Social & Economic History

Trading Diaspora & Heritage Studies

Photogrammetry & Heritage Information Modelling

• Floating in Mud to Reach the Skies: Victor Sassoon and the Real Estate Boom in Shanghai, 1920s–1930s, International Journal of Asian Studies (Cambridge University Press), 2019, Volume 16, Issue 1, pp. 1-31.

• Creating “Family” Networks across Time and Space: The Alsagoffs in Singapore, 1824-2009, Modern Asian Studies (Cambridge University Press) 52, Part 2 (2018), 458-91.

• The Way of Taikoo – A History of the Swire Enterprise in China, 1866-2016 (Hong Kong and Shanghai: Joint Publishing Co. Ltd., 2016) [in Chinese], a commissioned research for John Swire and Sons Ltd., London.

• "Finance and Politics in Guangdong, 1912-16", in John Carroll & Chi-kwan Mark (eds), Critical Readings on the Modern History of Hong Kong, 4 vols. (Leiden: Brill, 2015). Vol. 4, pp. 1061-78.

• “From Ancestral Tong to Joint-stock Company – the Transformation of the Yip Kwong Tai Tong in South China, 1830s-1960s,” International Journal of Asian Studies (Cambridge University Press), 2015, Vol. 12, Issue 1, pp.79-105.

• “Transcending Borders: The Story of the Arab Community in Singapore, 1820-1980s,”in Yuju Lin & Madeline Zelin (eds), Merchant Communities in Asia, 1600-1980 (London: Pickering & Chatto Publishers, 2015), pp. 109-22.

• “Law and its Impact on Diaporic Philanthropic Institutions: The Practices of Sinchew and the Waqf in the Straits Settlements”, in Jayati Bhattachaya & Coonoor Kripalani Thadani (eds), Chinese and Indian Immigrants: Comparative s Perspectives (London: Anthem, 2015), pp. 167-85.

• “Understanding Chinese Customs: the Irish Judges and the Sinchew Disputes in the Straits Settlements, 1830s–1870s,” in John McLaren & Shaunnagh Dorset (eds), Legal Histories of the British Empire: Laws, Engagements and Legacies (London: Routledge, 2014) pp.141-56.

• “Chinese Enterprises Across Cultures: The Hong Kong Business Experience in Early Twentieth Century,” in Ramon H. Myers & Billy So (eds), Treaty-port Economy in Modern China: Institutional Change and Economic Performance in Eight Empirical Studies (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010), pp. 202-18.

• “Chinese Tong as British Trust: Institutional Collisions and Legal Disputes in Urban Hong Kong, 1860s–1980s.” In Modern Asian Studies (Cambridge University Press) Vol. 44, part 4 (2010), 1409-1432.

• “Migration & Enterprise: The Eu Yan Sang Firm and the Eu Kong Pui Family in Foshan, Penang and Hong Kong,” in Yeoh S. G. and Nasution K. (eds), Penang and its Region: The Story of an Asian Entrepot (Singapore: National University of Singapore Press, 2009), pp. 180-90.

• “The Chinese Movie Mogul and the Transformation of his Movie Empire – Loke Wan Tho Family and the Cathay Organisation in Southern China and Southeast Asia (1915-2000),” in Asia Europe Journal, Vol.7, part 3 (2009), pp. 463-478.

• “Moguls of the Chinese Cinema–the Story of the Shaw Brothers in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore, 1924-2002.” Modern Asian Studies (Cambridge University Press) Vol. 41, part 4 (2007), 665-680.

• “Migration and Enterprises-three generations of the Eu Tong Sen Family in Southern China and Southeast Asia, 1822-1941.” Modern Asian Studies (Cambridge University Press) Vol. 39, part 3 (2005), 497-532.

• “Surviving Economic Crises in Southeast Asia and Southern China: The History of Eu Yan Sang Business Conglomerates in Penang, Singapore and Hong Kong.” Modern Asian Studies (Cambridge University Press) Vol. 36, part 3 (2002), 579-618.

• “Mobilization Politics: The Siyi Businessmen in South China.” In Leo Douw, Cen Huang and Michael Godley eds. Qiaoxiang Ties: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Cultural Capitalism in South China, (London: Routledge, 1999), 45-66.

• “Chinese nouveau riche in Southeast Asia as Movie Moguls in Hong Kong-the Stories of Run Run Shaw & Loke Wen Tho.” In Albrecht Rothacher ed. Corporate Globalization, Business Cultures in Europe and in Asia, (London: Marshall Cavendish Academic, 2005), 26-35.

• “Western Law vs. Asian Customs Legal Disputes on Business Practices in India, British Malaya and Hong Kong, 1850s-1930s.” Asia Europe Journal (Heidelberg, Germany) No. 1 (2003): 1-13.

• “Hong Kong Merchants in New China, 1900-11.” In David Faure ed. Hong Kong, A Reader in Social History, (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2003), 335-64.

• “Surviving Economic Crises in Southeast Asia and Southern China: The History of Eu Yan Sang Business Conglomerates in Penang, Singapore and Hong Kong.” Modern Asian Studies (Cambridge University Press.) Vol. 36, Part 3 (July 2002): 579-617.

• Chinese Business Groups in Hong Kong and Political Changes in South China. London: Palgrave, 2003. Electronic edition; hard copy printed in 1998 by Macmillan (London) and St. Martin (New York).

• “Doing Business in Southeast Asia and Southern China-Booms and Busts of the Eu Yan Sang Business Conglomerates, 1876-1941.” In Leo Douw ed. Chinese Transnational Enterprises: Cultural Affinity and Business Strategies, (London: Curzon Press, 2002), 158-83.

Historical Theory and Practice

Social & Economic Development of Modern China (1800-2000)

History of Chinese Food Culture in Global Perspective

China and the Global Economy 1800-2000

Popular Culture in Modern China (1800-2000)

General Research Fund (Research Grant Council) / BHCF / ICHFS Projects

• (01/2025-12/2027) Film Industry and the Straits Chinese between Empires - The Family of Mrs Loke Yew and the Cathay Organisation in Hong Kong, Singapore & Kuala Lumpur, 1920s-70s

• (12/2022-12/2025) Principal Investigator, Trading Diaspora and Screen Connections: Ho Khee-yong Family and Kong Ngee Enterprises in Hong Kong, Singapore, Penang and Ipoh 1930-1970,  Research Grant Council

• (12/2021-03/2025) Principal investigator, Lautau Story Under Water - The Legend of Shek Pik (埋藏在水下的大嶼山故事—石壁傳奇), Lantau Conservation Fund, HK

• (08/2021-08/2024) Principal Investigator,   “Ritual, Food and Community Cohesion - the Story of Basin Feast”, Intangible Cultural Heritage Office, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Government of HKSAR

• (07/2020-07/2023) Principal Investigator, “Mid Autumn Festival: The Pok Fu Lam Fire Dragon Dance,” Intangible Cultural Heritage Office, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, the Government of HKSAR

• (12/2018-12/2022) Principal Investigator, Where “Hong Kong in the Sea” and “Hong Kong on the Land” Meet – A Study on the Conservation of Historic Buildings Clusters in the Ap Lei Chau- Aberdeen-Lamma Island Area, Thematic Research on Built Heritage Conservation, Development Bureau, the Government of the HKSAR.

• (12/2016-06/2020) Principal Investigator, Trading Diaspora and Merchant Community-The Sassoon and Kadoorie Family Enterprise in the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia and Coastal China, 1830-1990, Research Grant Council

• (12/2009-06/2014) Principal Investigator, “Islamic Endowments [the Waqf] and the Chinese Ancestral [Tong]: A Comparative Appraisal of the Evolution of Ethical Capitalism, 1830-2007”, Research Grant Council

• (12/1999-06/2003) Principal Investigator, “Family, Ethnicity and Business Expansion – the case of the Eu Yan Sang firm in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, the Straits Settlements and British Malaya, 1876-1999”, Research Grant Council

• (12/1997-06/1999) Co-investigator, “The papers of Robert Morrison”, Research Grant Council

• 2022 -present: The Shaw Foundation & the Shaw Movie City Hong Kong Limited
  "Legacy and impact of Shaw brothers: immersive and interactive interpretation in twin cities (Singapore and Hong Kong)"

• 2019-present: Civil Engineering and Development Dept, HKSAR.
  Topic: “Consultancy Services for Cultural and Historical Studies for Rural Villages Along Tung O Ancient Trail (東澳古道) at Lantau”

• 2017-18: Commissioned Research for the Hong Kong Housing Society”, HKSAR
  Topic: “A History of Public Housing in Hong Kong”

• 2014-16: Commissioned research for John Swire and Sons Limited, London
  Topic: “A History of the Swire Enterprise in China, 1866-2016”

• 2014-15: Commissioned research for the Hong Kong Museum of History, HKSAR
  Topic: “Merchant Communities in Hong Kong - the Story of the Portuguese”

• 2013-14: Commissioned research for the Hong Kong Museum of History, HKSAR
  Topic: “Merchant Communities in Hong Kong - the Story of the Parsee (Zoroastrian)”

• 2012-13: Commissioned research for the Antiquities and Monuments Office, HKSAR
  Topic: “A survey on the Lung Tsun Stone Bridge, Kowloon Walled City”

• 2009-2012: Commissioned research for the “Hong Kong Memory” project, Leisure and Cultural Services Department, HKSAR
  Topic: “A survey on the Shaw Brothers [movie enterprise] Archive Collection”

• 2000-2002: Commissioned research for the Hong Kong Chinese Chamber of Commerce, HKSAR
  Topic: “A Centennial History of the Hong Kong Chinese General Chamber of Commerce”