The modern world has been and is increasingly shaped by cross-border movements. In most cases, people serve as the agents of such movements. People of various occupations, including intellectuals, merchants, diplomats, soldiers, missionaries, craftsmen, and artists, among others, and encompassing those of diverse gender, race, and national identities, in crossing paths with each other beyond borders, have sparked some of the most significant creations and conflicts in history. The web of global movement, however, extends beyond people alone. Business exchanges and the quest for scientific knowledge, as common interests shared around the world, have mobilized and redirected human efforts with remarkable momentum, forming extensive networks often unnoticed by people within them. Commodity circulation and the dissemination of science and technologies thus provide new vantage points from which to observe and re-examine historical linkages that were previously ignored and to rethink the meanings of global encounters. 

This year, the Spring History Symposium will provide a venue for postgraduates and early career scholars to present research centering on global encounters and movements, focusing on both human stories across various sectors and those narratives where commodities and technologies take center stage. 

Please direct any enquiries to Ms. Iris Boyun Lei at hkuhistorysymposium@gmail.com.