HKU Bulletin August 2010 (Vol. 11 No. 3)

30 The University of Hong Kong Bulletin 31 August 2010 HONG KONG: centre of trade – and history? Hong Kong has unique advantages for scholars of international history. Professor Chen Jian Hong Kong is a city that has been and continues to be shaped by international forces. Fittingly, the Department of History is drawing on this background to position itself as a global centre of international history, which is concerned with relations between nations and groups of nations. “Hong Kong is distinctive not just because of its geographical position, but also because it is a mixture of all kinds of historical forces,” says Visiting Research Professor Chen Jian, a distinguished scholar in the field. “Its position leading up to 1997 and after are closely related to the transformation of the field of international history. We saw the de-emphasising of the American-centric perspective and an understanding of internal factors in East Asia and China. Hong Kong today is a product of these international factors. It is a focal point of international, inter-societal and intercultural studies.” And HKU has the potential to be the focal point in Hong Kong of these studies, he says. It has a strong group of scholars in the field and two relevant strategic research themes: China and the West, and Contemporary China. “The great challenge facing the university is to make these two themes not just HKU’s themes, but to link them to the larger academic world. Hong Kong is located between the most rapidly emerging economy in the world and the larger world, and it is a window and a bridge for them. How can we develop the potential of Hong Kong into a reality? Through strengthening international study. We can’t make it a centre of international history overnight but we can greatly enhance Hong Kong’s position.” Professor Chen represents one of the efforts to enhance that position. He is one of the leading lights in international history and holds a chair professorship at Cornell University, as well as academic posts at East China Normal University in Shanghai and the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars. As a Visiting Research Professor, he is spending six to eight weeks here each year over four years meeting with students and researchers, making speeches and presentations, and helping to organize workshops. The Department is also developing academic exchanges in international history and organizing conferences on the subject. Professor Chen’s area of specialty is Cold War-era international history, including China’s development and its relations with the world. He has a foot, and deep experience, in both places: apart from his academic ties, he is a former Red Guard who spent two short stints in prison, and he is based in the US and shared in a 2005 Emmy Award for the documentary Declassified: Nixon in China. “People have two tendencies about China. One, they think its rise is irreversible, that we’ve already reached a stage where it’s an established fact, which I don’t think is the case. China’s age of revolution has created a huge legacy that still needs to be digested and understood. There are factors that could affect its position. Corruption and the one- party dictatorship are really big challenges for China. “The other tendency is that people think China’s rise will present a huge threat to the rest of the world. But China’s challenge is not to challenge other parts of the world, its challenge is to meet its internal challenges.” Professor Chen’s role is to bring a historian’s perspective to bear, so people can consider the forces that shape today’s world. “I’m not a big theory person. I think our task is just to tell a good story and make sense of it. People who have lived through some interesting recent past are interested in knowing how and why things have happened. Mao, China and the Cold War books sell. It’s academically meaningful and sound, and it’s also interesting.” The Visiting Research Professor Programme was started in 2009 to attract leading scholars from overseas whose areas of specialty can benefit research at HKU and who can nurture young scholars. Sixteen academics have been appointed so far and they will visit regularly over three to four years for six to eight weeks each time. “By bringing in senior, active and well-known researchers for substantial periods, it is hoped that a deep and lasting partnership could develop,” Professor Paul Tam, Pro- Vice-Chancellor for Research, said. People