[Updated: 8 April 2024]
About 1,500 words. Due: end of Sunday, April 21 (late policy: 4 points/day).
Please submit through Turnitin (be sure to confirm that the essay has been properly submitted).
Write on one (1) of the topics below. Be historical—note changes and continuities over time and support your arguments with relevant examples from the course materials. For your essay (about 1,500 words), you should make use of the Carroll text (A Concise History of Hong Kong) and other assigned secondary sources, but you must make use of at least three primary sources from three different weeks. Use of unassigned sources is strongly discouraged (but a bonus if you are able to make use of the book you reviewed). Essays that rely solely on secondary sources will not receive a high mark. While you need not aim for comprehensiveness, you must take into account materials discussed both before and after the midterm checkup. You may consult one another, but you are not allowed to write from a common outline. Please be mindful also of the course policy regarding the use of generative AI tools.
Topics (choose one):
- What historical lessons could present-day opinion leaders in Hong Kong draw from the city’s past? Please consider at least three of the following dimensions: political, economic, social, and cultural. In making your case, be sure to support your arguments with specific historical examples drawn from the assigned primary sources. General bromides or platitudes would not be sufficient.
- The celebrated scholar/poet/novelist Leung Ping-kwan (1949–2013) once posed the following question: “The story of Hong Kong—why is it so difficult to tell?” Now that you have had a chance to examine some of the primary documents, look through some historical newspapers, and review some secondary scholarship, how would you respond to Leung’s question? Would you agree or disagree with his premise? If you agree, based on what you have read for this course (especially the primary sources), what are some of the difficulties that are particular to the case of Hong Kong? If you disagree, how would you tell the story of Hong Kong, and how would you anticipate potential objections?
Further Instructions
Reflect on your sources
- In constructing your arguments, please consider carefully the nature and contexts of your sources. See “How to Read a Document” for suggestions.
Answer the question(s) clearly and directly
- Eliminate every unnecessary word.
- When read together, the first sentences of the paragraphs in your essay should provide an outline of your arguments.
Provide proper documentations
- When you quote from or paraphrase a reading, provide at the end of the quotation or paraphrase the author’s name (if obvious), the title of the source, and the page range: e.g. (Carroll, Concise History, p. 70), (Carroll, Concise History, Chap. 3, “The Plague of 1894”) (if using the unpaginated version), (Hennessy, “An increased Chinese community of great importance. . .,” p. 23), etc. Footnotes are acceptable, but endnotes should be avoided.
Avoid plagiarism
- Your essay should sound like you—explain ideas in your own words and include only the most pertinent quotations.
- To learn more, see Academic Integrity.
Bibliography
- In general, there is no need for a bibliography; but if you are using outside sources (which I discourage) or unsure whether your in-text citations are sufficiently clear, attach a list of references to your essay.