Wing Lam Michelle Chan

Research Topic

Coming off the page: Print Workers and Print Culture in Hong Kong, c. 1930s-1960s

Supervisor: Jennifer Altehenger

My doctoral project explores how people in mid-twentieth-century Hong Kong created, dispersed, and consumed commercial print materials. I am interested in the interplay between print technology, industrialisation, and trade during this period of significant economic and demographic change, and connect these dynamics to skilled labourers' experiences within and beyond the workplace. To this end, I examine business records, oral histories, and trade journals. I also analyse printed packaging, labels, and advertisements to engage with the evolving materiality of print.

My DPhil study is generously funded by the Clarendon Scholarship and the Magdalen College Graduate Scholarship in History, and my work is supervised by Dr Jennifer Altehenger. Prior to my DPhil, I completed my BA in History and Economics and my MSt in Global and Imperial History at Oxford, where I developed an interest in print culture beyond its textual dimension. My research thus adopts an integrated lens on production and consumption, highlighting everyday voices within Hong Kong's global and transborder contexts.