The Hong Kong History Centre at the University of Bristol and the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”
‘Little Gidding’, T.S. Eliot 

What can we learn about Hong Kong’s history from thinking about journeys? Hong Kong was a point of arrival, and a point of departure; it was a waypoint, and a port of call; it was a place of entrapment, and a place of release. Journeys were made around and through Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories and islands, on land, on water, and in the air. We can think of journeys as a metaphor, as well as thinking about them literally; we can consider individual journeys, and the movement of families and groups; we can think about people, and we can think about non-human journeys, as well as modes of travel. There is scope to consider the restriction, and the facilitation and encouragement of mobility, and of the journey as a means to an end and as an end in itself, and of risk, and of opportunity. 

This conference, co-organised by the Hong Kong History Centre at the University of Bristol, and the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong, takes the theme of journeys and journeying as its topic, and we take this as point of departure for new discussions of the history of Hong Kong in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 

This is an in-person conference. Please be reminded that registration is required for attendance – we do not accept walk-ins. There is limited availability, and you can register on TicketPass.