Meeting the Author Night
The human side of history: records of Hong Kong and its people, found in poetry, court cases and educational reports
For the record, and other poems of Hong Kong
Moving house and other poems from Hong Kong: with an essay on new Hong Kong English language poetry
The development of education in Hong Kong 1841-1897: as revealed by the early education reports of the Hong Kong government 1848-1896
A magistrate's court in 19th century Hong Kong: court in time
Speaker: Dr Gillian Bickley
Date: 11 May 2006 (Thursday)
Time: 7:15 - 9:00 pm
Venue: Special Collections, 1/F, Main Library, The University of Hong Kong
Language: English
About the Books
For the record, and other poems of Hong Kong
This collection of sixty poems has been written during almost thirty years' residence in Hong Kong. Most are on explicitly Hong Kong topics, and reflect the writer's personal experience and knowledge of Hong Kong, as well as presenting more personal concerns. Hong Kong residents who have emigrated or who have spent a period of time overseas will empathise with the expatriate experience described.
Moving house and other poems from Hong Kong: with an essay on new Hong Kong English language poetry
Moving House and other Poems from Hong Kong was prompted by happenings and thoughts at a time of change. The poems connect new with earlier events, sights, ideas and information, and draw on both urban and rural environments.
These poems arose within a variety of cultures, in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and in several other countries.
The development of education in Hong Kong 1841-1897: as revealed by the early education reports of the Hong Kong government 1848-1896
It publishes for the first time as a complete sequence the full main text of fifty Hong Kong Government Reports on Education, submitted mostly annually by successive Hong Kong Governors to the Colonial Office in London as part of the official record.
The Reports begin when the Government first granted public funds for Hong Kong schools, and the last in this sequence is dated April 1897, fourteen months before Britain's lease of the New Territories from Imperial China expanded and changed the responsibilities of the Education Department considerably and also laid the foundation for the return of the whole of Hong Kong to modern China at midnight, 30 June 1997.
A magistrate's court in 19th century Hong Kong: court in time
The Honourable Frederick Stewart (1836-1889), MA, LLD, Founder of Hong Kong Government Education and Head of the Permanent Hong Kong Civil Service, was also a Hong Kong Police Magistrate. His work in education was greatly admired. His work on the bench was also frequently approved by his contemporaries and this gives an understanding of how some English-speaking people in colonial Hong Kong thought in the latter part of the nineteenth century.
A source book for data and analysis from the perspective of various disciplines, with much interesting reading.
About the Speaker
Gillian Bickley has lived mainly in Hong Kong since 1970. As Gillian Workman, she was a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Hong Kong in the early seventies. She is an associate professor at Hong Kong Baptist University and has previously also been a faculty member at the University of Lagos, Nigeria and the University of Auckland, New Zealand. For a number of years, she was the HKEA subject officer responsible for the HKCEE and HKAL English Literature examinations and the Use of English (Form Seven) examination.
She is the author of many articles, book chapters and books, many related to Hong Kong, and has edited three books on Nineteenth Century Hong Kong. Often with her husband, Verner Bickley, she speaks to local groups on topics arising from their research interest in nineteenth-century Hong Kong educational and social history.