Katty Law is a convener of the Central & Western Concern Group. Since 2005, she and her group have advocated for better urban planning and heritage conservation in the old city area. Katty enjoys taking students and members of the public on heritage tours, while sharing the history and stories of the neighbourhoods. The Concern Group has successfully campaigned for the conservation of the Hollywood Road Police Quarters (PMQ), the Government Hill, the Central Market, as well as tenement buildings and historic walls in Old Central.
Being born and raised in Hong Kong, Shalini Mahtani is devoted to promoting social inclusion and diversity in this city. She has authored research and opinion pieces on these social issues. The Zubin Foundation is one of the organizations which she founded. In 2008, Shalini was awarded an MBE from Queen Elizabeth II for her services in corporate social responsibility in Hong Kong. After one year, she was honoured by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader. The HKSAR Government also recognised her contributions to the ethnic minorities.
Sealing Cheng is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, CUHK. Her research is located at the intersection of gender, sexuality, and mobility. She has conducted research on the subject of sex work and human trafficking policies for over 2 decades. She also completed a photovoice project and exhibition with Korean sex workers in a red-light district in 2009-2013. Her first book, On the Move for Love: Migrant Entertainers and the U.S. Military in South Korea (University of Pennsylvania Press 2010) received the Distinguished Book Award of the Sexualities Section of the American Sociological Association in 2012.
Manisha is a human rights lawyer and advocates for decent work for all. She currently serves as the Executive Director of HELP for Domestic Workers, a Hong Kong-based charity seeking to empower migrant domestic workers in the city through advice, assistance and education to help them gain access to justice and receive fair and equal treatment.
Manisha’s area of expertise is helping secure the rights of migrant women and children. She has worked with the Sri Lanka Ministry of Justice, UNICEF Child Protection and Juvenile Justice Programme, Save the Children Sri Lanka and the UNDP Strengthening Democratic Governance and Accountability Project in Sri Lanka.
In Hong Kong, Manisha has worked with Christian Action’s Migrant Domestic Worker Programme and human rights law firm Daly & Associates, specialising in migrant worker rights and international labour law.
Graduating with a Master of Arts in Literary and Cultural Studies from The University of Hong Kong and a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities from Hong Kong Baptist University, Haidee Or is the co-founder of WeToastHK, a self-organised research community focused on Hong Kong history since 2016. Haidee is now working in the education and cultural industry, with hobbies in fabricating cheongsam, its history and itself as a cultural symbol.
Nicole Huang received her PhD in East Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of California, Los Angeles, and taught at the University of Wisconsin, Madison for 17 years before joining the University of Hong Kong, where she is now Professor of Comparative Literature. She is the author of two monographs on Eileen Chang: Women, War, Domesticity: Shanghai Literature and Popular Culture of the 1940s (2005) and Hong Kong Connections: Eileen Chang and Worldmaking (2022).
Maria Tam is Director of Multiculturalism in Action Project, Associate Director of Centre for Urban History, Culture, and Media, and Adjunct Associate Professor of Anthropology Department and Gender Studies Programme, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She is a cultural anthropologist with research interests in cultural identity in social transformation, especially in gender and ethnic relations, and transnational mobility and family migration. She has published widely on the culture of Hong Kong and China, and has co-edited the books What are We Celebrating? Multicultural Festivals in Hong Kong (2017) and Gender and Family in East Asia (2014). She produced a radio program “That's Intercultural!” (RTHK CIBS) and documentaries in the Intercultural Hong Kong Series.
Corn Sim has worked in The Salvation Army since 2002. He has over 20 years’ experience in youth work. He is currently the Assistant Service Supervisor in N.T. West Integrated Service and is experienced in overseeing Integrated Children and Youth Services Centres (ICYSCs) service, youth service projects and people development on service innovation. Corn was the first cohort fellow of InnoPower@JC: Fellowship for Social Worker in 2017. He has initiated a project InnoPower@JC: Hi! Strangers to promote ethnic diversity in Hong Kong and find an outlet for the great potential of local ethnic minority youths.
“Hi! My name is Akhtar Yasmine or you can call me Yasmine, I am Hong Kong born Pakistani and currently am an English teacher. I often do volunteer work in local NGOs helping out in different activities and programs. Helping out in such activities gives me the opportunity to share my culture with the local people as they share theirs with me.”
“Hello! My name is Khan Harris but you can call me Harris. I am 21 years old studying business management and law in HKU School of Professional and Continuing Education (HKU SPACE). I have been a tour guide for Hi! Strangers for 3 years now and I’ve always liked sharing the culture of non-Chinese people in Hong Kong ever since me and my student union team got our school to have a multicultural day. I just love to spread culture, life in Hong Kong and how difficult it is to learn Cantonese.”
Amanda is the Co-founder of “Park Flâneuse”. She obtains her bachelor's degree in urban studies programme at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In her final year project, she researched gender mainstreaming in neighbourhood parks for young women. She endeavours to advocate a transformation of women’s traditional gender role in the participation of public space, and she is more than happy to take part in the discussion of gender and space.
Caritas Community Development Project has been serving the village of Lung Yeuk Tau for three decades. The project works with the inheritors to promote their traditions. Weitou old ladies still sing Weitou bridal laments. The songs remind them of the memories from their wedding days; how they learned to be a wife from the senior women in their husbands’ families; busy working at both the farm and at home but still had to knit summer hats and patterned bands as they could be used for both dressing up and earning some extra money. Caritas hopes to preserve this intangible cultural heritage to the younger generations.
Moderators: Ng Lok Chi, Chong Wai Ki
Performers: Mung Kun Hoop, Mung Foon Kun, Leung Siu Ha, Li Guum Lang, Man Kun Lin, Yuen Yu Po
拾圍安歌 Yesterday Once More Facebook / Instagram
Patricia O’Sullivan has been writing about Hong Kong’s vibrant history since 2010, initially uncovering long-forgotten family stories. The result, Policing Hong Kong - an Irish History, was published in 2017. Many avenues of exploration were opened up by this, often involving the less-chartered waters of Hong Kong’s social history. The first result was Women, Crime and the Courts: Hong Kong 1841-1941 published in 2020. O’Sullivan’s next book in the pipeline starts again in Tai Kwun, focusing on the Police who volunteered for military service in the First World War. Her website is www.socialhistoryhk.com