Zongyue Liu

My thesis studies the preconditions for the development of localism in Hong Kong (HK) 1950–81, specifically the role played by the development of HK’s education and housing sectors in the emergence of these preconditions. The thesis investigates the many intertwining factors affecting the pace of these developments, among them demography; social stability; economic conditions; government-private cooperation; and social mobility of the HK-Chinese.

My MPhil thesis (ESH, Oxford) reviewed the economy of HK from 1982 to 1996, and in particular investigated the effects of the Sino-British negotiations on HK’s economy; the efforts made by the HK government to improve the resilience of HK's financial system; and the response of HK-Chinese to the city’s political future. Before starting this MPhil in 2018, I completed a MRes in Economics from the University of Essex and a BSc in Mathematics from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. I have also worked for two years as a research assistant at a securities company in Central, Hong Kong, after my BSc course.

Besides the economic and social history of post-1949 colonial HK, I am interested in British banks' activities in the PRC, the economic history of China and Japan from the late Qing dynasty to 1949, and the economic factors of art history.

Supervisor: Professor Catherine Schenk