Meet the historians | My teacher, my friend, my boss
- lfseec
- Apr 2, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: May 7, 2022
Professor Stephen Davies’ connection to the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Lung Fu Shan dates back to 50 years ago, to the year 1974. His history with Hong Kong dates back even longer to 70 years ago, to the year 1947. He stepped foot in Hong Kong for the first time at the age of two, accompanied by his mother. Due to the war however, he returned to the UK, only to return back to Hong Kong as a naval soldier. Thereafter he returned back to the UK, and finally came to Hong Kong again to teach in HKU, where he has taught for ten years. (More details may be found in the centre’s publication “The Pulse of Nature - Mid-Levels West”.)
In his early days of teaching at HKU, Davies was responsible for teaching political science, even though he is more well-known for his unmatched passion for research into Hong Kong’s history, as a living encyclopedia of naval and military history. His discoveries not only rest on paper as he has employed old maps to find forgotten historical objects amidst Hong Kong’s hills and islands, such that even a stone tile cannot escape his historical scrutiny. Of his various finds, there is one that is two minutes away from the centre: a historical water tank surrounded by roadside vegetation, estimated to be 170 years old. (More information may be found in the centre’s publication “The Pulse of Nature - Mid-Levels West” or in the following Facebook post:
Having stayed in HKU for around 47.5 years, Davies has taught many students including Lawrence, a professor in the HKU Faculty of Architecture’s Department of Real Estate and Construction, who Davies also calls his “boss”. (When Davies was the director of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, Lawrence was invited to give a guest lecture for a masterclass, hence becoming the “boss” of Davies.) How did this ten-year relationship come into fruition, one which has seen many transformations from one between a teacher and student into a friendship, and finally into one between a boss and a subordinate? Rather than big histories, this video would provide a glimpse into the stories between two people.
(Editor’s note 1: At the end of 2020, after learning of Professor Davies’ plans for retirement and return back to the UK, I hurried to arrange for an interview in spite of my surprise, recalling his perpetually busy state buried in the midst of historical archives. Plans however changed later as Professor Davies returned to Hong Kong to take up a semester of honorary professorship. The video was delayed time and again due to the pandemic and its delays to Professor Davies’ planned return to Hong Kong, on top of editing delays at the centre (which was the main reason). When the video was finally fully edited, we received news again of Professor Davies’ plans to leave Hong Kong.)
(Editor’s note 2: There was too much content to be included in one episode. Please stay tuned for the next episode that will be released shortly.)
Interviewees:
Professor Stephen Davies - Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences Honorary Research Fellow, HKU Faculty of Architecture’s Department of Real Estate and Construction Affiliated Researcher and former Director of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum
Dr Lawrence Lai - HKU Faculty of Architecture’s Department of Real Estate and Construction Professor
Do you wish to see more of Professor Davies’ discoveries?
➤Hong Kong Meridian 2: Professor Davies and the magic rock
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