Victor Fong

My research interests primarily lie in law and the flow of people and ideas between China and the world. I co-authored my first monograph, The Spread and Restrictions of Catholicism under the Judicial Perspective in Ming and Qing China 天道廷審: 明清司法視野下天主教的傳播與限制 (2021), to discuss how the imperial Chinese law regulated as well as negotiated with European missionaries and Catholicism during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) periods. My doctoral project examines the early Tang (618-755) conceptions and institutions of subjecthood to explore how the Tang law and administration asserted control over a large multi-ethnic population with immigrants from the Türk highlands, Sogdiana, Persia, as well as present-day Japan, and Korea.

In exploring the premodern world, I am also interested in how ancient history is represented and used in our times. My several publications discuss the significance of Tang history in the ‘China Dream’, and how literary Chinese teaching may also play a role in that political notion. I participated in a Hong Kong TV talk show to promote history to the general public, too.

I earned my BA and MPhil degrees from Hong Kong Baptist University and my Ph.D. from the Australian National University. I am always grateful for the scholarships I received from Hong Kong, the Australian Government, and Japan Foundation.