HK INSTITUTE FOR HUMANITIES & SOC. SCI.
| Researcher : Cao NL |
| Project Title: | Religion, Trade and Locality in a Chinese Diaspora: Wenzhou Christian Merchants in Paris |
| Investigator(s): | Cao NL |
| Department: | HK Institute for Humanities & Soc. Sci. |
| Source(s) of Funding: | General Research Fund (GRF) |
| Start Date: | 09/2009 |
| Abstract: |
| 1) To conduct multi-sited ethnographic research on the business practices and cultural identities of diasporic merchants in post-reform China (known as “China’s global go-getters”) who hail from the southeast coastal city of Wenzhou and who are spreading Chinese commerce across the globe as a visible community. 2) To deepen my previous study on the religious-economic dynamics of Wenzhou, a locality that has gained fame as a regional center of global enterprises and as “China’s Jerusalem,” a center for Chinese Christianity, with a focus on the emergence of a new morality based on Christian business. 3) To engage with theories and methods in historical anthropology: although the project focuses on the contemporary moment of China’s global reach, I aim to eventually compare and contrast the practices of this emerging entrepreneurial class with historically important diasporic merchant groups from coastal China -- the ways they negotiated state-merchant relations, the compromise they made in colonial encounters, and the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural resources they employed to sustain business networks. |
| Project Title: | 108th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association Christian revival and the politics of morality in urban China |
| Investigator(s): | Cao NL |
| Department: | HK Institute for Humanities & Soc. Sci. |
| Source(s) of Funding: | URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff |
| Start Date: | 12/2009 |
| Abstract: |
| N/A |
| Project Title: | Social Suffering, the Culture of Compassion, and the Divided Moral Experience in China Transforming Migrant Workers into Noodle Christians: The Politics of Suffering and Morality in Christian Wenzhou |
| Investigator(s): | Cao NL |
| Department: | HK Institute for Humanities & Soc. Sci. |
| Source(s) of Funding: | URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff |
| Start Date: | 05/2010 |
| Completion Date: | 05/2010 |
| Abstract: |
| N/A |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Cao N.L., Christian Revival and the Politics of Morality in Urban China, GROUPE SOCIÉTÉS, RELIGIONS, LAÏCITÉS, CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), Paris. 2010. |
| Cao N.L., Constructing China’s Jerusalem: Christians, Power, and Place in Contemporary Wenzhou , Department of Anthropology Friday Seminar Series, Chinese University of Hong Kong. 2010. |
| Cao N.L., Morality and Religiosity in China’s Post-reform Transformations: The Case of Wenzhou Christian Merchants, Society for East Asian Anthropology, American Anthropological Association, Conference in Conjunction with Taiwan Society of Anthropology and Ethnology Annual Meeting, at Academia Sinica, Taipei. 2009. |
| Cao N.L., President’s Prize for The Best Dissertation on an Asian Subject, Asian Studies Association of Australia . 2009. |
| Cao N.L., Raising the Quality of Belief: Suzhi and the Production of an Elite Protestantism, China Perspectives (in English and French) . 2009, 4: 54-65. |
| Cao N.L., Research quoted in news report “Capitalist Number One” (The Times, December 5, 2009) on the development of private entrepreneurship in contemporary China., The Times . 2009. |
| Cao N.L., Review of Chinese Religiosities: Afflictions of Modernity and State Formation, edited by Mayfair Yang. Berkeley: University of California Press. , In: Andrew Kipnis and Luigi Tomba, The China Journal . Australia, ANU Contemporary China Centre, 2009, 62: 155-157. |
| Cao N.L., Transforming Migrant Workers into “Noodle Christians”: The Politics of Suffering and Morality Building in Christian Wenzhou, Harvard University. 2010. |
| Researcher : Cheng LMCW |
| Project Title: | Television Drama in Greater China |
| Investigator(s): | Cheng LMCW |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | Hang Seng Bank Golden Jubilee Education Fund for Research |
| Start Date: | 04/2009 |
| Abstract: |
| The rise of TV culture amongst different regions in the Greater China area requires broader coverage and more elaborate in-depth theoretical exploration. The proposed project to study popular TV drama in the Greater China area will have the following objectives: (1) Why some television dramas are more popular. The meaning of popularity goes beyond a production process that responds successfully to market forces. The popularity of a work of art often suggests layers of semiotic undercurrents in which complicated social messages and values are identified by its audiences. This project will examine the relationship between social identity and the consumption of mass culture (in our case, television drama). It will investigate how far successful commercially driven television productions reflect the public aspirations of the period. (2) How television dramas reflect socio-political undercurrents. Working in parallel with the first objective, the second objective is to explore the ties between television dramas and their "native" socio-political landscape. The various social messages imprinted in the television dramas will be examined for the socio-political implications these messages convey to the public and their social impact on local/neighbouring society. (3) In what ways television drama production achieves its distinct local cultural character. The present state of TV culture(s) in Asian countries and cities suggests that television drama is more than a commercial production with a strictly local target audience. The success of a local TV drama in attracting audiences in neighbouring regions often yields unexpected commercial returns. The producer, actors/actresses and director of a successful "local" TV production usually gain opportunities to undertake a larger scale production designed for "foreign" as well as "local" consumption. In order to translate a distinct local identity for its overseas/global audiences, institutionalization in television production and development of stars requires an appropriate marketing strategy. The third objective of the project is to examine how the institutionalization of TV culture(s) addresses the challenge of adjusting a unique national/local character. (4) Why social-literary theory is important to the study of TV culture In Terry Eagleton's criticism against the study of contemporary culture, he asserts that cultural phenomena often point to complex and compressed social realities which involves history, economics and politics (Eagleton: 2003). Like any other theoretical reception of creative products, to apply textual analysis to television drama requires a critical dimension. The final objective of this proposed project is to position social and literary theory for the more effective study of television culture in Greater China. By doing so, it should be possible to link the study of the television drama in Chinese speaking regions to the existing literature on television culture. |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Cheng L.M.C.W. and Ho C.T., "Introduction", In: Tsai-Man C. Ho Louella Cheng, "Economic Dynamism in the Sinospheres and Anglospheres: Identities, Integration and Competition". Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, 2010, one: 1-7. |
| Cheng L.M.C.W., Drafting for the Research Grant Council (RGC) research proposal under the title "The Politics of Locality: Three Generations of Cotton-spinners in Hong Kong"., In: Victor Zheng as Principal Investigator, 2009. |
| Cheng L.M.C.W., Drafting writing proposal titled "Sir Robert Ho Tung and General Ho Shai Lai: A Translation and Publication Proposal" to seek private funding , 2010. |
| Cheng L.M.C.W. and Ho C.T., Economic Dynamism in the Sinospheres and Anglospheres: Identities, Integration and Competition, In: Tsai-man C. Ho Louella Cheng, Economic Dynamism in the Sinospheres and Anglospheres: Identities, Integration and Competition. Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, 2010, one: 367. |
| Cheng L.M.C.W. and Zheng V.W.T., In Search of Chineseness: The Choice of the Ho Sisters, Rising Dragons, Soaring Bananas International Conference. 2009. |
| Cheng L.M.C.W. and Wong S.L., The identities of Two Brothers: Robert Ho Tung and Walter Bosman, Rising Dragons, Soaring Bananas International Conference. 2009, 28. |
| Ho C.T. and Cheng L.M.C.W., Economic Dynamism In The Sinospheres And Anglospheres: Identities, Integration And Competition, In: Tsai-man C. Ho and Louella Cheng, Economic Dynamism In The Sinospheres And Anglospheres: Identities, Integration And Competition. Hong Kong, Centre of Asian Studies, the University of Hong Kong, 2010. |
| Researcher : Chin JK |
| Project Title: | Transnational Entrepreneurship and Ethnic Networks: Chinese Migrant Community in Cambodia |
| Investigator(s): | Chin JK |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | Hang Seng Bank Golden Jubilee Education Fund for Research |
| Start Date: | 04/2009 |
| Abstract: |
| The ethnic Chinese in Cambodia formed the country's largest ethnic minority with 60 percent of the Chinese are urban residents engaged mainly in commerce and the other 40 percent in the rural area. Since the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, the once stricken or even perished Chinese community under Pol Pot has been rejuvenating with large number of new Chinese migrant influx from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Companies set up by Chinese migrants can now be seen almost in every city and town of the country, particularly in Phnom Penh. Chinese entrepreneurs own, operate, and built factories, banks, hospitals, restaurants, hotels, discos and casinos in the country. In the meantime, a great many of Chinese skilled labours have been recruited to work in the garment factories owned by entrepreneurs from Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China. Even the triads, mafia and prostitutes from Taiwan and the Chinese mainland have managed to settle down in Cambodia. As admitted by a Congressman of Cambodia, new migrants from China and their enterprises are playing a very important role in Cambodia’s economy as majority of the revenue of the country relies on the duties levied upon them. On the other hand, an extensive ethnic Chinese business network ranging from major cities of mainland China and Hong Kong to ASEAN countries such as Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia has gradually been formed with Phnom Penh as one of the key regional headquarters. In other words, the rapid flow of capital, information, goods, and new Chinese migrants in Cambodia over the past decade makes its impact strongly felt on Cambodia’s economy and society, which calls for academic attention and study. |
| Project Title: | Rising Dragon, Soaring Bananas, International Conference 2009 Chinese New Migrants in Cambodia: A Preliminary Study |
| Investigator(s): | Chin JK |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff |
| Start Date: | 07/2009 |
| Completion Date: | 07/2009 |
| Abstract: |
| N/A |
| Project Title: | Maritime Trade between Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, 1842-1939 |
| Investigator(s): | Chin JK |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | General Research Fund (GRF) |
| Start Date: | 12/2009 |
| Abstract: |
| 1) To build a research database through a chronological search and systematic amassment of historical records and statistics on the shipping and maritime trade between Hong Kong and various port cities of Southeast Asia from relevant colonial archives, customs reports, local newspapers, almanacs, and directories of commerce collected in Hong Kong, and countries of Southeast Asia, in the hope of laying a solid foundation for long-term, in-depth research on the economic history of Hong Kong. 2) To analyze the developments and changes of maritime trade between Hong Kong and Southeast Asia from 1842 to 1939, with a focus on a number of staple commodities such as rice, sugar, opium, rattans, sandalwood, and seafood. 3) To analyze the composition of, and the role played by, different merchant groups involved in the maritime trade. 4) To conceptualise Chinese business networks and Chinese transnational entrepreneurship through an empirical, critical and analytical study of a number of Chinese migrant communities based in Siam (Thailand), Saigon, Burma (Myanmar), Singapore and Hong Kong. |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Chin J.K., King Taksin and China: Siam-Chinese Relations during the Thonburi Period as Seen from Chinese Sources, In: Geoff Wade and James K. Chin, China and Southeast Asia: Historical Interactions. London and New York, Routlege Press, 2010. |
| Chin J.K., Merchants, Smugglers, and Pirates: Multinational Clandestine Trade on the South China Coast, 1520-1550, In: Robert J. Antony, Elusive Pirates, Pervasive Smugglers: Violence and Clandestine Trade in the Greater China Seas. Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong Press, 2010. |
| Chin J.K., New Migration from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, 1980-2005 , Journal of Chinese Overseas Studies . 《世界華僑華人研究》, Guangzhou, Jinan University Press, 2009, Volume 2: pp.103-151. |
| Chin J.K., Suvarṇadviῑpa, Suvarṇabhūmi and Yāvadvῑpa: Maritime Trade between India and Early Southeast Asia , In: Yu Taishan, Journal of Sino-Foreign Relations History. 《中外關係史研究》, Beijing, Commercial Press, 2010, Volume 1: 38. |
| Researcher : Chow MK |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Chow M.K., A Study on Fok Ying-tung's Family: Government-Business Relations, Charity and Inheritance, In: Zheng Wan-tai, Victor and Chow Man-kong (eds.), A Study on Chinese Family Business and Inheritance. Hong Kong, HKIHSS (inc. CAS), HKU, 2010, 248-275. |
| Researcher : Egreteau R |
| Project Title: | Is there a ‘Rivalry’? New Perspectives on the China-India Strategic Dyad |
| Investigator(s): | Egreteau R |
| Department: | HK Institute for Humanities & Soc. Sci. |
| Source(s) of Funding: | Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research |
| Start Date: | 01/2010 |
| Abstract: |
| The main objective of the project is to question the common assessment of a hazardous “enduring rivalry” taking shape between India and China at the dawn of the 21st century. By focusing on mutual perceptions as well as on key issues where the dyadic Sino-Indian relationship can be interpreted – or not – as competitive and thus potentially threatening for the regional security, the project intends to explore and appraise the most recent dynamics behind the fluctuating state of Sino-Indian bilateral relations. A decade was devoted to restore cordiality and cooperation once thwarted by India’s nuclear tests and the bilateral Sino-Indian crisis that had followed (1998). However in the past two years (2008-2009), a resurgence of reciprocal acerbic declarations and traditional demonstrations of military strength as well as a revival of old contentious bilateral issues (border dispute, Tibetan issue…) have rekindled hyperrealist interpretations of the China-India dyad. Moreover, with the witnessing of an emergent academic trend to analyze the China-India dyad through the competition/cooperation framework, the consolidation of an extensive academic and policy-oriented literature on the rise of a dangerous Sino-Indian “Great Game” has recently been fostered by many misperceptions and misconceptions. This project will test the hypothesis that these arguments can be pondered by on-the-ground observations. To better identify the stakes involved with the critical China-India dyad, their strategic importance and reality, and their possible and credible evolution, the proposal will thus aim at first theoretically defining the bilateral relationship, and second analyzing the correlation between perceptions and rationality within the Sino-Indian dyadic interactions. It will thus be organized according to four main lines: o Defining the China-India strategic dyad. Given the growing trend of picturing the simultaneous rise of India and China as a potential destabilizing factor for Asia’s politico-security environment, the project will first seek to theoretically define the China-India dyad. Understanding the Sino-Indian equation through the “Enduring Rivalry” theoretical approach would further the knowledge on the patterns of the Sino-Indian bilateral relationship as well as offer new perspectives on its evolution (consolidation, escalation, termination, if we are to adopt the same notional framework). By drawing a conceptual discussion around the rivalry theories and their application to the Sino-Indian case, it proposes to better understand the possibilities – and historical realities – of the China-India dyad having developed or about to further develop a rivalry-type bilateral interaction. It will thus identify appropriate historical illustrations to anchor the research to this inventive rivalry approach. o Identifying bilateral issues regarding which the China-India dyad can be interpreted as competitive, or not. To build the project on an innovative on-the-field backdrop, key bilateral issues on which India and China have focused their strategic perceptions, agendas and set of policies in the past years will be studied in order to support the assessment of an enduring rivalry taking shape – or not. Both neighbours straddle a common geopolitical space across the Himalayas and strategic bones of contention are legions between the two rising powers. From the territorial dispute (Aksai Chin, Arunachal Pradesh) to the protracted antagonism over a third party for resources and leverage (Tibet, Burma, Pakistan, Nepal…) and the hesitating but competitive regionalism (Kunming Initiative, BIMST-EC, GMS, MGC…), a wide range of regional geopolitical issues and traditions security issues have to be taken into account to identify the Sino-Indian relationship as a “rivalry”. This project expects to isolate the conditions, motivations and interests of both India and China to include these issues into a rivalry-type relationship – or not (i.e. blurring differences and solving problems in order to bolster the bilateral partnership). What are the probabilities of Beijing and New Delhi choosing to “manage” this rivalry-type dyad – if to be characterized as such – in the few geopolitical sectors in which the two giants are considering the other as a “rival” or “enemy” on one hand, or “partner” or “ally” in the other? o Analyzing mutual perceptions of the others. A key element of the definition of a “rivalry” – beside the historicization of a series of bilateral crises –, the psychological dimension of a dyadic relationship often overshadows every other factor. Analyzing the way perceptions of the other (threat perceptions, misperceptions…) arouse, take shape, are fostered or altered and critically influence the relations between two states – and their societies – is essential to understand the historical background of their interactions, the policymaking of each towards the other, as well as the potential evolution of their critical dyadic relationship. Through personal on-the-field networks, this project aims at fathoming originally out contemporary Chinese perceptions of India and Indian perceptions of China. Special focus will be offered on the study of the mutual perceptions of both influential elite circles (policymakers, strategic thinkers, intellectuals) and other sectors of domestic societies (civil society groups, business communities, various ethnic minorities). Examining how one perceives the other (a ‘threat’, a ‘rival’, a ‘partner’…?), and according to which collective memories, cultural misconceptions, official discourses, policy priorities, and strategic agendas would enable us to elaborate on the possibilities of India and China finding common areas of cooperation or merely fuelling a static competition-oriented relationship. o Exploring the dynamics of the irrationality behind rhetoric, agendas and decisions. Following the analysis of the mutual perceptions both China and India have developed of the other in recent years, a deeper exploration of the irrationality behind various security or commercial decisions taken or warmonger diplomatic declarations recently made by New Delhi and Beijing, will be proposed. “Irrationality” indeed often drives a dyadic relation towards a crisis escalation. The dramatic evolution of a bilateral relationship into an “enduring rivalry” or even into a conflict-prone dyad is frequently commanded by non-rational decisions that go beyond logical and level-headed policymaking. Reasons, determinants, and patterns of the irrational characteristics of the China-India dyad that can potentially and intractably fuel the rivalry perceptions will be pored over. More globally, the project intends to better understand the unbalanced relationship between India and China, as well as better conceive how and why the Indian psyche remains strongly traumatized by the 1962 defeat and obsessed by any credible Chinese thrust on one hand, and the Chinese psyche more inclined to patronize its southern neighbor and keeping it at bay thanks to a calculated but condescending attitude. |
| Project Title: | UC Berkeley & UCLA Joint Conference on Southeast Asian Studies 2010 Of Gems and Rohingyas: Indo-Burmese Muslim Communities in Yunnan (China) |
| Investigator(s): | Egreteau R |
| Department: | HK Institute for Humanities & Soc. Sci. |
| 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 |
| Egreteau R., A Rivalry? Think Twice. New Perspectives on the Sino-Indian Equation through Burma/Myanmar, In: ICWA-AAS New Delhi, Emerging China: New Partnerships across Asia. 2009. |
| Egreteau R., Beyond (mis)Perceptions: New Options for India in face of the China-Burma Strategic Partnership, In: Li Chengyang & Hofmeister, Wilhelm, Myanmar: Prospect for Change. Singapore, Select Publishing, 2010, 299-316. |
| Egreteau R., Burma (Myanmar) Chronological Index Of Mass Violence, 1930-2007, Online Encyclopedia of Mass Violence. Paris, 2009. |
| Egreteau R., Burma's Militias: Between Insurgency and Maintaining Order, In: Laurent Gayer & Christophe Jaffrelot, Armed Militias of South Asia: Fundamentalists, Maoists, and Separatists. London, Hurst & Co., 2009, 112-133. |
| Egreteau R., Can Burma Learn from India's 'Democratic Model'? Comparative Reflections on India and Burma's Democratizing Dynamics and Prospects, In: Hong Kong University, Myanmar: 2010 Election and Beyond. Hong Kong, 2010. |
| Egreteau R., Ethnic Separatism in Burma/Myanmar: Old Issues, New Challenges, In: Hong Kong Baptist University and University of Macau, State Secession and Separatism in Europe and Asia. 2009. |
| Egreteau R., Intra-European Bargaining and the 'Tower of Babel' EU Approach to the Burmese Conundrum, East Asia. 2010, 27: 15-33. |
| Egreteau R., Kalas and Paukphaws: Burmese Perceptions of Indian and Chinese Communities and their Contemporary Impact, In: Nalanada Sriwijaya Centre - ISEAS Singapore, Indian and Chinese Migrant Communities: Comparative Perspectives. 2010. |
| Egreteau R., Of Gems and Rohingyas: Indo-Burmese Communities in Yunnan (China), In: Centre for South and Southeast Asia, UC Berkeley, California, USA, Space, Movement and Place in Southeast Asia. 2010. |
| Egreteau R., Pour changer la Birmanie, la democratie ne suffira pas (op-ed), Liberation. 2009. |
| Egreteau R., The Burma Factor In India-China Economic Relations, In: Gurudas Das & C.J. Thomas, India-China: Trade and Strategy for Frontier Development. New Delhi, Bookwell, 2010, 267-289. |
| Researcher : Guan W |
| Project Title: | Succession of Enterprise Leadership and the Principles of Organization: A Study of the Sumitomo Group |
| Investigator(s): | Guan W |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | Seed Funding Programme for Basic Research |
| Start Date: | 03/2008 |
| Completion Date: | 02/2010 |
| Abstract: |
| The proposed project is a case study of the history of the Japanese business group Sumitomo (住友). The focus of investigation centers on the formation of the organizational foundations of the group. As part of a larger, comparative study on family business in East Asia undertaken collectively by scholars at the Centre of Asian Studies (HKU), this research has the following objectives. First, I will examine the relationship among the founding members of Sumitomo. An important feature of this company is that from its inception the succession of leadership has not followed closely the bloodline of the Sumitomo family. In fact the business enterprise under the Sumitomo family name has been a complex organizational form in which to pool assets and manpower from descendants of different families without blood ties for integrated uses. The business founder of the group, Rihee Soga, was an adopted son of the Sumitomo family, who came from a family running a small store selling books and medicine in the 17th century. He assumed the Sumitomo name after marrying a daughter of Masatomo Sumitomo, head of the adopting family. Based on the copper smelting and refining techniques developed by his own father Riemon Soga (who was a brother-in-law of Masatomo), he shifted the focus of family’s business activities to the manufacturing of copper products. That marked the beginning of the Sumitomo business empire and, equally importantly, initiated a succession and inheritance practice not bound by blood ties. Such a practice, while not uncommon among Japanese family business organizations, stands in sharp contrast with long-standing norms shared by many traditional Chinese family business organizations, which discouraged intermarriage between same-surname families (同姓不婚), restricted adoption of children from families of different surnames (異姓不養), assigned top priority to eldest male descendant in inheritance (嫡長子繼承), and limited inheritance to son(s) in exclusion of daughter(s) and/or to daughter-in-law(s) in exclusion of son-in-law(s) (傳子不傳女, 傳媳不傳婿). Investigating the internal dynamics of the formative authority relations and succession arrangements as well as the surrounding socio-cultural milieu during the early years of Sumitomo will not only help cast light on the origins of path-dependent business institutions in modern Japan but provide a useful benchmark for making comparison with China. Second, I will trace the process of leadership succession through generations in the Sumitomo Group. Among the major issues that I plan to explore are: (1) the composition and structure of ownership; (2) the relationship between the inheritance of assets and the succession of managerial leadership; (3) the relationship and division of authority between owners and top decision-makers and among themselves respectively; (4) the mechanisms by which the interests and concerns of major stockholders in the company were addressed and balanced; (5) the efforts to adjust and adapt ownership and authority arrangements in response to the challenges and opportunities that arose during Japan’s transformation into capitalism. Third, I will analyze the code book of Sumitomo’s organizational philosophy— Founder’s Precepts 文書院旨意書 (Monjuin Shiigaki). Written by Masatomo in the 17th century, this document constituted the spiritual core of a large body of rules and principles governing family relations and business activities developed and accumulated prior to the Meiji Restoration in 1868, which have since served as the most fundamental guiding force for the company’s organization and growth into the modern era. A close examination of its contents, manifestation, implementation and impact will likely cast useful light on the factors that have shaped the business practice of Sumitomo and sustained its organizational longevity. Fourth, through an analysis of the reforms that Sumitomo adopted in the governance of family relations and business practice after the Meiji Restoration I will explore the forces that drove family business to adapt and change from traditional to increasingly modern organizational forms. By looking at the case of Sumitomo, I will seek to understand (1) the causes and characteristics of the so-called “bureaucratization of family asset management” that figured prominently in Japan’s early capitalist development; (2) the tension, clash, as well as symbiosis and even fusion between the Anglo-American contractual model of internal organization and the Japanese-style practice of patronage and personalized subordination; and (3) the cultural roots of the “individualism” and “collectivism” embodied in these different models. Finally, based on findings from the work highlighted above I will reflect on the implications of the proposed case study for comparative research on Japanese and Chinese business organizations during the process of modern capitalist development. In particular, I hope to derive more revealing clues to understanding (1) how variations in historically rooted family institutions as well as the underlying cultural values and norms between the two countries may have defined the differences in the organizational strategies toward the challenges and opportunities faced by business people in pursuit of profits from increasingly extensive division of labor and specialization beyond the scope of the family; and (2) where and in what way such differences may have impacted upon organizational performance and longevity during the process of modernization and capitalist development. |
| Project Title: | Succession of Enterprise Leadership and the Principles of Organization: A Study of the Sumitomo Group |
| Investigator(s): | Guan W |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | Hang Seng Bank Golden Jubilee Education Fund for Research |
| Start Date: | 03/2008 |
| Abstract: |
| To study history of the Japanese business group Sumitomo (住友). The focus of investigation centers on the fomation of the organizational foundations of the group. |
| Project Title: | Pre-modern Family Institutions and Origins of Implicit Contract in Japanese Corporate Culture: A Case Study of the Sumitomo Group |
| Investigator(s): | Guan W |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | General Research Fund (GRF) |
| Start Date: | 12/2009 |
| Abstract: |
| To discern essential characteristics of pre-modern Japanese family institutions; to explore the ramifications of male heir adoption for the organization and governance of family business; to study the diffusion mechanisms of implicit contracting |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Guan W., 論明治時代社會轉型過程中的風俗改造和公德建立以及修身教育, 2nd International Congress on Chinese Studies - Urban Society: Challenges for the Present and Future (Chair, Session 3) 28-30 June 2010, Centro de Estudios Chinos Lu Xun (Bilbao). 2010. |
| Guan W., 日中家族血緣結構及其文化的比較, Beijing Foreign Studies University. 北京外國語大學, 2009. |
| Guan W., 中日家族結構與家族企業的比較研究（全程錄影收入上海市圖書館資料庫）, East China Normal University. 上海華東師範大學, 2010. |
| Guan W., 日中家族結構與傳統文化, The Center of Traditional Chinese Cultural Studies, Wuhan University. 武漢大學中國傳統文化研究中心, 2009. |
| Guan W., Wong S.L. and Zheng V.W.T., Three Centuries of Succession in Beijing Tongrentang (in Chinese), 同仁堂三百年來的傳承, 華人家族企業的傳承研究, 香港, 香港大學香港人文社會研究所, 2010. |
| Guan W., 2009年12月10 寧波方太廚具有限公司（Fotile）演講題目：日本企業文化, 2009. |
| Guan W., 北京清華大學（Tsinghua Univesity）演講題目;中日家族結構及其文化的比較研究, 北京清華大學, 2010. |
| Guan W., 日本住友家族企業的起源與家企業傳承的歷史考察（論文一等獎）, 第五屆創業與家族企業成長國際研討會，2009年10月16-17日，浙江大學主辦, 2009. |
| Guan W., 日本家族企業傳承模式, 浙江寧波國際家族企業論壇，2009年11月8-9日，浙江大學主辦, 2009. |
| Researcher : Ho CT |
| Project Title: | The Politics of Identity Formation: the Case of the Koo Family in Taiwan |
| Investigator(s): | Ho CT |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | Hang Seng Bank Golden Jubilee Education Fund for Research |
| Start Date: | 04/2009 |
| Abstract: |
| This one-year project proposes to use the case of the Koo family in Taiwan to examine the politics on formation of one's national identity. This proposal requests funds for interviewing, data collection for the project involving field works in Taiwan, and travel expenses for a conference called Banana-ISSCO to be held in New Zealand, in July 2009, in which, my paper entitled as "Negotiating Identity: a Comparison on Koo Chen-fu and Koo kwan-min" has been accepted by the conference organisation. |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Cheng L.M.C.W. and Ho C.T., "Introduction", In: Tsai-Man C. Ho Louella Cheng, "Economic Dynamism in the Sinospheres and Anglospheres: Identities, Integration and Competition". Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, 2010, one: 1-7. |
| Cheng L.M.C.W. and Ho C.T., Economic Dynamism in the Sinospheres and Anglospheres: Identities, Integration and Competition, In: Tsai-man C. Ho Louella Cheng, Economic Dynamism in the Sinospheres and Anglospheres: Identities, Integration and Competition. Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, 2010, one: 367. |
| Chin J.K., Ho C.T. and Lau E.F.C., New Emigration From Hong Kong, Macau And Taiwan: 1980-2005”, Co-authored With Quian Jiang And Ernest Lau, 1980-2005年香港、澳門、台灣之海外移民, In: Chin Kong and Ji Zong'an, Overseas Chinese Studies. 世界華僑華人研究, Guang Zhou, Jinan University Press, 2009, 2: 103-151. |
| Ho C.T. and Sun W.B., A Spell Breaker: The Dynamism Of The Koo Family, In: Yin-wah Chu, Chinese Capitalisms: Historical Emergence and Political Implications. UK, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010, 176-198. |
| Ho C.T. and Cheng L.M.C.W., Economic Dynamism In The Sinospheres And Anglospheres: Identities, Integration And Competition, In: Tsai-man C. Ho and Louella Cheng, Economic Dynamism In The Sinospheres And Anglospheres: Identities, Integration And Competition. Hong Kong, Centre of Asian Studies, the University of Hong Kong, 2010. |
| Ho C.T., Production Arrangements In East Asia And Regional Governance Of Financial Capital: Taiwanese Enterprises And Hong Kong, 東亞生產布局與金融資本的區域統理機制:台商與香港, In: Michael Hsiao, Asia Pacific Forum. 亞太論壇, Center for Asia- Pacific Area Studies, Academia Sinica, 2010, 47. |
| Ho C.T. and Kao C.S., The Era Of Professionalism And The Development Of The Family Business: The Story Of The Koo's Group, In: Tsai-man C. Ho and Louella Cheng, Economic Dynamism In The Sinospheres And Anglospheres: Identities, Integration And Competition. Hong Kong, Centre of Asian Stuies Occasional Papers and Monographs, 2010, 161: 333-367. |
| Ho C.T., The Politics Of Identity Formation: The Case Of Koo Chen-fu, Rising Dragons, Soaring Bananas. 2009. |
| Ho C.T., Uprooting Japan, Implanting China: Taiwan's Koo Family 1945-1952, The Capitalist Dilemma In China’s Communist Revolution: Stay, Leave, Or Return. 2009. |
| Researcher : Hui C |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Hui C., The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Tianjin Branch and Wu Jim-pah's Involvement in Early Modernisation of North China, The 1st Sogang University International Graduate Student Conference on East and South East Asia, 27th-28th May, , Seoul: Sogang University. 2010, 10. |
| Researcher : Lam HHY |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Cheng P.W.M., Chan T.H., Kung M., Luo H., Yue W.Y. and Lam H.H.Y., A Disappearing Folk Religion: From the Chu-Tai-Sin Belief of Macau to Research and Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, 從澳門朱大仙信仰看非物質文化遺產的保護與研究, International Conference on Regional Culture of Macao and China (Nov 26-27, 2009; Macau). 澳門與中國地域文化國際研討會(2009/11/26-27, 澳門), 2009. |
| Cheng P.W.M., Kung M., Chan T.H., Luo H., Yue W.Y. and Lam H.H.Y., The Chu-Tai-Sin Belief of Hong Kong: Origin, Rituals and Perspectives, 轉型中的族群：從香港朱大仙信仰觀察其族群的生態與心態的轉變, International Conference on Regional Culture of Macao and China (Nov 26-27, 2009; Macau). 澳門與中國地域文化國際研討會（2009‧11‧26-27，澳門）, 2009. |
| Researcher : Lam HYH |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Lam H.Y.H., The Forgotten Road: A Study of the Hong Kong College Students Social Science Team, 被遺忘的「大路」─香港大專學生社會服務隊發展軌跡初探, In: 游子安、卜永堅（主編）, Hong Kong and South China: History and Culture. 問俗觀風─香港及華南歷史與文化, 香港, 華南研究會, 2009, 47-64. |
| Researcher : Lee PT |
| Project Title: | Advertising Banks in Hong Kong: An Illustrated History, 1920s-1980s |
| Investigator(s): | Lee PT |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | Hang Seng Bank Golden Jubilee Education Fund for Research |
| Start Date: | 06/2008 |
| Abstract: |
| (1) To study the marketing history of local Chinese, mainland Chinese and foreign banks in Hong Kong. (2) To study the business strategy of banks in Hong Kong despite of their ownership or nationality, (c) the characteristics of Hong Kong people in term of economic life. (3) To compare the policy of Hong Kong government in regulating and deregulating the local banking industry. (4) To study the business orientation of banks in Hong Kong towards drastic political and economic changes in China and the world. |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Lee P.T., Asianism and Cold War Intellectuals: Qian Mu and Ota Kozo, 1950s-60s., Symposium on Comparative Study of Regionalism and Asianism, Faculty of Law, Hokkaido University, 30-31 January 2010. . 2010, 12. |
| Lee P.T., Chinese ethnic group and faction: The trans-boundary networks of Aw Boon Haw, 族群與幫派──胡文虎的跨界商業網絡, The First International Symposium on Fujian Merchants, Fuzhou University, 17-20 May 2010.. 第一屆國際閩商研討會, 2010, 9. |
| Lee P.T., Development and diffusion of savings banks in China: A historical perspective., Conference on 200 Years of Savings Banks: A Strong and Lasting Business Models, World Savings Bank Institute and European Savings Banks Group, Edinburgh, 10 June 2010.. 2010, 20. |
| Lee P.T., Preface, 序, In: Au Chi-kin, Chan Wo-shun and Ho Wing-chung, Hong Kong Customs: A Centenary History. 香港海關百年史, Hong Kong, Customs & Excise Department, 2009, xxv-xxix. |
| Lee P.T., The Hong Kong Industrial Exposition Before the Outbreak of the Pacific War, 太平洋戰爭爆發前的香港工業展覽會, Journal of Huazhong Normal University (Humanities and Social Sciences). 華中師範大學學報(人文及社會科學版), Wuhan, Huazhong Normal University, 2010, 49: 88-93. |
| Lee P.T., The commercial advertisement and historical implication of the 150th anniversary of the Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong., 渣打銀行150周年的廣告宣傳和歷史意義, The Fifth Annual Conference of the Asian Studies Association of Hong Kong. Jointly organized by the Asian Studies Association of Hong Kong and and University of Hong Kong, 8-9 January 2010. . 2010, 30. |
| Lee P.T., The competition of the early Chinese film industry, 中國早期電影行業的競爭, Conference: History of Early Chinese Cinema(s) Revisited. Jointly organized by IHSS (Centre of Asian Studies), University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Film Archive, 15-17 December 2009.. 中國早期電影歷史再探, 2009, 11. |
| Researcher : Lo YP |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Lo Y.P., Book Review on Laura Neack, Elusive Security: States First, People Last (New York: Rowman and Littlefields, 2007, 263 pp., $24.95, pbk). United Kingdom, Millennium- Journal of International Studies, 2010, 38: 849-851. |
| Researcher : Mosca MW |
| Project Title: | Qing China’s Perspectives on India, 1700-1860 |
| Investigator(s): | Mosca MW, Carroll JM |
| Department: | HK Institute for Humanities & Soc. Sci. |
| Source(s) of Funding: | Small Project Funding |
| Start Date: | 11/2009 |
| Abstract: |
| The proposed project studies the foreign relations of Qing China with India, primarily in the period between 1840 and 1860. This research is necessary for the completion of a larger, on-going project that will lead to a book manuscript, provisionally entitled From Frontier Policy to Foreign Policy: India and the Origins of Modern China’s Strategic Worldview, 1700-1860, and two related articles. The book examines the role of geographic knowledge and political intelligence in shaping Qing imperial strategy, and offers a new interpretative framework for studying China’s foreign relations in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. One article will present a representative component of the project to summarize some of my major findings; the other will outline related research into the role of translation and language learning in the transfer of intelligence between English and Chinese. Here, I will first outline the aims and key issues of the overall project, and then those of the specifically delimited research component for which I am now requesting funding. The book project concentrates on how British expansion in India was perceived by the Qing court between 1700 and 1860, in both geographic and strategic terms. This study aims to demonstrate the dynamic response of Chinese statesmen and scholars to foreign intelligence, and thereby to reconsider the Qing Empire’s engagement with the wider world. Hitherto, China’s foreign relations have been explained primarily by internal factors, such as Confucian ideology, court ritual, or domestic politics. This internally-oriented approach is in sharp contrast to the study of other empires, where scholars have demonstrated the prominent role of surveillance and intelligence gathering in shaping imperial policy toward the outside world. Scholars of Qing foreign policy in Inner Asia have recently emphasized the important role of mapping and knowledge of local politics in shaping relations with the rival Russian and Zunghar Mongols empires during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but this approach has been limited to a single frontier. The goal of my research is to consider the relevance of evolving geo-strategic perceptions to Chinese foreign policy on a wider temporal and spatial scale. India is an ideal case study for examining the worldview of the Qing government and its subjects, because its uniquely broad relevance transcends the spatial and temporal divisions that have dominated the study of China foreign relations and reveals major changes in policy-making. Past studies have tended to examine only the maritime frontier (most often in the nineteenth century), or the Inner Asian frontier (primarily in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) as bounded entities. The expanding British presence in India, by contrast, had ramifications for both the empire’s Inner Asian frontiers and for its coast. Economic, diplomatic, or military affairs led local Qing officials in Guangzhou, Tibet, and Xinjiang all to have contact with their British Indian counterparts, and to learn about political developments in South Asia and elsewhere. Temporally, India’s relevance was similarly broad. It first came to prominence as the Qianlong-era conquests pushed the boundaries of the empire into the Himalayas and Pamirs in the eighteenth century, and attracted even greater attention in the nineteenth century, as Indian opium and troops came to disrupt the security of the empire. This specific research project has three key objectives, each necessary to expand and complete the overall project. First, it will shed light on the events between the Opium War and the end of the Arrow War (Second Opium War) in 1860, a crucial transitional period in China’s foreign relations. Two major episodes, the British conquest of the Punjab between 1845-9 and the Arrow War (Second Opium War) of 1856-60, maintained India’s relevance as a factor in Qing foreign relations on the coast and in the Himalayas. For the first time, however, officials and scholars pondering the significance of India did so with a clear picture of the structure of the British Empire and India’s place within it. Contrasting policy-making after 1842 with that of earlier centuries will therefore clarify how a clearer geographic and strategic understanding of the outside world influenced the strategy of the empire, proving or disproving hypotheses based on the study of the period up to 1842. Second, in a comparative perspective, it is necessary to examine more extensively other instances in Qing foreign relations that present some factors similar to the case of India. My efforts to draw general conclusions about how the Qing government created and implemented its foreign policy require that any findings are tested against frontiers not considered in relations with India, specifically the northern frontier with Russia and the frontier with continental Southeast Asia. I have selected the cases of Chinese relations with Siam and Russia for comparative study, because these at times involved diplomacy and geographic investigations on both the maritime and inland frontiers. As with my study of the period between 1840 and 1860, these cases are necessary to test my hypothesis and determine the broader validity of my existing findings. Finally, to complete my overall project is necessary to consider in more detail the methods of intelligence gathering and analysis employed on the Qing Inner Asian frontier, which I did not have time to explore fully on previous research trips. The most important source for this topic is the Manchu-language collection of the First Historical Archives in Beijing, which contains essential material not found in other sources. Likewise, collections in Beijing and Taibei also contain unique copies of rare books that shed light on Qing political and geographic knowledge of Asia in the eighteenth century. Archival collections in London, essential to the study of Anglo-Qing relations between 1840-60, contain important information about early English-Chinese translation and interpretation projects, which shed considerable light on how information about the outside world passed into Chinese sources. In combination, this archival and library research will form a crucial supplement to my existing evidence. Research on the three objectives outlined above will allow me to complete my overall project and produce the written output detailed below. |
| Project Title: | Association for Asian Studies Annual Meeting 2010 The Frontier Comes to China: The Changing Place of Frontier Studies in the Qianlong-Jiaqing Transition |
| Investigator(s): | Mosca MW |
| Department: | HK Institute for Humanities & Soc. Sci. |
| Source(s) of Funding: | URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff |
| Start Date: | 03/2010 |
| Completion Date: | 03/2010 |
| Abstract: |
| N/A |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Mosca M.W., Empire and the Circulation of Frontier Intelligence: Qing Conceptions of the Ottomans, In: Joanna Handlin Smith, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. Cambridge, MA, Harvard-Yenchign Institute, 2010, 70.1: 147-207. |
| Mosca M.W., The Frontier Comes to China: The Changing Place of Frontier Studies in the Qianlong-Jiaqing Transition, In: N/A, Association of Asian Studies, Annual Meeting. 2010. |
| Researcher : Sun WB |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Zheng V.W.T., Wong S.L. and Sun W.B., Taking-off through the Stock Market: The Evolution of Chinese Family Business and Hong Kong's Regional Financial Position , In: Tsai-man C. Ho and Louella Cheng, Economic Dynamism in the Sinospheres and Anglospheres: Identities, Integration and Competition. Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, 2010, 1: 303-332. |
| Researcher : Wong SL |
| Project Title: | The Experiments with Democracy in East and Southeast Asia: Two Decades After |
| Investigator(s): | Wong SL |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | Hang Seng Bank Golden Jubilee Education Fund for Research |
| Start Date: | 03/2008 |
| Abstract: |
| To investigate historical and theoretical overviews on: (1) Evaluating East and Southeast Asian Democracies: institutions and practices; (2) Social and Political Developments; (3) Global and Regional Processes. |
| Project Title: | Rising Dragons, Soaring Bananas International Conference 2009 The Identities of Two Brothers: Robert Ho Tung and Walter Bosman |
| Investigator(s): | Wong SL |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff |
| Start Date: | 07/2009 |
| Completion Date: | 07/2009 |
| Abstract: |
| N/A |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Cheng L.M.C.W. and Wong S.L., The identities of Two Brothers: Robert Ho Tung and Walter Bosman, Rising Dragons, Soaring Bananas International Conference. 2009, 28. |
| Chu Y.W. and Wong S.L., In: Yin-wah Chu and Siu-lun Wong, East Asia's New Democracies. UK, Routledge, 2010, 303. |
| Salaff J.A.N.E.T. .W., Wong S.L. and Greve A.R.E.N.T., Hong Kong Movers and Stayers: Narratives of Family Migration. USA, University of Illinois Press, 2010, 255. |
| Wong S.L., Decentring: The Rise of Hong Kong as a Network Society, In: Elizabeth Sinn, Wong Siu-lun and Chan Wing-hoi, Rethinking Hong Kong: New Paradigms, New Perspectives. Hong Kong, Centre of Asian Studies, 2009, 145-774. |
| Wong S.L., In: Elizabeth Sinn, Wong Siu-lun and Chan Wing-hoi, Rethinking Hong Kong: New Paradigms, New Perspectives. Hong Kong, Centre of Asian Studies, HKU, 2009, 361. |
| Wong S.L., Withstanding Communism: The Ho Tung Family of Hong Kong, 1946-1956 , The Capitalist Dilemma in China’s Communist Revolution: Stay, Leave, or Return? . 2009. |
| Wong S.L., 繼承與變異-華人家族企業的活力源頭, In: 冼懿穎, 香港經驗:文化傳承與制度創新, Hong Kong, Centre of Asian Studies and Commercial Press, 2009, 83-103. |
| Wong S.L., 社會指標與生活素質的衡量：不求完美、但求良好”及“人口政策與香港居民的生活素質, 新高中通識教育科知識增益課程 ─今日香港系列 (6), 2009. |
| Wong S.L., 香港：中國第一個「利商社會」, 香港教育學院「人文香港」公開講座, 2010. |
| Wong S.L., 何東家族與近代中國：轉危為機 (1946-1956﹞, 孫中山紀念館專題講座, 2010. |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Wong S.L., A Thought on a Hong Kong Chaozhou Rice Merchant's Thai Rice Network, 一位香港潮籍米商網絡的思考, Asia-Pacific Forum. 亞太研究論壇, Taipei, Center for Asia-Pacific Area Studies, Academia Sinica, 2010, N. 47: 87-105. |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Wong S.L., From Nylonkong to Haiwankong: An Imagination, 從紐倫港至海灣港的聯想, Yazhou zhoukan (Asia Weekly). 亞洲週刊, Hong Kong, Yazhou Zhoukan Limited, 2009, 23, no. 32: 36-38 (in Chinese). |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Wong S.L., The Myth and the Rise of the Erasian Compradorial Network in Hong Kong , 香港歐亞混血買辦崛起之謎, Historical Review. 史林, Shanghai, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, 2010, 118: 1-14. |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Wong S.L., Unraveling the Identity Complexity of Ho Shai-lai, 何世禮身份認同的心結, Twenty-First Century Bimonthly. 二十一世紀, Hong Kong, The Institute of Chinese Studies, CUHK, 2009, 114: 104-113 (in Chinese). |
| Researcher : Wong WL |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Wong W.L., Ng K.M. and Chan A.N.I.T.A. .K.W., (the Construction Of "good Mom": Investigating Into A Hong Kong's Parenting Magazine), 解構香港育兒雜誌的「好媽媽」, (Journal of Gender Equity Education). 性別平等教育季刊, Taipei, Ministry of Education, ROC, 2010, 49: 106-113. |
| Wong W.L., An Oral History Study of Mobility Experience of Chinese Educated Immigrant Women in Hong Kong, 104th American Sociological Association Annual Meeting: The New Politics of Community, American Sociological Association, 8-12 Aug, San Francisco, CA, USA. 2009. |
| Researcher : Zheng VWT |
| Project Title: | Hong Kong as Financial gateway for taiwanese Enterprises |
| Investigator(s): | Zheng VWT, Ho CT, Wong SL |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | General Research Fund (GRF) |
| Start Date: | 10/2008 |
| Abstract: |
| 1) To review the intermediate role of Hong Kong in facilitating Taiwanese firms to start their businesses in the Chinese mainland; 2) To examine why Taiwanese companies choose to be listed in Hong Kong and how the public capital raised adds fuel to their expansion; 3) To understand organizational and managerial changes of Taiwanese companies after listing; 4) To probe the making of Hong Kong as a regional financial centre |
| Project Title: | 2009 Bananas-ISSCO Conference: Rising Dragon, Soaring Bananas Professional mainlanders in Hong Kong: Profile, Prospect and Problem |
| Investigator(s): | Zheng VWT |
| Department: | Ctr of Asian Studies |
| Source(s) of Funding: | URC/CRCG - Conference Grants for Teaching Staff |
| Start Date: | 07/2009 |
| Completion Date: | 07/2009 |
| Abstract: |
| N/A |
| Project Title: | Negotiating identities: A comparative study of threee generations of Eurasian women in Hong Kong |
| Investigator(s): | Zheng VWT, Wong SL, Cheng LMCW |
| Department: | HK Institute for Humanities & Soc. Sci. |
| Source(s) of Funding: | Small Project Funding |
| Start Date: | 01/2010 |
| Abstract: |
| This project proposes a cross-generational comparative study of Eurasian women in Hong Kong to shed new light on the role of women in Eurasian entrepreneurial families. Key issues of this project are as follows: Female Lineages of the Ho Clan – Why study the women of a Eurasian entrepreneurial family in Hong Kong? The study of the female lineages of the Ho clan will explain the internal mechanisms of the social reproduction of the “rhizomic” entrepreneurial family structure. A “rhizome” refers to a plant that survives without a trunk; it sustains itself by stretching its branches in multiple directions. What kind of life patterns have these women followed? To whom and in what ways did they get married? These questions will reveal the dynamics within a “rhizomic” entrepreneurial family. Thus, their answer will clarify how the expansion of such “rhizomic” entrepreneurial family structure proceeds. Cross-generational comparison of Eurasian women in Hong Kong – How, if at all, have the social identifications of Eurasian women in Hong Kong changed over generations? Empirical findings on the different generations of Eurasian women figures in the Ho clan will serve as a primary source for a comparative study of the changes of social roles and identities of Eurasian women in Hong Kong. It shall give account of the means of survival these Eurasian women adopted, and the social impact they had on their families and communities. Bridging Hong Kong Society with Eurasian communities – Why does the Ho clan appear more entrepreneurial than other Eurasian families? In what ways has the Ho clan managed to survive while other Eurasian groups have faded from prominence? Unlike other Eurasian groups that have depended more closely on colonial governments or institutional employers, the Ho clan has long been primarily entrepreneurial. A comparative study of the social roles, experiences, and communities of Eurasian women (of the Ho’s and other families) and the social institutions with which they are involved may shed light on both the external and internal factors in Hong Kong society that have contributed to their uniqueness. Women's Identities amongst Eurasian Communities – Who are the Eurasian Women in Hong Kong? How can we explain their social-cultural experiences? Under what circumstances have they managed to make their voices heard? From the family to other social sectors, the social engagement of various Eurasian women figures will provide evidence of the survival strategies they adopted to cross social and cultural boundaries of class, race and gender. Their life stories will allow examination of how modern institutions offer space to assert one’s transitional identity into a local social identity, and how they generate social capital for their families. |
| List of Research Outputs |
| Cheng L.M.C.W. and Zheng V.W.T., In Search of Chineseness: The Choice of the Ho Sisters, Rising Dragons, Soaring Bananas International Conference. 2009. |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Chow M.A.R.K., In: Zheng Victor and Mark Chow, A Study on Chinese Family Business and Inheritance. 華人家族企業傳承研究, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2010, 1: 303. |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Wong S.L., A Thought on a Hong Kong Chaozhou Rice Merchant's Thai Rice Network, 一位香港潮籍米商網絡的思考, Asia-Pacific Forum. 亞太研究論壇, Taipei, Center for Asia-Pacific Area Studies, Academia Sinica, 2010, N. 47: 87-105. |
| Zheng V.W.T., Chinese Family Business and the Equal Inheritance System: Unravelling the Myth, London and New York, Routledge, 2010, 1: 205. |
| Zheng V.W.T., Chinese Family Business and the Equal Inheritance System: Unravelling the Myth, Chinese Family Business and the Equal Inheritance System: Unravelling the Myth. London and New York, Routledge, 2009, 1: 224. |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Wong S.L., From Nylonkong to Haiwankong: An Imagination, 從紐倫港至海灣港的聯想, Yazhou zhoukan (Asia Weekly). 亞洲週刊, Hong Kong, Yazhou Zhoukan Limited, 2009, 23, no. 32: 36-38 (in Chinese). |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Chow C...W..., Grand Old Man of Hong Kong: Sir Shouson Chow, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciencs, 2010, 1: 1-332. |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Wong S.L., Ho Tung Family: Tradition and Inheritance, 何東家族的繼統與傳宗, In: Zheng, Victor and Mark Chow, A Study on Chinese Family Business and Inheritance. 華人家族企業傳承研究, Hong Kong, Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sceinces, 2010, 1: 36. |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Wong S.L., Ho Tung and His Compradorial Family Network , 何東買辦家族的政商網絡, Compradore and the Modern China . 買辦與近代中國, Hong Kong, Joint Publishing (Hong Kong) Limited, 2009, 1: 126-167 (in Chinese). |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Wong S.L., Stock Market Forces that have Transformed Hong Kong Family Businesses , 令香港家族企業脫胎換骨的股市力量, Hong Kong Journal of Social Scineces. 香港社會科學學報, Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong Press, 2010, Vol. 38: 29-58. |
| Zheng V.W.T., Wong S.L. and Sun W.B., Taking-off through the Stock Market: The Evolution of Chinese Family Business and Hong Kong's Regional Financial Position , In: Tsai-man C. Ho and Louella Cheng, Economic Dynamism in the Sinospheres and Anglospheres: Identities, Integration and Competition. Hong Kong, The University of Hong Kong, 2010, 1: 303-332. |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Wong S.L., The Myth and the Rise of the Erasian Compradorial Network in Hong Kong , 香港歐亞混血買辦崛起之謎, Historical Review. 史林, Shanghai, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, 2010, 118: 1-14. |
| Zheng V.W.T. and Wong S.L., Unraveling the Identity Complexity of Ho Shai-lai, 何世禮身份認同的心結, Twenty-First Century Bimonthly. 二十一世紀, Hong Kong, The Institute of Chinese Studies, CUHK, 2009, 114: 104-113 (in Chinese). |
| Zheng V.W.T., Will and Women's Life and History in the Early Hong Kong, 早期華人婦女遺屬與生活, In: n.a., Hong Kong Museum of History. 香港歷史博物館, Hong Kong, n.a., 2010, 1: 1-30. |