DPhil candidate, Faculty of History
I am a DPhil candidate in History at Merton College under the supervision of Professor Rana Mitter. My research focuses on why British colonial policy shifted from an approach of slow democratisation and cooperation with the PRC to one of accelerated democratisation and confrontation with the PRC towards the end of the Wilson Governorship and beginning of the Patten Governorship.
Previously, I completed an MPhil (Oxon.) in International Relations with Distinction under the supervision of Professor Todd Hall. I wrote my MPhil dissertation ‘Crash Points and the Game of Chicken: The Sino-British Negotiations over Hong Kong’, on conceptualising a framework for how 'crash points' can be constructed in international negotiations that have been understood as a game theoretical ‘Game of Chicken’, and used this framework to understand and explain the decisions of British policymakers at significant points during the 1983‒84 Sino-British negotiations over Hong Kong.
Prior to that, I obtained a BA in History with First-Class Honours at Somerville College, University of Oxford. I wrote my undergraduate dissertation ‘Twenty-five percent “Macao’d’ already?”: Emotion and analogical reasoning in the Governor-Whitehall relationship during the 1967 Hong Kong riots’ on the use of emotion and analogies by British policymakers during the 1967 Hong Kong riots, for which I was awarded the Robert Herbert Memorial Prize for the best thesis on British Imperial and Commonwealth History.
I have worked as a Graduate Research Assistant to Professor Jennifer Altehenger, Jessica Rawson Fellow in Modern Asian History & Associate Professor of Chinese History at the University of Oxford, and was awarded the Catherine Hughes Award (Margaret Thatcher Scholarship Trust, Somerville College) for a fully funded archival project assessing material recently donated by Baroness Shirley Williams to Somerville College. I have also worked as a History Aptitude Test (HAT) marker for the Faculty of History, and as a Graduate Admissions Assistant for Oxford Undergraduate Admissions in History & Joint Schools at Somerville College.
DPhil topic
‘Sino-British Relations and Democratisation in Late Colonial Hong Kong, 1989‒94’
Why did British colonial policy towards Hong Kong shift from an approach of gradual democratisation and convergence with Chinese political planning for Hong Kong’s future, to one of rapid democratisation and confrontation with China during the period 1989‒94?
This project addresses the question of why British colonial policy towards Hong Kong shifted from an approach of gradual democratisation and convergence with Chinese political planning for Hong Kong’s future, to one of rapid democratisation and confrontation with China during the period 1989‒94. It is a work of colonial history addressing British policymaking and processes of decolonization, in the unique context of a British colony being ceded to another nation-state rather than being put on the road to self-government. It is also a work of modern Chinese history, with a particular focus on post-1989 Sino-Western political engagement and its implications for the role of Hong Kong as a geopolitical flashpoint within contemporary Sino-Western relations.
Ultimately, this is a long overdue project with significant explanatory implications for recent events in Hong Kong with global ramifications. Using recently declassified Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Cabinet Office and Prime Minister’s Office documents complemented by oral history interviews with key policymakers such as Chris Patten, this thesis will address an important question that has thus far only been addressed briefly by a few works of Hong Kong history, all of which predate the release of relevant governmental documents over the last few years.
