The Oysterman, the Farmer, and the Marine Police: Hong Kong History at Its Borders
Tuesday, 12 November 2024 | 14:30 to 16:30 EST | Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library | Eighth Floor, 130 St. George Street, Toronto
The Seventh Bernard H.K. Luk Memorial Lecture in Hong Kong Studies
with Denise Y. Ho, School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
What does Hong Kong history look like at its borders? This talk examines the experiences of three figures whose life and work traversed Hong Kong’s border with China, focusing on the period from the establishment of the People’s Republic to the early years of China’s era of “reform and opening-up.” The Deep Bay oysterman inherited a complex system of ownership and an ecologically sensitive industry; over the years he had to navigate the complexity of the Cold War on the “Bamboo Curtain” as well as the threats of the Cultural Revolution. The New Territories farmer who held land at and across the border with China also had to deal with the political campaigns that collectivized agriculture; local officials on both sides attempted to maintain the status quo despite contested claims exacerbated by refugee flight. Finally, the marine policeman had to patrol the liminal boundaries of Hong Kong’s territorial waters, both agent and witness to the human impact of local and international political events. The collective biographies of these three figures call our attention to the contingency and porosity of the border, to the effect of the global on the local, and to the centrality of the margins.
Denise Y. Ho is an associate professor in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where she teaches modern Chinese history. She is the author of Curating Revolution: Politics on Display in Mao’s China (Cambridge 2018) and a co-editor (with Jennifer Altehenger) of Material Contradictions in Mao’s China (University of Washington 2022). Ho is currently completing a book manuscript entitled The Nation’s Gate: A Cross-Border History of Hong Kong and China. Ho received her PhD from Harvard University. Prior to joining the faculty of Georgetown, she taught at Yale University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the University of Kentucky.
This event is organized the Organizing Committee of the Bernard H.K. Luk Memorial Lecture in Hong Kong Studies at the York Centre for Asian Research and co-sponsored and hosted by the Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library.
