ABSTRACTIn this session, we are thrilled to hear from Joy Lo Cheung, Chairwoman of Lo Kwee Seong Foundation, on her family’s evolving philanthropy strategy, on women’s philanthropy, and on the future of philanthropy in Asia. Joy’s grandfather, Dr. Lo Kwee Seong, CBE, JP, was a Hong Kong entrepreneur, art collector, and philanthropist who founded Vitasoy, […]
DESCRIPTION清代江蘇士人的家世、仕進與社會流動 科舉制綿延1300餘年，對傳統中國的方方面面產生了重大影響，其中科舉與社會流動的關係尤為惹人注目。 上海交通大學歷史系教授蔣勤利用量化方法研究科舉人物履歷的傳統，根據《通靜二庠題名錄》建立了清代南通和海門兩縣（學）6486名生員資料庫。 研究發現，在科場上，生員層次的社會流動性（階梯寬度）要高於舉人和進士層次，但士紳家庭的競爭優勢體現在各個層級的概率和通過時機上，晉陞階梯實際上在逐階地收窄。 在官場上，由於入仕以獲取中高級科名為前提，那些跨過科舉門檻的平民家庭士子們，在入仕率方面並不顯著低於生員、監生和士紳家庭出身者; 不過士紳家庭出身的舉人更易獲得中高級官職，且就任於州縣官等重要職位，而平民和生監家庭出身的舉人則更易就職於州縣教諭、訓導等學官。 在本次量化歷史網上講座，蔣勤將首次基於一個地區的生員總體，從科舉和仕途兩方面，提供一幅清代士人完整的科舉仕進圖，並且證明科舉確實提供了社會流動的空間，而家世影響更多體現在托舉子代通過科舉獲得更高科名，較難在入仕方面的作用提供直接説明，卻又隱蔽地起作用。 最後，講座還將簡單比較無錫、常熟兩地生員錄和南通生員錄所反映情況的異同。 Family Background, Official Advancement, and Social Mobility of the Jiangsu Literati in the Qing Dynasty The imperial examination system, which spanned over 1,300 years, exerted a profound influence on all aspects of traditional China, particularly regarding social mobility. Qin Jiang from Shanghai Jiao Tong University constructs a […]
This paper examines the transition from limited to open-access societies, focusing on early and high-Tang China (618–906). Using a dataset of 1,200 marriages from 618 to 755, we find that Empress Wu’s rise to power in 674—the first and only female emperor in Chinese history—positively impacted upward mobility. After 674, men from common and poor clans were more likely to marry into elite clans. This increase in inter-class marriages was primarily driven by Empress Wu’s expansion of national civil examinations, which strengthened her legitimacy and created new opportunities for social advancement.
ABSTRACTContrary to perceptions of Chinese culture as static or monolithic, Professor Yu Xie of Princeton University argues that it is profoundly dynamic, multilayered, and continuously evolving. In his latest work, Professor Xie proposes that contemporary Chinese culture emerges from the synthesis of three foundational sources, each with distinct historical and ideological origins. To distinguish these […]
ABSTRACTThis lecture explores Buddhist manuscript cultures in mainland Southeast Asia through the case of the old royal Lao capital of Luang Prabang, drawing on more than fifteen years of research conducted in collaboration with the Buddhist Archives of Luang Prabang. While over ninety percent of surviving Lao manuscripts are written on palm leaves using the […]
ABSTRACT中國正處於財富代際傳承的新階段，家族企業在治理、繼任與價值延續方面面臨新的思考與選擇。CPE源峰將結合研究與實踐，分享對家族傳承的觀察，探討如何以長期、穩健的方式協助家族實現可持續發展。 ABOUT THE SPEAKER劉樂飛先生– 畢業於中國人民大學經濟學，並取得中歐國際工商管理學院工商管理碩士學位 – 現任 CPE 源峰董事長兼 CEO – 曾任中國人壽保險股份有限公司首席投資執行官 – 曾任中國人壽保險股份有限公司投資管理部總經理 – 曾任中信產業基金董事長 – 曾供職於中國國家財政部綜合司 – 中華人民共和國第九屆、第十屆、第十一屆全國青聯委員
ABSTRACTIn this talk, I propose a new approach to studying elite politics by focusing on changes in network structures that emerge from elites’ informal conversations. I apply this method to solve two interrelated puzzles from China’s early reform era (1977-1992): on one hand, why did intense political conflicts frequently occur (often among reformers) despite their […]
ABSTRACTThis article examines the experiences of the DuPont Company’s operations in Shanghai during the tumultuous period of China’s Communist Revolution, from the immediate post-World War II recovery to the outbreak of the Korean War. Drawing upon the DuPont Company archives at the Hagley Museum & Library, this research reveals the pragmatic and often collaborative stance […]
ABSTRACTFocusing on the making of everyday foods in East Asia from the 19th century to the present, Crafting Everyday Food highlights the role of technology in transforming traditional foods into modern commodities and in reinventing industrial foods as heritage foods. The seven expert researchers adopt a unique technological perspective to trace the transformation of traditional […]
ABSTRACTWe analyze whether and how iron technology drove political consolidation in pre-imperial China (770–221 BCE) using the China Archaeological Database (CADB)—689,943 grave goods from 98,020 sites. Dividing the era into eleven 50-year subperiods, we construct a state-level proxy for its quantity of iron weapons and estimate panel and instrumental-variable models linking lagged iron weaponry to […]
DESCRIPTIONThe Qing state launched the ‘new policy’ reform during the first decade of the 20th century. This ambitious and profound reform unexpectedly led to an increasing number of mass action incidents nationwide, ultimately bringing an end to China’s imperial regime. When assessing mass actions during this precarious decade, previous studies often connect them to the […]
ABSTRACTThe Lanten Yao 藍靛瑤 of what is now northern Laos historically lived at the margins of three socio-political systems: the Chinese empire, Tai polities (müang), and the forest. As they migrated into the region, they engaged in cosmological warfare with the forest to conquer their land, a conquest that engaged a pantheon of militarized deities. […]
ABSTRACTDaoism is the indigenous organized religion of China, with a two-thousand-year history, an enormous canon of sacred texts, and a complicated liturgy. However, until fairly recently, Daoism was best known in the West, if at all, as a quaint and exotic philosophy of quietism and mysticism. This was how Daoism was depicted in most readily […]
DESCRIPTIONThe husband-wife occupations significantly influence a family’s economic condition, social capital, and everyday experience. Changes in spousal occupations forms a major aspect of transformation in Chinese families over the twentieth century. Ying Dai of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and her co-author utilise 175 lineage genealogies with 57,501 couples to examine the spousal occupations of […]
ABSTRACTHong Kong is a nexus for business families over the world, with some families celebrating generations in the vibrant community. In this iteration of the HKU Family Wealth Series, the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (“IHSS”) is honoured to have invited Mr Mahesh Harilela to share his perspectives on how his […]
ABSTRACTWhat is the meaning of love in modern Chinese politics? Why has ai (love) been a crucial political discourse for secular nationalism for generations of political leaders as a powerful instrument to the present day? This book offers the first systematic examination of the ways in which the notion of love has been introduced, adapted, […]
ABSTRACTThis talk forms part of a larger project investigating the mechanisms of socialist learning and knowledge accumulation in foreign trade during the Maoist era, through a historical and comparative study of the export lacemaking industries in Fujian and Chaoshan (Guangdong). Drawing on archival sources, it examines how state-led export initiatives prompted both regions to formalize […]
ABSTRACTBeginning in late 2023 the notion of “nine purple li fire trend (jiuzi lihuo yun 九紫离火运)” started to emerge on various Chinese media platforms. The trend (yun 运) is a temporal unit of twenty years from 2024 to 2043 during which the Chinese world enters the final stage in the cosmic cycle of “Three Phases […]
ABSTRACTIn 1375, Emperor Hongwu, sitting in a newly constructed hall, reportedly heard strange noises on the roof. Believing them to be the result of carpenter sorcery, he ordered the execution of all craftsmen involved. Since then, rumors of magic have circulated among both the elite and ordinary villagers.This talk examines two types of sources: anecdotal […]
ABSTRACTThis talk presents Dr Yuan Jia Zheng’s book project, The Transformation of China’s Automobile Industry since 1953: Multinationals, Technology Transfer, and Electric Vehicles, which explores the long-term evolution of China’s automobile sector from a technology importer to a global exporter and innovator. The project traces how China advanced through distinct historical phases from early reliance […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
