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KANARIS THEATRE

What we can learn about Britishness by revisiting the colonial history of Hong Kong?

That’s the key question we’ll be looking to answer during a talk by Dr Vivian Kong, Co-Director of the Hong Kong History Centre at the University of Bristol.

The talk, entitled Understanding Multiracial Britishness through Colonial Hong Kong, will cover how colonial subjects took an active and crucial role in shaping the meaning of Britishness, why and how they acquired British identities, and the challenges they faced as they did so.

Dr Vivian Kong is Senior Lecturer in Modern Chinese History and Co-Director of Hong Kong History Centre at University of Bristol. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she is most interested in understanding how British colonial rule shaped the city's identity formation and migration networks. She is the author of Multiracial Britishness: Global Networks in Hong Kong 1910-45 (Cambridge University Press, 2024), and is now leading on an initiative to support those with roots in Hong Kong to pursue their family history, by developing the first ever bilingual beginners' guide to family history in Hong Kong.

This is part of a series of talks inspired by our Decolonise! guide.

As a museum shaped by colonialism, decolonising is an integral part of Manchester Museum’s mission to build a more just and sustainable world. Decolonising is a long-term process that starts with acknowledging the true, violent history of colonialism and how it shapes our world and this Museum.

Learning about colonial history is an essential step towards imagining a more equitable future.