Faculty of Arts

Rooted in nearly a century of scholarly excellence, the School of Chinese is a bridge between tradition and innovation. It explores Chinese language, literature, history, philosophy and culture from classical texts to contemporary issues. Home to internationally recognized scholars in Chinese studies, the School is a dynamic hub for rethinking China’s literary, linguistic, and cultural importance in a globalized world. 

The School nurtures critical thinkers who interrogate language, power, and identity through vibrant research clusters and public-facing projects. It does so by delivering outstanding research and contributes to the life of language and literature in society both locally and globally through publications, conferences, postgraduate supervision, teaching, and knowledge exchange. The School pursues the two complementary themes of English Language Studies and English Literary Criticism, including the study of literatures, linguistics, communication, and critical and cultural theory. Research spans creative writing, performance and drama, with the state-of-the-art HKU Black Box theatre as a hub of international collaboration.

What are the ethics of AI and posthumanism? How can we address the legacies of empire. With strengths in East-West intellectual dialogue, global humanities, and AI the School’s cutting-edge research and public events connect academic insight to societal change. Comprising 7 distinct research and teaching units, the SoH is the most diverse School in the Faculty. Students in SoH classes engage with the most important contemporary problems and graduate with the ability to understand the world and their place in it.  

The principal mission of SMLC is to train students to be proficient in intercultural communication, confident about adapting to work and life around the world, and to apply a global mindset to their post-graduation careers and service to the communities they x`belong to, whether in Hong Kong, the Greater Bay area or beyond. In all of the current majors and minors, students receive interdisciplinary training to understand the world's societies and cultures and connect this knowledge to Hong Kong and mainland China through history, literature, politics, economics, anthropology, cultural studies, media studies, and other areas of teachers’ expertise.

Helps students understand Chinese culture and its Buddhist influences through historical analysis and theoretical enquiry—covering literature, philosophy, arts, architecture, mores, Confucian–Buddhist integration, ethics, visual art, Chan, and popular beliefs.