In July 2005, the Sun Hung Kai Properties-Kwoks’ Foundation Limited in Hong Kong committed funding for Yale University to conduct a three-year research training program for Chinese scholars. Yale commissioned the Institute to monitor field logistics and to report on two of the major sub-projects, which are given below.

Sub-project: Regional Modernity in the Pearl and Yangzi River Deltas

Project Description

Research training in the Pearl and Yangzi River deltas. Richard Y.C. Wong (HKU), Helen F. Siu (Yale University) and Chen Chunsheng (Sun Yat-sen University) have led their respective teams of research students and scholars. After meticulous planning and coordination, the teams began fieldwork in the summer of 2006. Research focuses on the social consequences of unprecedented urbanization and migration in South China.

Sub-project: Shanxi Historical Relics: Recording and Preservation

Project Description

Research training in the collecting, archiving and preserving historical materials in Shanxi. David Faure (CUHK) has teamed up with Zhao Shiyu (Peking University) and Zhang Zhengming (Shanxi Academy of Social Sciences). The team has conducted two major site visits since the summer of 2005. A conference on “The Study of North China and Local Communities along the Great Wall” was co-organized in November 2011 with the Peking University to present some of the research results.