The Archaeology Talks Series
Room 201, May Hall, The University of Hong Kong, or Via ZoomLanguage: English MH 201 or Via Zoom ihss@hku.hk Registration
Language: English MH 201 or Via Zoom ihss@hku.hk Registration
Title: The Counterparty to Chinese Business: The Upper Yangtze Steam Navigation Scheme and the Opening of Chungking Speaker: Dr. Zigui Li (Sun Yat-sen University) Date/Time: March 21, 2025 (Fri) 09:00-10:00 HKT (Mar 20, 2025 | 18:00-19:00 PDT) Language: English Venue: via Zoom Enquiry: (Email) ihss@hku.hk Register Now: https://hku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__AMzm8b4Qhivcb896eUyQA#/registration AbstractThe treaty port system has undergone continuous […]
Capitalism is a remarkable system which has re-invented itself throughout history. It has proved capable of co-existing with entirely different political and economic contexts.
DESCRIPTIONBased on previous studies, by making use of extant literature, stele inscriptions, documents and underwater archaeological materials, Yexuan Chen reconstructs the routes of the commercial seafaring of Arab and Chinese merchants, analyzes the organization and cargo management of merchant ships, and explores the international trade patterns during the Medieval era. During this lecture, Yexuan Chen […]
ABSTRACTUniversities are the Hadron Colliders of ideas – places where ideas are distilled, expressed, critiqued and reformulated. That commitment to critical but attentive listening to other viewpoints has a major contribution to make to a society that is becoming increasingly fragmented along ideological grounds.To further counteract such fragmentation, Dr. Lloyd will argue that beauty and […]
ABSTRACTWhy were there no extradition treaties between China and most Western countries historically? Jenny Huangfu Day traces how the fugitive rendition clauses in the Opium War treaties evolved into informal extradition practices and argues that China’s inability to secure reciprocal extradition treaties was rooted in the legacy of extraterritoriality and semi-colonialism. Through an examination of […]
DESCRIPTIONOriginating in the sea, especially in the waters surrounding the low-lying islands of the Maldives, Cypraea moneta (sometimes confused with Cypraea annulus) was transported to various parts of Afro-Eurasia in the prehistoric era, and in many cases, it was gradually transformed into a form of money in various societies for a long span of time. During this Quantitative […]
ABSTRACTEthics and guiding principles enable us to make “right” choices, even when facing conflicting interests. In the money-centric financial industry, practitioners are often faced with such challenges. In a constantly evolving financial landscape, how do ethics play a role in guiding decision-making processes? Can finance professionals truly prioritize ethical behaviour in a competitive and fast-paced […]
DESCRIPTIONNeil J. Cummins of LSE and his co-author use the full-texts of ~36,000 English wills to generate estimates of religiosity, 1300-1850. They distinguish between pro-forma performative statements of belief in a creator God in the preamble, which they term “nominal” religiosity, from “real” religiosity, non-template religious statements in the latter part of the will, and […]
ABSTRACTDue to the relative scarcity of transmitted texts, bronze inscriptions have become one of the principal sources for investigating key issues in early Chinese history—particularly during the Shang and Zhou periods—such as the formation of clan system and kin-based political communities. A wide variety of records were cast onto bronzes, ranging from clan emblems to […]
ABSTRACTQi 齊 emerged as a powerful territorial state in Shandong, eastern China between the seventh and fourth centuries BCE. Over this period, a notable transformation occurred in the political and spatial organization of the Qi state whereby traditional lineage and kin-based power structures were replaced by centralized institutions predicated on certain principles of territorial rule, […]
ABSTRACTMany of the knowledges we can classify as vernacular were enacted by women in spheres that were largely governed by women: whether household maintenance, family emergencies, or basic healthcare. Accessing this level of knowledge and penetrating women’s experience, however, poses significant methodological challenges. Where can we look to find vernacular knowers who left few physical […]
ABSTRACT“Sustainability” has become a trendy term within the business world over the last few years – a Morgan Stanley report estimated that sustainable investment funds add up to US$3.56 trillion in AuM as of Dec 31, 2024, while a report by MSCI estimated that the size of the global carbon credit market was around USD […]
ABSTRACTWe discuss numerous justifications for why Blockchain technology would be highly conducive for the smooth functioning of today’s society. We provide several comparisons between cryptocurrencies issued by blockchain projects – crypto – and conventional government issued currencies – cash or fiat. We develop intuitive analogies – which are later supplemented with formal arguments – that […]
CONFERENCE PROGRAM(PDF version with full abstracts) 21 August 10.45am-11.15am: Registration Location: Faculty Board Room (4.36), Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus 11.15am: Welcome Location: Faculty Board Room (4.36), Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus Panel 1: 11.30am-1pm: Chair: Ghassan Moazzin (The University of Hong Kong) Location: Faculty Board Room (4.36), Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial […]
ABSTRACTAsia, encompassing the eastern Eurasian continent and its island regions, is home to over 60% of the world’s population and is characterized by profound geographical, cultural, and social diversity. Against this widely recognized backdrop, this presentation explores how the economic history of Asia may be conceptualized not merely as a collection of national narratives, but […]
ABSTRACTThis talk explores the logistics networks of the Qin state during its war of unification between 230 and 221 BCE. First, the article investigates the Qin’s “assigned transfer” logistics system, which was comprised of two forms, namely, the transfer of resources among regional administrative units, and that between the central and regional governments. Second, it […]
DESCRIPTION兩千年中國經濟增長中國人民大學農業與農村發展學院助理教授翟潤卓構建了從秦代到1949年連續的、十年分辨率的中國歷史GDP數據集。在兩千多年的歷史中，中國經濟增長軌跡呈現出千年尺度的準倒U型趨勢。從秦代到北宋初期，人均GDP從380國際元（1990年水平）持續增長至1949年之前的最高水平1,430國際元。自北宋以後，人均GDP則表現出長期震盪下降的趨勢，直到19世紀後期長期維持在550國際元的水平。在本次量化歷史網上講座，翟潤卓將解釋經濟增長過程的解構顯示，在兩千多年的歷史中，中國歷史經濟增長呈現出一種馬爾薩斯風格的人口驅動模式，但並不完全符合經典馬爾薩斯(Malthusian)理論中「工資鐵律」所描繪的長期停滯圖景。China’s GDP over Two MillenniaRunzhuo Zhai of Renmin University of China constructs, for the first time, a decadal GDP dataset for China from 220 BCE to 1949 CE, which, when linked to adjusted post-1949 data based on official surveys, offers a clear view of China’s economic performance over the past two millennia. The continuous series […]
ABSTRACTThe Yunnan–Indochina Railway, a French investment in imperial China during the age of “railroad colonialism,” was designed to link French-colonized Indochina to Chinese markets and to stimulate cross-border trade in tin, silk, tea, and opium. Yet this ambitious project came at a devastating human cost: thousands of Chinese workers lost their lives during its brutal […]
ABSTRACTIn recent years, contents showing deep knowledge about African countries and people have been increasingly popular in Chinese social media, especially on short video platforms. Such knowledge often contains insider business information and cultural understandings of Africa that are difficult to get without living in Africa for a long time. Drawing on a handcrafted dataset […]
DESCRIPTIONXinhao Li, Research PhD Candidate of HKU Business School, examines the impact of import penetration in 1876-1892 on subsequent industrial development in China from 1896 to 1936. He collects import values for Chinese inland prefectures from the annual trade reports at each port of the Chinese Maritime Customs. Matching the imports with industrial establishments at […]
DESCRIPTIONEarly industrialization created a tension between new economic opportunities and traditional social norms that confined women to the domestic sphere. Xinxian Li, Research PhD Candidate of HKU Business School, examines how female industrial pioneers helped mediate this tension by prompting more women to participate in factory employment during the early industrialization in late 19th to […]
ABSTRACTIn recent years, cultural archaeology has broadened its scope to include churches and seminaries, leading to groundbreaking discoveries in North China that uncover evidence of missionary activities and Christian communities. Church records — comprising extensive land and property deeds, along with economic and business documents — serve as invaluable primary sources, challenging traditional narratives and […]
ABSTRACTPeriods of financial distress and corporate restructuring present not only complex challenges but also exceptional opportunities for family businesses. This lecture explores both the theoretical foundations and practical applications of corporate restructuring and turnaround management, including the interplay between market cycles, inter-creditors dynamics, and the corporate restructuring analytical framework, with a special focus on the […]
