Seeking Home in the Colonial Port: Migration and Settlement of Chinese Workers in Hong Kong, c. 1900-1941
Alex Cheung’s research examines the daily life experience of working-class migrants in early twentieth-century Hong Kong when lower-class Chinese moved across Asian port cities to seek fortunes. Many came to stay in Hong Kong, and colonial officials found it necessary to govern urban problems such as housing, labour force, and cross-border movement.
Focusing on the interaction of the colonial state and working-class migrants, he will explore both opportunities and restrictions of the British colonial port for its mobile residents. In the broader context of port city and migration in modern time, he seek to address on the meaning of mobility for lower-class port-city dwellers.