Talk: Hong Kong Aviation History, 1930s–1998

Description

Led by professor John Wong, Hong Kong Takes Flight: Commercial Aviation and the Making of a Global Hub, 1930s–1998 explores how aviation shaped Hong Kong’s economic and geopolitical transformation. Tracing its evolution from the 1930s origins of commercial flight to the 1998 transition from Kai Tak to Chek Lap Kok, Wong challenges the idea that Hong Kong’s emergence as an aviation hub was inevitable. He also highlights the strategic decisions, negotiations and global partnerships that shaped its trajectory, situating aviation within colonial governance, business networks and shifting regional dynamics.

Wong is associate professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Hong Kong. He holds a doctorate degree in history from Harvard University and previously worked in finance as a Chartered Financial Analyst. His research focuses on the flows of people, goods, capital and ideas. He is the author of Global Trade in the Nineteenth Century: The House of Houqua and the Canton System and Hong Kong Takes Flight, as well as numerous academic articles.

On 21 April, complimentary drinks will be served at 18:45, followed by the talk at 19:30.