Faculty of Arts in the Media: Xu Guoqi Discusses Politics behind Chinese Football Leagues

Professor Xu Guoqi from the department of History was interviewed by The Straits Times on the politics behind the high-profile signing of footballer Alex Teixeira by the Chinese football league's Jiangsu Suning. Backed by tycoons or corporate giants, Chinese clubs have been splurging on big-name players in their prime.

"Whether you are (Alibaba's billionaire founder) Jack Ma or (Evergrande's billionaire chairman) Xu Jiayin, no matter how rich you are, you still have to play the game within the system," historian Xu Guoqi from the University of Hong Kong told The Straits Times. "So political capital is one reason for their involvement. Furthermore it makes sense from an investment perspective. The companies make money, and it's also a good public relations exercise for the companies, because the Chinese are very interested in football."

Please click on the following link for the complete article: http://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/football-chinese-football-enters-big-league

Faculty of Arts in the Media: Lisa Lim Discusses ‘Kongish’

Dr Lisa Lim from the School of English was recently interviewed by the South China Morning Post for an article about how Hongkongers have mixed English and Cantonese into a new language, Kongish.

Born as a language of protest, Kongish – a humorous mix of Cantonese and literal English translations from the local tongue – is gaining currency among bilingual young Hongkongers as a badge of identity. An example is the recently established Kongish Daily, which was set up by three friends, including Arts alumnus Nick Wong, and Pedro Lok who has applied to begin his PhD studies in the School of English under Dr Lim’s supervision in 2016.

Please click on the following link for the complete article:
http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/article/1903452/hongkongers-mix-english-and-cantonese-new-language-kongish

詹杭倫《澳門媽閣廟題壁詩賞析》於《澳門人文學刋》出版

Source: Macao Daily

港大中文學院副教授詹杭倫博士的論文《澳門媽閣廟題壁詩賞析》被《澳門人文學刋》（二○一五年）收錄。

該刋創刋於二○○八年，力圖以深厚的人文關懷為基礎，以文學、史學、哲學等各人文領域學者的專業視野為觸角，推動人文學科全方位的發展與對話。

本期分設“比較文學與哲學”、“文藝前沿”、“嶺南文史”、“中國現代學人研究”、“文論研究”、“國學新證”及“書評”等欄目，涵蓋比較文學、比較哲學、現當代文學、文藝理論、國學、嶺南文化等不同學科的研究，視野新穎，內容豐富，不僅融匯了澳門本地學者和各地區人文學者的才思，且融合澳門本地的人文現象和其他地區的人文特色。

《澳門人文學刋》立足澳門，放眼大中華地區，立刋求文，致力於加強海內外交流互通，既開拓澳門人文研究的空間，也進一步挖掘澳門的人文印跡。龔剛在前言中概述人文研究的意義說，“人文研究者，名山事業也，性靈之學也，有化成天下之功，薪傳文明之效，亦有益人神智之用，引領時代之力。” 由連家生等題寫書法。

新一期學刊收錄十餘篇論文，作者來源廣泛，除澳大、城大學者，分別為美國加州大學、香港大學、北京大學、復旦大學、上海外國語大學、北京師範大學、上海師範大學、深圳大學等海內外高校教授、博士。其中……詹杭倫的《澳門媽閣廟題壁詩賞析》以澳門媽閣廟之中的題壁詞為研究中心，發掘澳門的人文情懷和深厚的人文底蘊。

瀏覽全文：http://www.macaodaily.com/html/2016-01/06/content_1058244.htm

文學院傳媒報道：傅榮朗博士評希特拉《我的奮鬥》 認為有助了解納粹興亡

蘋果日報就希特拉《我的奮鬥》的解禁採訪港大文學院歐洲研究助理教授傅榮朗博士（Roland Vogt）。

傅榮朗認為，新版本加入海量註釋，將有助了解希魔以至納粹興亡。

傅榮朗形容《我的奮鬥》是意識形態與政治行為密不可分的「慘痛例子」，書本放大了一戰後德國人的憤恨、偏見與恐懼，啟發納粹主義並成為基石，但與其說是極權統治模板，倒不如說是希特拉政見、意識形態與世界觀的聲明及辯解，是有助了解納粹興亡，以及解釋大屠殺何以發生的「必要基本史料」。

瀏覽全文1: http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/realtime/international/20151230/54591319

瀏覽全文2: http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/international/art/20151231/19433191

Lisa Lim and Umberto Ansaldo Publish Languages in Contact

Languages in Contact
Lisa Lim and Umberto Ansaldo
Sep 2015, Cambridge University Press, 251 pp

Introducing new findings from popular culture, the globalised new economy and computer-mediated communication, this is a fascinating study of contact between languages in modern societies. Ansaldo and Lim bring together research on multilingualism, code-switching, language endangerment, and globalisation, into a comprehensive overview of world Englishes and creoles. Illustrated with a wide range of original examples from typologically diverse languages, including Sinitic, Autronesian, Dravidian and other non-Indo-European varieties, the book focuses on structural analyses of Asian ecologies and their relevance for current theories of contact phenomena. Full of new insights, it is essential reading for students and researchers across linguistics, culture and communication.

Dr. Lisa Lim is an Associate Professor in the School of English at HKU. Her current research interests centre around: New Englishes, especially postcolonial Asian varieties in multilingual ecologies; phonetics/ phonology/ prosody; language documentation; and issues of language shift, endangerment, revitalisation, and post-vernacular linguistic and cultural vitality; and the sociolinguistics of globalisation.

Dr. Umberto Ansaldo is a Professor in the Department of Linguistics of School of Humanities at HKU. His interests include language contact, sociolinguistics, typology and endangered languages. He works on languages of the Sinitic group, Malay varieties, languages of Sri Lanka and Pidgins and Creoles.

Please click on the following link to access the publisher's page: http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/sociolinguistics/languages-contact?format=PB

Paul Smethurst's on Cross-cultural History of the Bicycle

The Bicycle - Towards a Global History

Paul Smethurst

2015, Palgrave Macmillan, 194 pp

This is the first history of the bicycle to trace not only the technical background to its invention, but also to contrast its social and cultural impact in different parts of the world, and assess its future as a continuing global phenomenon.

Dr. Paul Smethurst is an Associate Professor in the School of English at HKU. His particular teaching and research interests are in place-writing, literature and the environment and the geocritical imagination (a term he has coined) in contemporary fiction and travel writing.

Please click on the following link to access the publisher's page: http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9781137499493

王向華與日本文化研究：跨國的慾望與企業

王向華博士 (Dr. Dixon Heung-wah Wong) 為香港大學現代語言及文化學院全球創意產業課程主任。其研究領域為流行文化、東亞創意產業及企業研究等，主要著作包括Japanese Bosses, Chinese Workers: Power and Control in a Hong Kong Megastore 及《友情と私利－香港一日系スーパーの人類學的研究》。亦曾出版多篇相關日本的跨國公司與其經營模式、日本流行文化的全球化與國際關係等書籍文章及期刊論文。

王向華博士與邱愷欣博士合著的《當日本A片遇上華人慾望: 性別、性相、色情品的文化理論》(When Japanese Adult Videos Meet the Chinese Sexual Desires: the cultural theories of gender, sexuality and pornography) 2015年於台灣Airiti Press出版。本著作為研究日本成人A 片在臺灣及香港社會的再生產、流通及消費的學術論文。通過對華人慾望遇上日本A片的人類學研究，作者希望能夠對華人社會的性別、性相及色情品做出更精闢的理解。 全書分為四個部分，第一部分為文化符號，探討性在中、日兩個社會中的文化涵義；第二部分則關於臺灣個體對日本成人A 片的消費以及再生產；第三部分集中討論個人如何消費日本成人A 片，從而探討「個人」與「社會」的辯證關係；第四部分則通過探討日本成人A 片的全球化去反思有關跨越國境的文化產品理論的缺失。

王向華博士亦於2015年出版了對其早年一部有關在香港的日資百貨公司的民族誌之自我批判——《友情與私利：一個在香港的日資百貨公司之民族誌》（早年著作為《友情と私利―香港一日系スーパーの人類学的研究》）。作者在本書中誠實地表白了，自己作為一位研究者，並不是一個絕對的客觀者。反之，作者在搜集和詮釋資料以及撰寫民族誌時，都不時被自己的階級背景、家庭狀況、成長的遭遇及自己處於學術界的邊緣位置等因素所左右。作者認為，真正的客觀性並不是企圖去掩飾研究者的主觀看法，而是如實地展示研究者的主觀立場，及影響其主觀立場的因素。

瀏覽更多《當日本A片遇上華人慾望》資訊：http://www.airitipress.com/bookedm.aspx?PublicationID=201502120004

瀏覽更多《友情與私利》資訊：http://www.books.com.tw/products/0010694623?loc=P_003_010