Recent Research Projects

“Festivals in Hong Kong: Past and Present”

Funded by the Hong Kong Museum of History, HKSAR Government                                        Amount of Grant: HK$649,478

Project Investigator: Prof. Selina Ching Chan

Project Description:

This research aims to explore the relationship between festivals and the historical development of Hong Kong, and analyze how the performance of festivals reveals the colonial political background and the historical characteristics of the immigrant society. It examines how various festivals have been performed in the era of fishing and farming, entrepot trading economy, industrialization, globalization, and reunification of Hong Kong to China. It also investigates how festivals appear in urban public spaces in new forms and with new meanings at various times, revealing the changes in the daily lives of Hong Kong people and their diverse and complex identities. It examines how the performance of various festivals today embodies the unique hybrid culture with reference to the changes in traditional patriarchal society, the intermixing of different types of cultures brought by the immigrants to Hong Kong, the impact of globalization, as well as the influence of consumerism.