4. May, 18:15 – 19:45
VG 2.103

Abstract:
As always, there are conflicting narratives on Hong Kong’s history from the British colonial period to the present comprehensive rule of the People’s Republic of China. In the early transition from British to Chinese rule in early 2000s, there were two contradictory views in explaining the economic success of the colonial Hong Kong, namely the nationalistic narrative – ‘Hong Kong has been part of Chinese territory since ancient times’ and the colonial narrative – ‘Hong Kong as a barren-rock-turned capitalist-paradise by benevolent rule’. In the present day of China’s Hong Kong, the debate continues with two opposing narratives. It involves the official campaign of telling the world the ‘good story’ of Hong Kong following ‘the new stage of transition from chaos to order’, which is to combat the ‘bad story’ of distorted anti-China prejudice. According to renowned literary educators, ‘telling the story of Hong Kong is so difficult’ (Leung Ping-kwan’s words) and ‘the personality and life of Hong Kong are blurred and obscured’ (Lo Wai-luen’s words), this presentation inquires the ambiguities of Hong Kong stories and the society has been navigating under superpowers in history.

Speaker:
Wai-Yip Ho is currently the Honorary Research Fellow, Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies, University of Exeter; Correspondent Member, Nantes Institute for Advanced Studies. He is the author of Islam and China’s Hong Kong: Ethnic Identity, Muslim Networks and the new Silk Road (Routledge: London, 2015, paperback). He held several research fellowship and research appointments, including the François Chevalier Fellow (2021-2022), Madrid Institute for Advanced Study (MIAS); Sir Edward Youde Fellow; Visiting Scholar at Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies at Oxford as well as Endeavour Research Fellow at Australian National University etc. His research interests include Islamic Studies, China’s Christian-Muslim relations, New Media and China’s Islam, etc.

Organizer:
Prof. Dominic Sachsenmaier, University of Göttingen