Academic Activities
Recapping the Academic Seminar “Environmental Humanities in My Early Career” on 18 September 2025
Dr. SHIH Yu-Cheng, a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Institute for the Humanities (RIH) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, shared his personal insights on environmental history research with postgraduate students on 18 September 2025. Dr. SHIH is currently expanding his doctoral dissertation into a book manuscript, focusing on the natural environment and social transformations of modern Jiangnan. During his master’s studies, Dr. SHIH shifted his focus from studying Han bamboo slips to modern environmental history, which he found very challenging. Between 2020 and 2023, Dr. SHIH encountered the COVID-19 pandemic when conducting archival research and fieldwork in Jiangnan, which brought him both great difficulties and unique experiences. Dr. SHIH introduced various interdisciplinary methods he uses in studying modern Jiangnan: fieldwork, archival research, and digital humanities. For example, he conducted oral history interviews and field studies with fishermen in Suzhou and Qingpu, applied Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to trace the evolution of Catholic fishing communities, and attempted to construct multilingual historical databases with the help of AI. He pointed out that Jiangnan is more than the stories of cities, urban elites and intellectuals. In the broader rural Jiangnan, there remain many little-known aspects that deserve further exploration.
Upcoming Events
World History Seminar (2025-26)
| Date: | 29 September 2025 (Monday) |
| Time: | 5:00pm-6:30pm |
| Venue: | Conducted online via ZOOM (Webinar ID: 982 9976 4121) |
| Speaker: | Prof. CHAN Ying-kit Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore |
| Language: | English |
Organizer: Centre for Comparative and Public History, Department of History, CUHK
Enquiry: 3943 8541
Academic Seminar
| Date: | 2 October 2025 (Thursday) |
| Time: | 4:30pm-6:30pm |
| Venue: | L4, 2/F, Science Centre, CUHK (SC L4) |
| Speaker: | Prof. OUYANG Zhesheng Department of History, Peking University |
| Language: | Putonghua |
Organizer: Centre for Chinese History, Department of History, CUHK
Enquiry: 3943 8541
Academic Writing Workshop 2025-26
| Date: | 10 October 2025 (Friday) |
| Time: | 2:30pm-3:30pm |
| Venue: | LT2, Swire Hall, Fung King Hey Building, CUHK (SWH 2) |
| Speaker: | Prof. HE Xi Department of History, CUHK |
| Language: | Putonghua |
Organizer: M.A. Programme in Comparative and Public History, Department of History, CUHK
Enquiry: 3943 8659
For teachers and students who have information to share with the Department, please email your articles in both Chinese and English to chanfiona@cuhk.edu.hk by 4:00pm every Monday.
