Oral Histories

Over the coming months we plan to begin collecting and transcribing interviews from members of the South Asian Community in Hong Kong. The project's initial aims is to collect 50 oral interviews from a diverse set of participants. 

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Stage One: From 1941 to 1969​

The first stage will examine the lives of individuals and families who predated World War Two as well as those who migrated to Hong Kong in the 1950s and 1960s. This includes communities who left the subcontinent following Partition, South Asians residing in China and who moved to Hong Kong after the establishment of the PRC, and police and army recruits from Pakistan and Nepal. This stage ends with the controversial 1969 Immigrants Control Ordinance which created new visa restrictions on commonwealth citizens travelling to Hong Kong. 

Stage Two: 1969 to 1983​

This stage will follow South Asians who arrived between the 1969 ordinance and the implementation of the British Nationality Act (BNA) of 1981. This period saw the South Asian Hong Kong community play a key role in various aspects of Hong Kong’s economic development, especially in exports and tourism, governance and other professions. 

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Stage Three: 1983 to 1997​

The final stage will focus on individuals who migrated to Hong Kong in the years leading up to the handover in 1997. This period saw intense debates around citizenship and residency status.