The University of Hong Kong Libraries and The University of British Columbia will co-host a public lecture on The Chinese Canadian Migration Project on Thursday, 3 April 2008, 7:15pm. We will have the prominent historians Professor Peter Ward to be the speaker and Dr Elizabeth Sinn as the moderator for this event.

The Chinese Canadian Migration Project explores the dynamics of migration flows between China and Canada from the mid 19th to the mid 20th century. It is based on the Canadian Register of Chinese Immigrants, a list of almost 100,000 Chinese who entered Canada between 1851 and 1949, most of whom were required to pay a discriminatory and restrictive entry fee - the so-called Head Tax. Using this core document, the project will examine migration between China and Canada, its relationships to patterns of immigrant recruitment in China and settlement in Canada, and the socio-economic factors underlying these population movements.

Professor Peter Ward is the University Librarian of University of British Columbia a former chair of the Department of History. His research interests fall into two broad areas, Canadian social history and the history of health in modern Europe and North America. He is the author of several books including, Courtship, Love and Marriage in Nineteenth Century English Canada (1990), Birth Weight and Economic Growth: Women's Living Standards in the Industrializing West (1993), A History of Domestic Space: Privacy and the Canadian Home (1999) and White Canada Forever: Popular Attitudes and Public Policy Toward Orientals in British Columbia (1978), which was cited by the Social Science Federation of Canada as one of the 20 most important books supported by the Council during the previous 50 years.

Members of the media are cordially invited to attend the Public Lecture, the details are:

Date : 3 April 2008 (Thursday)
Time: 7:15 pm - 9:00 pm
Venue: e-Learning Lab, Main Library, University of Hong Kong
Language: English

Admission is free, for registration, please visit: http://lib.hku.hk/friends/reading_club/bt2008_4.html

For media enquiries, please contact Pansy Lo by email at pansy@hku.hk and phone at 2859 2217.