| HKU Press Book Talk Sir Cecil Clementi and the Making of ‘Modern’ Hong Kong
📅 Date: 19 November 2026 (Thursday) 🕒 Time: 7:00pm – 8:30pm 📍 Venue: 9/F FORUM, eslite Causeway Bay Store, Hysan Place, 500 Hennessy Rd, Hong Kong View on map 🗣️ This event will be conducted in English
In this talk, Graham Hutchings, in discussion with Dr Christopher Munn of the University of Hong Kong, will introduce his new biography of Sir Cecil Clementi, perhaps the most gifted of Hong Kong’s 27 colonial governors. Clementi spent more than half of his 34 year-career in Hong Kong, playing a key role in the land settlement in the New Territories, the creation of the University of Hong Kong and the operation of the Kowloon-Canton Railway. He also published a translation of Chinese poetry and undertook an epic journey across China. As Governor, 1925-1930, he faced the crisis arising from the Canton-Hong Kong Strike Boycott, which he met by cultivating close ties with local Chinese elites and championing Chinese language education. Though a great admirer of Chinese culture, Clementi opposed the national revolution in China, and Britain’s attempts to come to terms with Chiang Kai-shek’s new government. Join Graham Hutchings (author) and Christopher Munn (moderator) to discover the unexplored history of Hong Kong! |
