following from the large-scale conversion of agricultural land and mass migrant flows to cities in recent years. 3) Art and market Hong Kong plays a critical role in the global, commercial representation and distribution of art produced in the PRC, while simultaneously serving as a comparatively small but vibrant incubator of local art in a decolonial context (Clarke 2001). The inclusion of Hong Kong provides an analytical means to a) single out the role of Chinese state in shaping artistic practices, ideology, and identity, and b) illustrate the social, business, and professional networks that connect artists’ villages to a broader global commercial network of Chinese artistic production and consumption. Hong Kong’s special status as an administrative region and its position at the top-end of global art market hierarchy present a unique and important example of the interface of art, the state, and the market.

Researcher : Wong TWP

Project Title:	52nd Annual Conference of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Pathways to Success: Life Stories and the Hong Kong Dream
Investigator(s):	Wong TWP
Department:	Sociology
Source(s) of Funding:	URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff
Start Date:	03/2000

Abstract:

N/A

List of Research Outputs

Wong T.W.P., The Hong Kong Social Indicators Surveys: Objectives, Practices and Lessons, In: E. Sinn, Wong Siu-lun and Chan Wing Hoi, Rethinking Hong Kong: New Paradigms , New Perspectives. University of Hong Kong, 2009.

Researcher : Xu J

List of Research Outputs

Xu J., Robbery of Motorcycle Taxi Drivers in China: A Lifestyle/routine Activity Perspective and Beyond, The British Journal of Criminology. Oxford, UK, Oxford University, 2009, 49: 491-512.

Researcher : Yao Z

List of Research Outputs

Chan C.S.C. and Yao Z., Sociological Theory and China. , The Newsletter of the Research Committee on Sociological Theory, International Sociological Association, Autumn/Winter issue. . 2010.

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