Events

Public Lectures on History and Business in China 2013-14度生濟世:從原籍大歸看香港與全球華人慈善網絡

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Date:

17 Mar 2014

Time:

7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Venue:

Lecture TheatreG/F, Hong Kong Central Library66 Causeway RoadCauseway Bay, Hong Kong

Speaker(s):

Prof. YIP Hon MingProfessor and Department ChairDepartment of HistoryThe Chinese University of Hong Kong

Biography of Speaker:

Professor Yip’s research specializations and interests include modern and contemporary Chinese socio-economic history, local history, history of the overseas Chinese, Hong Kong-China relations and overseas networks, and gender/women’s history. She has presented her research findings on charity and colonialism, the protection of women in early colonial Hong Kong, charitable activities and the global Chinese network, transnational charity and the Chinese homebound burial custom, Hong Kong and the south China-north America charity network, the homebound burial tradition of the overseas Chinese in the U.S. and Canada in the early 20th century, homebound burial and overseas Chinese benevolent associations, the Tung Wah Coffin Home and its archives, etc. On top of book chapters and journal articles, she is the author of Zhuti de zhuixun: Zhongguo funu shi yanjiu (In search of subjectivities: Historical studies of Chinese women), Shehuishi and Zhongguo funu yanjiu (Social history and the studies of Chinese women), Koushushi de xingbie weidu (EnGendering Oral History), Donghua yizhuang yu Huanqiu cishan wangluo: Dangan wenxian ziliao de yinzheng yu qishi (The Tung Wah Coffin Home and global charity network: Evidence and findings from archival materials), etc., editor of Quanqiuhua yu xingbie: Quanqiu jingji chongzu dui Zhongguo he Dongnanya funu de yiyi (Globalization and gender: The implications of global economic restructuring for women in China and Southeast Asia), co-author/compiler of Dianshizhai huabao tongjian (Indexes of the Dianshizhai Pictorial) and Women in China: Bibliography of Available English Language Materials, and co-editor of Xingbieue yu funu yanjiu: Huaren shehui de tansuo (Gender and women’s studies in Chinese societies), Xingbie juexing: Liangan sandi shehui xingbie yanjiu (Gender awakening: Gender research in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong), and Tung Chung before and after the New Airport: An Ethnographic and Historical Study of a Community in Hong Kong.

Admission:

Admission is free. Seat reservation is required. To reserve a seat, please
– register online at http://www.history.cuhk.edu.hk/Event/2014_HBC/
– call at (852) 3943 7119 / (852) 3943 8541

Enquiries:

(852) 3943 7119 / (852) 3943 8541

Synopsis of Lecture:

助葬原是中國傳統善舉要項,但二十世紀上半期世界各地華人原籍安葬的安排,卻既與傳統有關,也有現代元素;而海外華人歸葬故土的要求,除了民間信仰、習俗、思家懷鄉之情以外,還因華僑在僑居地所受待遇的影響竟及於其身後事。早年在僑居地辭世的先僑,身後仍受歧視,難覓久安良墓,恐成孤魂野鬼,故都盼望終能歸葬故鄉祖墳山地,接受家人祭祀,以止息安所,落葉歸根。大歸於原籍的傳統隨著十九世紀末華人的大量出國逐漸形成,而這種傳統的維持,端賴香港在以後長達大半個世紀的歲月裡所扮演的基要中介角色。截至上世紀五十年代原籍安葬因中國大陸受禁運影響而中止,香港一直接收自海外運囘的先僑棺骨。與大陸毗鄰的地利之便,以及開埠後成為亞洲主要商埠和國際貿易重鎮的發展,促進了香港的交通運輸業和法律制度的現代化。香港的東華義莊就在聯繫海內外慈善團體、每年自海外運送數以千計棺柩及骨殖回鄉的工作上發揮了關鍵的作用。 這個以香港為樞紐的全球華人原籍歸葬網絡,也是個全球華人慈善網絡。死生大事也,度生亦同度死,對離家背鄉、生孤死獨的至大之苦行至大之善,堪稱慈善的極致表現。這種澤及四方的濟世善舉也被視爲一種不可思議的現象,其在全球華人世界中的運作機制及其歷史意義,仍有待細究。香港所發揮的中介作用,尤不容忽視。

Remarks: