Cindy Yik-yi Chu, ed., Cardinals, Bishops, and the Indigenization of the Catholic Church in China (Singapore: Springer, 2026). ISBN: 9789819571970

This book compiles papers originally presented at a conference held in Hong Kong in August 2025. The publication commemorates the centenary, in 2026, of the appointment of six Chinese bishops in Rome—a landmark event that ushered in a new era in the history of the Catholic Church in China. The 1926 consecration of these bishops marked a transformative shift toward indigenization, elevating Chinese clergy to positions of significant authority and influence for the first time since the consecration of Luo Wenzao in the seventeenth century. This milestone not only demonstrated the Church’s commitment to fostering local leadership but also challenged the longstanding dominance of Western ecclesiastical structures.

In marking this centenary, the book invites reflection on broader themes of localization, cultural adaptation, and identity within global Catholicism. Contributors from diverse academic disciplines and perspectives examine the evolving roles, responsibilities, and challenges faced by Chinese cardinals and bishops over the past century. Their research delves into how these Church leaders have navigated the complex intersections of faith, culture, and national identity, particularly during periods of social and political upheaval. Collectively, these studies shed light on the dynamic evolution and enduring significance of the Catholic Church in modern Chinese society.

Elvan Cobb, Infrastructured Landscapes: Spatial Histories of Early Ottoman Railways (Leiden: Brill, 2026). ISBN: 9004755977

In Infrastructured Landscapes, Elvan Cobb reveals how the arrival of railways originating from the eastern Mediterranean port city of Izmir reshaped the very fabric of space and experience in western Anatolia during the transformative decades of the late 19th century in the Ottoman Empire. The author argues that trains were significant not only in modernizing the region but also in altering how people perceived and practiced Ottoman spaces. Foregrounding the inherently spatial nature of railways, she examines issues such as how they shifted the sensory geographies of the region, facilitated emergent practices such as tourism and archaeology, and acted as performative spaces where the Ottoman Empire's modernizing ambitions were put on display.

鄺智文著：《薪火龍城 : 家國之間的民生書院(1926-1957)》香港：三聯書店[香港]有限公司，2026年。364頁。ISBN: 9789620458590 & 9789620458583。

民生書院的創立，源於啟德濱住宅計劃的推進下，教育被視為社會與個人現代化的核心而促成。創校校長黃映然堅持獨立辦學、中英並重、兼容並包，帶領書院成為九龍城最具規模的現代學校之一，期間培養出熱愛家國的年青一代，身處1930至1940年代的世界動盪中作出貢獻。1941年底香港淪陷，民生書院遭逢啟德濱校舍遭拆、師生顛沛流離的命運，但仍有教師教學不輟、校友盡力保護學校而得以過渡，戰後在校友群體協助下逐漸重回軌道。縱觀民生書院在二十世紀上半葉的香港城市空間與社會變遷中成形與發展，其歷程反映了殖民管治、華人菁英網絡和香港教育現代化的相互關係。

本書以校史為主軸，結合社會網絡與空間史視角，以各地檔案史料、回憶文獻與口述歷史為基礎，重構1926至1957年間民生書院的草創歲月，並兼論個體抉擇與集體行動如何在不同的歷史背景下互動。民生書院的校史，不但是一場校史材料的整理，更是對香港教育史與二十世紀九龍華人城市社會史的重大補遺。