Billy K. L. So is currently Fellow and Visiting Professor at the HKIHSS. He served as Vice Rector (Student Affairs) and Chair Professor of History at The University of Macau (UM, 2019 – 2022). Prior to his service at UM, he was Chair Professor of Humanities at HKUST and Chair Professor of History and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor at CUHK. He specializes in Chinese economic history and comparative history of law and business. His publications include, among others, Prosperity, Region, and Institutions in Maritime China (Harvard, 2000, sole author) and The Treaty Port Economy in Modern China: Empirical Studies of Institutional Change and Economic Performance (IEAS, UC Berkeley, 2011, co-editor) as well as journal articles and book chapters published in T’oung Pao, Bulletin of SOAS, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 《清華法學》, The Cambridge Economic History of China Volume 1, To 1800, and others.