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The Beginnings; Local History before the 1970s
While the first History of Hong Kong was published as early as 1862, systematic research on local history began only in the 1950s/early 60s, when a handful of pioneers helped to lay the foundation. Though few in number, they may be divided roughly into five groups, based on different background, training, approach, focus and methodology.
Mainstream Chinese Historians
One group were Chinese historians arriving in Hong Kong from the Mainland after the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Their interest in Hong Kong was a new phenomenon since in the eyes of 'mainstream' Chinese historians, Hong Kong was simply too peripheral to 'real history', i.e. 'dynastic' history, and therefore, too insignificant to warrant serious scholarly attention. However, now that they were to work in Hong Kong, they began to devolve some of their energy on local studies. They 'discovered' Hong Kong, so to speak.
The first scholar to study the localities was Lo Hsiang-lin who joined the Chinese Department of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 1951. One of the courses he taught, ‘Introduction to Historiography', had a Hong Kong history component which lasted ten weeks, and during this time, students were taken to visit historical sites throughout the territory. His first major work on Hong Kong was published in 1959 in Chinese, An English version appeared in 1963, entitled, Hong Kong and Its External Communications Before 1842 the History of Hong Kong Prior to British Arrival. Each of the ten chapters deals with one locality or topic, and the book represents the most detailed local study to date
Lo Hsiang-lin also researched into Dr. Sun Yat-sen's history in Hong Kong, and discovered a large number of documents and sites related to Sun.
Other historians in this group included Jen Yu-wen, Jao Tsung-yi and later, Lin Tien-wen, but it must be emphasized that Hong Kong was quite peripheral to their main studies They wrote only occasionally on Hong Kong, and only where it featured in mainstream history. For instance when Jen Yu-wen wrote about the Sung Wong Toi, (a knoll near the Hong Kong International Airport), it was because the two last emperors of the
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148
The Beginnings; Local History before the 1970s
While the first History of Hong Kong was published as early as 1862, systematic research on local history began only in the 1950s/early 60s, when a handful of pioneers helped to lay the foundation. Though few in number, they may be divided roughly into five groups, based on different background, training, approach, focus and methodology.
Mainstream Chinese Historians
One group were Chinese historians arriving in Hong Kong from the Mainland after the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Their interest in Hong Kong was a new phenomenon since in the eyes of 'mainstream' Chinese historians, Hong Kong was simply too peripheral to 'real history', i.e. 'dynastic' history, and therefore, too insignificant to warrant serious scholarly attention. However, now that they were to work in Hong Kong, they began to devolve some of their energy on local studies. They 'discovered' Hong Kong, so to speak.
The first scholar to study the localities was Lo Hsiang-lin who joined the Chinese Department of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 1951. One of the courses he taught, ‘Introduction to Historiography', had a Hong Kong history component which lasted ten weeks, and during this time, students were taken to visit historial sites throughout the territory. His first major work on Hong Kong was published in 1959 in Chinese, An English version appeared in 1963, entitled, Hong Kong and Its External Communications Before 1842 the History of Hong Kong Prior to British Arrival. Each of the ten chapters deals with one locality or topic, and the book represents the most detailed local study to date
Lo Hsiang-lin also researched into Dr. Sun Yat-sen's history in Hong Kong, and discovered a large number of documents and sites related to Sun.
Other historians in this group included Jen Yu-wen, Jao Tsung-yi and later, Lin Tien-wer, but it must be emphasized that Hong Kong was quite peripheral to their main studies They wrote only occasionally on Hong Kong, and only where it featured in mainstream history. For instance when Jen Yu-wen wrote about the Sung Wong Toi, (a knoll near the Hong Kong International Airport), it was because the two last emperors of the
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