The Changing ‘China’ Elements in China Studies in the University of Hong Kong

Abstract

This article aims to give a broad picture of the development of Chinese/China Studies at the University of Hong Kong until the 1970s. Courses on Chinese were conducted from the very beginning of the establishment of the University of Hong Kong. Chinese Studies at the University of Hong Kong started with the first two migrant scholars to Hong Kong and reflected the pre-Republican style cultivated in the imperial civil service examinations. However, the curriculum changed gradually after the establishment of the Department of Chinese. Xu Dishan and Chen Junbao took the reform further. In the post-World War II period, Frederick Seguier Drake was Professor in the Department of Chinese Studies until 1964 and consolidated the Department. Its development coincided with the basic policy of neutrality pursued by the Hong Kong government with respect to the ongoing tension between the United States and the PRC. By the 1960s, it appeared that more expatriate staff were becoming interested in the study of China and Hong Kong. This led to the establishment of the Centre of Asian Studies in 1967, the first centre where Contemporary China Studies could be pursued.