Office of Public Affairs
For immediate release 25 July 1994
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THE w HONG KONG SCIENCE G m UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY?iu#Ht~~~ Tel: (852) 358 6316 Fax: (852) 358 0537
Chinese Business Practices to Be Discussed at HKUST
Did merchants in China occupy the lowest position on the social ladder? This is just one
of the many questions that will be taken up at an international conference on “Merchants and Local Cultures” to be held from August 8 to 17 at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
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-‘: . “We are concentrating on the history of South China, and thereby focusing our attempts to understand both the continuity of Chinese business practices and their cultural significance. This is the aim of the conference,” says Dr Chi-Cheung Choi, Lecturer in the Division of Humanities at HKUST and organiser of the conference.
“Historians will describe the relations between merchants and the state during the Ming and Qing dynasties and in the Republic, while sociologists will describe Chinese business practices and entrepreneurship. In addition, students of contemporary China will discuss the growth of business activities in the 1980s.”
A keynote speech on “Merchants and Social Change in the Ming-Qing Period” will be given by Professor Hong Hsu of National Taiwan University.
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About 40 scholars from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, U.K., U.S.A., Japan, and Singapore are expected to attend the conference, which is being presented as part of the History and South China Program of the Division of Humanities at HKUST.
Following the conference, a special workshop will take participants on a visit to historic merchant communities in Fujian and Guangdong.
Please direct enquiries to Office of Public Affairs: 3586320
1163388call2652
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