Library

This book contains a number of essays by the author, which explore how historical research can start from specific places but go beyond the "local" to review historical narratives within the framework of the country and nation from aspects such as regional culture, ethnic identity, and Hong Kong's position in Sino-British and Southern China. Another significance of "going out of place" is also reflected in the author's use and thinking of old and new historical materials. Many articles explore how to read physical materials such as songbooks, dictionaries, drawings, and museum collections in a broader context, and discuss how, at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, digital historical materials in the Internet age have changed the objects and methods of historical research.

This book explores the global maritime trade from the 16th to the early 20th centuries from several aspects such as the life experience of local people, social transformation in South China, educational opportunities and personal promotion, modern newspapers and political opinion, and the business network and living patterns of Xiangshan people. Macao, which plays a pivotal role in the trade system, plays a demonstration role and radiating effect on surrounding areas and China as a whole. Based on Macao's historical experience, it attempts to provide a long-term and structural explanation for the great changes that occurred in China at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.