Speaker: Professor Sebastian Veg, Centre for Historical Research, EHESS (School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences), Paris
Moderator: Dr. Alvin K. Wong, Department of Comparative Literature, HKU
Date: Monday, March 13, 2023 Time: 5:00 pm (Hong Kong Time) Venue: On Zoom and Face-to-Face
The role and place of intellectuals in colonial Hong Kong, while long understudied, has recently come into sharper focus. However, there are still many areas worthy of further and more systematic exploration. One of these is the role played by intellectuals during the Sino-British negotiations on Hong Kong’s future. At a time when many intellectuals advocated “democratic reunification,” how did civil society more broadly engage with a process that was mainly conceived as a diplomatic prerogative? How were issues such as political reform discussed within society as well as in connection with developments in mainland China? What role did intellectuals play in establishing connections across the border?
Sebastian Veg is a professor of intellectual history of modern and contemporary China at EHESS (School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences), Paris. His latest book is “Minjian: The Rise of China’s Grassroots Intellectuals” (Columbia UP, 2019).
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Date & Time: March 8, 2023 (Wed) 16:30-18:00pm Language: Putonghua Venue: CPD-1.21, Level 1, Central Podium, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU
Eileen Chang went on to become an active member in the cultural fields of Shanghai and Taiwan. Even after her death in 1995, she still exerted a profound impact on literature today. Since the publication of her early fiction and essays after 1943, she and her subsequent works continued to be imagined by the cultural fields of the two places. An enormous number of reports concerning Eileen Chang appeared in newspapers and magazines, including the author and her writing, her interaction with other intellectuals and scholars, her movies and film promotion, etc. These reports provide a wealth of data that could shed light on the structure of different cultural fields. For example, the reports showed how Eileen Chang and her writing interacted with different members in the cultural fields such as publishers, editors of newspapers and magazines, scholars, readers, etc. This talk discusses how the ‘imagination’ process of Eileen Chang was affected by cultural fields in Shanghai and Taiwan.
Dr. Leung Mo-Ling, Rebecca received her BA, MPhil, and PhD in Chinese from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and obtained Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Hong Kong. She is currently Head of Creative Arts cum Associate Professor of the School of Arts and Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Metropolitan University and the Director of the Tin Ka Ping Centre of Chinese Culture. She has published numerous papers in renowned journals such as Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies and Bulletin of the Department of Chinese Literature National Chengchi University. She also published books titled Chinese Creative Writing and Multimedia in Practice, Imagination and Shaping: The Newspaper Coverage of Eileen Chang in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Visuality, Gender and Power: The Imaginations in Novels from Liu Na’ou, Mu Shiying to Eileen Chang and The Studies of Chinese Humanities in the Digital Era etc. Her research interests lie primarily in the area of Chinese modern literature, Chinese contemporary literature, cultural & film theory and creative writing. Apart from academic research, she is also enthusiastic about creative writing. She obtained the prestigious “Unitas Award for New Novelists” in Taiwan in 2002. Her new novel A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments 02.21 was published in Taiwan in 2021.
This event is held as part of the New Directions in Eileen Chang Studies Lecture Series | 張愛玲研究新方向講座系列 Co-hosted by School of Chinese and Department of Comparative Literature, HKU Co-sponsored by Louis Cha Fund for Chinese studies & East/West studies in the Faculty & Center for the Study of Globalization and Cultures (CSGC)
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Speaker: Harmony Yuen, MPhil Candidate in Comparative Literature, HKU
Respondent: Dr. Mei Ting Li, Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Moderator: Dr. Alvin K. Wong, Department of Comparative Literature, HKU
Date: Thursday, March 2, 2023 Time: 4:30 pm Hong Kong Time Venue: F2F and On Zoom
Within the discourse of Hong Kong popular culture, queer girlhood has been considered a temporary and transitional phase to outgrow. Queer cinema characterizes same-sex desire as a universal female experience that operates on the temporal logic that lesbian intimacy is “just a phase”. Engaging closely with Jack Halberstam, José Muñoz, and Elizabeth Freeman’s theorization of queer time, this seminar takes a different approach to look at Cantopop as a space for queer expression.
The romantic universe of Joey Yung and Denise Ho’s pair of songs invents an impossible, utopian future that is not fixed within a specific temporal dimension, while Sophy Wong’s discography projects queerness onto the non-human, grotesque bodies of the allegorical lizard and figure of the beast.
Using at17 (Ellen Loo and Eman Lam) as a case, the seminar focuses on the mode of “queer liminality” of the duo: at the threshold of adulthood, they navigate alternative ways of experiencing female friendship, intimacy and growth. Rather than departing completely from the linear and progressive narrative of life, at17 interacts with traditionally heteronormative ideals while while turning sideways to a way of life that does not adhere strictly to reproductive temporality. This in-between space is what I refer to as “queer liminality” projected through the duo’s schoolgirl sonic aesthetic.
Harmony Yuen is a 2nd year MPhil candidate in the Department of Comparative Literature at the University of Hong Kong.
Image source: @MediaAsiaMusic
For updates on future events hosted by the Center for the Study of Globalization and Cultures, please visit https://csgchku.wordpress.com/
