About the Talk:Discussion of demography traditionally has focused on the consequences of population growth. In the talk, Prof Gietel-Basten will share his insights on how our understanding of demographics can influence politics and populations. He will also suggest how humans can take greater ownership of the future by a better understanding of the role demography has played in the past.You can register at Library Event Registration
HLTH1010 HKUST students may attain 1.0 hour credit for the Healthy Lifestyle Course after attending the seminar.About the SpeakerProf Stuart Gietel-Basten is Associate Director of the Leadership and Public Policy Executive Education Program, and an Associate Professor of Department of Social Science and Institute for Public Policy at HKUST.His research covers the links between population and policy, with a regional focus on Asia. He is especially interested in the emergence of low fertility across the region, and the consequences of this in terms of population ageing and growth. He has been published in a number of major journals in demography and other social science subjects.  Why Demography matters (co-written with Danny Dorling) is his first book. He is also a regular contributor to the South China Morning Post and the China Daily.He received his education at the University of Cambridge, with a PhD in historical demography. Before coming to HKUST, he was an Associate Professor of Social Policy at the University of Oxford. He has also been an adviser in Population and Development at the UK Parliamentary Office for Science and Technology and a Research Scholar at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis in Austria.

About the TalkMaking choices in life has not been easy. When you choose one, you may need to give up another, whether they are personal or professional choices. How do you balance family and work life? Could you aim for career advancement without sacrificing personal and family commitments? Dr Sabrina Lin, the Vice-President for Institutional Advancement, is constantly making choices in her life. With four children, she has still been very active in her IT career. Using her personal choices throughout her tertiary education in Stanford and professional life as examples, Sabrina will share her thoughts on making choices in personal and professional life. She will share some of her tools in making choices, suitable for people in different stages of life. Please bring your general or personal challenges into this discussion.About the SpeakerDr Sabrina Lin is the Vice-President for Institutional Advancement at HKUST. Born in Hong Kong, much of her career has been in the US for Hewlett-Packard, along with two Silicon Valley start-ups. She had also taught at HKUST’s Dual Degree Program in Technology and Management from 2010-2016. Before joining HKUST as VPIA, she was the Corporate Vice President, Commercial Business for Greater China at Cisco Systems. She was nominated as one of Forbes China’s Top 50 Business Women for 2017.RegistrationLimited seat, please register at https://lbcube.ust.hk/ce/event/5434.

座談會簡介如同文學上的“荒誕”是為了卡夫卡而存在，“迷宮”在文學上是為博爾赫斯而生成。那麼，他的小說真的是迷亂無跡的迷宮，還是有跡可尋的文學新徑？走進去，每個人都可以發現一種新美和屬於自己的新世界。這次座談會由香港科技大學人文社會科學學院人文學部，香港科技大學賽馬會高等研究院及香港科技大學圖書館聯合舉辦。名額有限，請報名留座。
 講者簡介閻連科，1958年出生於中國河南省嵩縣，1978年應徵入伍，1985年畢業於河南大學政教系、1991年畢業於解放軍藝術學院文學系。 1979年開始寫作，主要作品有長篇小說《日光流年》、《堅硬如水》、《受活》、《為人民服務》、《丁莊夢》、《風雅頌》、《四書》、《炸裂志》 、《日熄》等10餘部；中、短篇小說集《年月日》、《黃金洞》、《耙耬天歌》、《朝著東南走》等15部，散文、言論集12部；另有《閻連科文集》17卷。是中國最有影響也最受爭議的作家。曾先後獲第一、第二屆魯迅文學獎，第三屆老舍文學獎和馬來西亞第12屆世界華文文學獎；2012年入圍法國費米那文學獎短名單和英國國際布克獎短名單。 2014年獲捷克卡夫卡文學獎。 2015年《受活》獲日本“推特”文學獎，2016年再次入圍英國國際布克獎短名單，同年《日熄》獲香港紅樓夢文學獎。其作品被譯為日、韓、越、法、英、德、意大利、西班牙、以色列、荷蘭、挪威、瑞典、捷克、塞爾維亞等20幾種語言，已在20多個國家出版外文作品近百本。 2004年退出軍界，現供職於中國人民大學文學院，為教授、作家和香港科技大學冼為堅中國文化客座講授。
 About the TalkIn this talk, Prof. Yan will share his passion for literature and give us a glimpse into the alluring world of his journeys in writing.This talk is co-organized by the Division of Humanities, School of Humanities & Social Science, the HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study, and the HKUST Lee Shau Kee Library.
 About the SpeakerYan Lianke was born in a small village of Song County, Henan province in 1958. In 1978 he joined the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), in 1985 he graduated from Henan University majoring in Political Education, and in 1991 he received a degree from the Literature Department of the PLA Academy of Art. He began his writing career in 1979, and his novels include The Passing of Time, As Hard as Water, Lenin’s Kisses, Serve the People!, Dream of Ding Village, Odes and Hymns, The Four Books, and The Day the Sun Died. As one of contemporary China’s most controversial and influential authors, he has received more than twenty distinguished national and international literature prizes, including the First and Second Lu Xun Literature Prize, the Third Lao She Literature Prize, and the Hua Zhong World Chinese Literature Award. He was a finalist for the Prince of Asturias Literature Prize and the Prix Femina Literature Prize, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in both 2013 and 2016. In 2014 he was awarded with the Franz Kafka Literature Prize, and in 2016 his novel The Day the Sun Died won the Dream of the Red Chamber Literary Prize from Hong Kong. His works have been translated into more than twenty languages, including Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, French, English, German, Italian, Dutch, Hebrew, Spanish, and Serbian. Many of these translations have attracted attention and critical acclaim for the novels in their respective literary markets. There has been considerable dispute over his writing in China, but he has stood as a writer with deep conscience and great passion. In 2004, he quit the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. He is currently a professor at Renmin University in Beijing, and Sin Wai Kin Visiting Professor of Chinese Culture at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

About the Talk:
Professor Billy So will share his insights into the meaning of wealth, a question that he has pursued in his scholarship for many years. It is also the linking thread that he explores in three books (two published, and one forthcoming) on historical Chinese market economics. Among the questions he will address are, why study this, and write about it? What insights has he drawn from examining Chinese economic history from the Song to the Yuan (10th - 14th centuries CE) and the Treaty Ports of Qing and Republican China?About the Speaker Since 2011, Billy So has been a Chair Professor and the Head of the Division of the Humanities here at HKUST.  He received his BA and MPhil from CUHK, and his PhD at Australian National University.  His research interests  are diverse (including  Chinese legal history, Chinese business history, institutional economic history of late imperial and Republican China, and more) yet all relate to his fundamental academic concerns: prosperity, justice, space, and identity. 

座談會簡介小說的內部都有一種關係存在。小說是人學，其實更是人物的文學關係學。這種文學關係主要表現為人物與人物的文學倫理關係、人物的文學社會關係、文學的社會倫理關係、人物與物及自然的非人與人的關係、人物的心理關係等。弄清了這種關係，就大體揭開了文學最隱秘的面紗，大體把握了一部作品的根本講者簡介閻連科 (現為香港科技大學冼為堅中國文化客座教授)，1958年出生出生於中國河南省嵩縣的一個偏窮小村，1978年應徵入伍，1985年畢業於河南大學政教系、1991年畢業於解放軍藝術學院文學系。 1979年開始寫作，主要作品有長篇小說《夏日落》、《日光流年》、《堅硬如水》、《受活》、《為人民服務》、《丁莊夢》、《風雅頌》、《四書》 、《炸裂志》等10餘部；中、短篇小說集《年月日》、《黃金洞》、《耙耬天歌》、《朝著東南走》等15部，散文、言論集12部；另有《閻連科文集》17卷。其中《夏日落》、《為人民服務》、《丁莊夢》和《四書》四部小說在中國遭禁，是中國最受爭議的作家。曾先後獲第一、第二屆魯迅文學獎，第三屆老舍文學獎和馬來西亞世界華文文學大獎；2013年入圍法國費米那文學獎和英國國際布克獎短名單; 2014年獲捷克卡夫卡文學獎,2016年第二次入圍英國國際布克獎短名單。其作品被譯為日、韓、越、法、英、德、意大利、西班牙、以色列、荷蘭、挪威、瑞典、捷克、塞爾維亞等20幾種語言，在20多個國家和地區出版。 2004年因“作品令人擔憂”而退出軍界，現供職於中國人民大學文學院，為教授、作家。出席此座談會的同學可獲HLTH1010課程中"Activities"單元的"Wellness and Personal Enrichment" 1.0小時學習時數。同學須於入場及離場時出示學生證以作記錄。名額有限，請報名留座。About the TalkIn this talk, Prof. Yan will share his passion about literature and he will also give us a glimpse into the alluring world of his writing journey.About the SpeakerYan Lianke (Sin Wai Kin Visiting Professor of Chinese Culture), was born in a small village in Song county, Henan province in 1958. In 1978 he joined the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and in 1985 he graduated from Henan University with a major in Political Education. In 1991, he received a degree from the Literature Department of the PLA Academy of Art. He began writing fiction in 1979, and to-date he has published eleven novels, ten novellas, five volumes of prose, and a seventeen-volume “collected works.” His novels include Summer Sunset, Years after Years, As Hard as Water, Lenin’s Kisses, Serve the People!, Dream of Ding Village, and The Four Books. He has received more than twenty national and international literary prizes, including the first and second Lu Xun Literature Prize, and third Lao She Literature Prize, and the Malaysia World Chinese Literature Award. He was a finalist for the Prince of Asturias Literature Prize and the Prix Femina Literature Prize, and was shortlisted for the 2013 Man Booker International Prize. In 2014 he was the first Chinese writer to be awarded the Franz Kafka Literature Prize. In 2016, he was shortlisted for Man Booker International Prize. His works has been translated into more than twenty languages, including Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, French, English, German, Italian, Dutch, Hebrew, Spanish, and Serbian. There has been considerable dispute over his writing in China, and he has stood as a writer with deep conscience and great passion. In 2004, he quit the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Now, he is a professor at Renmin University in Beijing. But Summer Sunset, Serve the People!, Dream of Ding Village and the Four Books have been either banned or were not able to be published in China. Yan Lianke is a writer of the most independent and controversial in Chinese contemporary authors.

About the TalkProfessor David Zweig was a young foreign student at Peking University in the mid-1970s. At this talk, he will share and discuss photos he took from November 1975 until April 1976, providing both historical context and personal observations. In particular, he will highlight four key points of the political drama:The initial establishment of the Big Character Poster compound at Peking University which attacked Deng Xiaoping’s summer 1975 reform programEmotional outpouring and mourning for Zhou Enlai following his death in January 1976Intensified assault on Deng via the Big Character Posters at Beida in February 1976The mass demonstration of support for ending Maoist policies in Tiananmen in April 3-4, 1976The photo essay is available online in China Perspectives, 2016 (1), p.5-28.About the AuthorDavid Zweig is Chair Professor of Social Science, and Director of the Center on China’s Transnational Relations (CCTR) here at HKUST, where he has worked for the past 20 years, and is a past recipient of the SHSS Outstanding Teaching Award and the RGC’s Prestigious Fellowship (2013-14).His research interests include China’s ‘resource diplomacy’, China’s human resources, Chinese politics and political economy, and Mainland-Hong Kong relations. In addition to many articles and several co-edited books and special journal issues. He has also published 4 books with topics ranging from the Cultural Revolution in the Chinese countryside, rural reform, China’s brain-drain and reverse migration, China’s internationalization, and its relations with oil rich states in the context of the continued global dominance of the US.For enquiries, please contact Victoria Caplan at 2358-6756.

About the TalkDr. Susanna Ho of the Center for Language Education at HKUST will discuss and compare her two novels: Mother’s Tongue: A Story of Forgiving and Forgetting and her very recent, Who’s that Ant? Whose Dead End?. She will explore how she sees the world through the eyes of the main characters: a Nameless Woman, addressed as "Mum" in the first and an Ant in the other.In this book talk, she will share how she makes sense of her world through writing. Upon reading a section from the book, she will illustrate the source of inspiration, be it from a personal or world event, or a book that she was reading at the time of writing. We hope the presentation will illuminate both Dr. Hos work and the writing process itself.Copies of the books will be available for sale and signing.About the AuthorDr. Susanna Ho received her B.A. from University of Manitoba (majoring in English literature), her M.A. (Teaching English as a Second Language) from City University of Hong Kong, a PG Certificate of Education from the University of Hong Kong, and her PhD from Macquarie University, Sydney. At HKUST she teaches English for Academic Purposes and English for Specific Purposes at both postgraduate and undergraduate levels.Through her research in second language writing, interdisciplinary discourse, and autonomy in language learning, she explored her subjects’ writing practices and writing experiences and found each had a story to tell. It was through recounting their stories that her own childhood passion for writing was rekindled. Her first novel, Mothers Tongue: A Story of Forgiving and Forgetting was published in the USA in 2013 and her latest Who’s that Ant? Whose Dead End? is due out in early 2016.For enquiries, please contact Victoria Caplan at 2358-6756. 

About the Talk 
Professor Sautman will discuss his book, which examines international discourses about China-in-Africa using as a focus the 2011 Human Rights Watch (HRW) study of labor abuses at copper mining firms in Zambia (parent owned the (SOE) China Nonferrous Metal Mining Co.). He will also cover common myths about China role in Africa and share some experiences on conducting China-Africa research on-site.About the AuthorBoth a political scientist (PhD, Columbia University) and a lawyer (JD, UCLA; LLM NYU), Professor Sautman has taught at HKUST since 1993. His classes have covered the subjects of international law, China/US relations, contemporary China, and ethnicity and nationalismTwo of his main research areas are ethnic politics in China, and China-Africa links (political economy, labor rights, migration and interactions between Chinese and Africans, representations and perceptions of China and Chinese in Africa, etc.).For enquiries, please contact Victoria Caplan at 2358-6756.

座談會簡介古今中外，不少政權都是透過不同的形式來展示其威望及權力，包括宏偉的新首都、強大的軍力、壯觀的遊行、廣闊的大道、巨型的建築物和嚴肅的紀念碑。中共建國後的首要任務正是改建北京城。五十年代首都進行了大規模的改造，豎立了不少矚目的新地標，使北京的市容起了巨大的變化。《地標：北京的空間政治》 (索書號: DS795.8.A2 H86 2011) 是一本政治文化史著作，「空間政治」所指的並非是地理變革，或單純探討建築物的坐向，而是探討政治的地域布局， 及廣義的看政治與地理之間的互動、衝突和影響，藉此瞭解中共政權如何利用城市空間和建築物的設計來樹立其威信。作者簡介洪教授專研現代中國文化史，其研究範疇包括當代儀式與政治、通俗與民間文化、政治空間及歷史等。他的研究成果，刊於眾多期刊、論文和書籍，近年的著作包括《地標：北京的空間政治》和 Maos New World: Political Culture in the Early Peoples Republic (Call Number: DS777.56 .H85 2011)。 如有查詢，請聯絡 Gabi Wong (2358-6782)。

About the TalkDavid Mole, HKUSTs Associate Provost (Teaching and Learning) spoke about some histories that he has enjoyed, and his reflections on them. The thread of his discussion was a quote from Francis Bacons The Advancement of Learning on why people seek knowledge:"For men have entered into a desire of learning and knowledge, 
Sometimes upon a natural curiosity and inquisitive appetite;
Sometimes to entertain their minds with variety and delight; 
Sometimes for ornament and reputation;
And sometimes to enable them to victory of wit and contradiction;
And most times for lucre and profession;
And seldom sincerely to give a true account of their gift of reason to the benefit and use of men: 
As if there were sought in knowledge a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit;
Or a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down with a fair prospect; 
Or a tower of state, for a proud mind to raise itself upon; 
Or a fort or commanding ground, for strife and contention; 
Or a shop, for profit or sale; 
And not a rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the relief of mans estate."Admitting to the vice of often seeking "a couch" or a "terrace"; and trying to attain the virtue of a "rich storehouse" to the delight and enjoyment of the audience, he spoke about and read from a number of books, the library copies listed below.            Video of the talk: Reading history: some virtues and vices 
(D16.2 .M65 2013)Return to Dragon Mountain: Memories of a Late Ming Man / by Jonathan SpenceReformation: Europes House Divided / Diarmaid MacCullochAfter Tamerlane : the global history of empire since 1405 / by John DarwinThe corruption of angels : the great inquisition of 1245-1246 / Mark Gregory PeggThe Reformation / Diarmaid MacCullochWaterloo : Napoleons last gamble/ Andrew RobertsThe coming of the Third Reich / Richard J. EvansOther books recommended are:The Third Reich in power, 1933-1939 / Richard J. EvansThe Third Reich at war / Richard J. EvansA history of histories : epics, chronicles, romances and inquiries from Herodotus and Thucydides to the twentieth century / John Burrow  About the SpeakerDr. David Mole received his BA from Cambridge University before moving to Canada for Post-graduate study. There, he earned a Masters degree from the University of British Columbia and a PhD at the University of Toronto.After teaching at a number of universities in Canada and working as an economist for the Ontario government, he moved to Hong Kong in 1989.David joined HKUST in 2005, where his main role has been to support the development of undergraduate education, especially the implementation of the four-year degree. In addition to a keen interest in sport and physical fitness, David has a life-long addiction to the pleasures and rewards of reading.For enquiry, please contact Victoria Caplan at 2358-6756.