Matthew Hurst

I recently returned to the China Centre at @ox.ac.uk to take up the position of Teaching Fellow in the International Relations of Contemporary China. From Master’s student in 2020 to convening a module this year, I am delighted to be part of the MSc in Contemporary Chinese Studies again.

Honoured to be taking up a Fellowship at the @ihr.bsky.social. It was great to meet all the new Fellows this evening and I look forward to learning from and contributing to the Institute of Historical Research throughout the academic year.

Delighted to have been elected an Associate Fellow of the @royalhistsoc.org having previously been a Postgraduate Member royalhistsoc.org/society-elec...

So excited to share that The Tartar Moment is forthcoming with @uchicagopress.bsky.social in June 2027, and is now available for pre-order! press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to collude with foreign forces to endanger national security under a Beijing-imposed law that has effectively stifled the city’s once-thriving pro-democracy movement.

My special issue article on history education and decolonisation in Hong Kong: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... @hongkonghistory.bsky.social

"This project builds on a lineage of place-based public history and crowdsourcing projects that bring the public into the research process." Amelia Palacios, Molly Blake, Jenny McBurney and Kirsten Delegard, the co-founders of Save Our Signs, discuss the importance of it and public history.

Stephanie's article, ‘Rereading Ujamaa, rethinking freedom’, bit.ly/4vHlvZ3 is described by the judges as 'an outstanding article which provides a bold and highly original re-assessment ... intellectually ambitious and methodologically innovative.' @stephaniewanga.bsky.social 3/4

Gianamar's article, ‘Colonial world-making and global knowledges at the early modern Cape of Good Hope‘, bit.ly/4vcU20i is described by the judges as 'a brilliant article that fundamentally challenges our understanding of early modern geography and knowledge production.' @gianamar97.bsky.social 2/4

Yesterday evening, the Society was delighted to announce the winners of its 2026 First Book and Early Career Article prizes: bit.ly/44HbAH2 Many congratulations to the winners of the 2026 RHS Early Career Article Prize: Dr Gianamar Giovannetti-Singh and Dr Stephanie Wanga 1/4 #Skystorians

Great to attend @royalhistsoc.org’s Summer Party and celebrate the winners of the Early Career Article Prize. It was an honour for my paper to be amongst those shortlisted. Open Access: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... Shortlist: blog.royalhistsoc.org/2026/05/18/r...

Honoured that the Royal Historical Society has shortlisted my paper ‘Hong Kong Colonial Government Migrated Archives at Hanslope Park’ for the Early Career Article Prize. Open Access in @jich.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... About the shortlist blog.royalhistsoc.org/2026/05/18/r...

Took advantage of @hurstpublishers.bsky.social's flash sale and bought a library of titles that I've had my eye on for some time at almost half price (post not sponsored and no relation, despite the surname)

If you work on HK history or politics and haven't yet seen @mrmhurst.bsky.social's article on the 88,000 colonial government files stuck at Hanslope Park, do yourself a favour and read it.

Featuring York's own Dr Matthew Hurst (@mrmhurst.bsky.social) on 'Hong Kong Colonial Government Migrated Archives at Hanslope Park' which is an open access must-read (and must-cite!) for historians of empire and decolonisation regardless of regional expertise

A terrific article about the politics of colonial record-keeping and official memory. Congrats to @mrmhurst.bsky.social

Superb set of articles in the current @jich.bsky.social, ranging from earliest antislavery activism through Britain's financial deal with India upon independence to the migrated archive and the handover of Hong Kong: www.tandfonline.com/toc/fich20/c...

The article 'Hong Kong Colonial Government Migrated Archives at Hanslope Park' by @mrmhurst.bsky.social published in JICH has been shortlisted for the @royalhistsoc.org Early Career Article Prize. Read the article here: doi.org/10.1080/0308... blog.royalhistsoc.org/2026/05/18/r...

Honoured that my paper ‘Hong Kong Colonial Government Migrated Archives at Hanslope Park’ published in @jich.bsky.social has been nominated for the @royalhistsoc.org’s Early Career Article Prize. Published open access: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

We would like to congratulate our inaugural prize winners for best articles of 2025- Alex Sutton (Stockwell-Burroughs Prize) and Anna Vangelatou (Murphy-Howe Postgraduate Prize). Read the winning and commended articles here: www.tandfonline.com/journals/fic...

Nice to see my paper 'Hong Kong Colonial Government Migrated Archives at Hanslope Park' mentioned in this 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘢𝘰 article about Florence Mok's 𝘊𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 Ming Pao article: news.mingpao.com/pns/%e5%89%a... My paper (open access): www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

‘UK considers Freedom of Information clampdown as requests soar’ @financialtimes.com | giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Pleased to read this positive review by Stephen Vines of our edited volume 𝘈 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘋𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘏𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘒𝘰𝘯𝘨: “At a time when Hong Kong’s history is under siege [...] a book which helps to preserve the record is to be welcomed.” doi.org/10.1080/0035...

On 5 March, I will present a new paper at @cammbhw.bsky.social titled 'Racism and Imperial Retreat', examining the impact of British anti-non-white immigration sentiment on the Conservative government's negotiation of HK nationality rights. For more info, sign up to lists.cam.ac.uk/sympa/info/h...

London has opened the door for thousands more Hongkongers to move to Britain in light of the jailing of media tycoon Jimmy Lai. In full: buff.ly/xhNFtqu

America is learning from the Chinese model of inflating box office numbers for patriotic films by organising mandatory viewings for government/SOE employees.

In more promising HKU news, the School of Chinese is also launching a new Master of Arts in Hong Kong Culture Studies. It is "the first postgraduate programme devoted to HK Cultural Studies, emphasizing humanities disciplines such as language, literature, cinema, media, and creative industries."

David Webb, a Hong Kong activist investor who campaigned for market transparency and democratic accountability, died on Tuesday aged 60, according to a statement posted on his social media. In full: buff.ly/1WFZY7N

Today, I submitted my PhD for examination. Across 1,206 days, innumerable individuals have supported me with conversations, archival access, interviews, funding, opportunities and supervision - I thank you all. Following viva and corrections, the final version should be available later this year.

The ICO has issued an enforcement notice against the FCDO because of its persistently "unacceptable" delays in processing FOI requests and its failure to improve properly, despite the ICO's previous more limited interventions. Good - the FCDO's track record on FOI is terrible.

Delivered a guest lecture to students at @ucl.ac.uk based on my recent paper, ‘Hong Kong Colonial Government Migrated Archives at Hanslope Park’, published open access in @jich.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

"Today’s Budget was an opportunity for the government to offer further detail and clarity on the state and finances of the higher education sector, building on the recent White Paper." Read our response to the Autumn Budget in full: https://bit.ly/4rs7bCc

Two full PhD scholarships in Hong Kong history at the University of Bristol: www.hkhistory.net/2025/11/17/h...

I had the privilege of speaking to Points Media 棱角 about the 88,000 colonial-era Hong Kong Government files that remain withheld by the UK Government points-media.com/%e9%a6%99%e6... Based on my recent paper published open access in @jich.bsky.social doi.org/10.1080/0308...

In today’s post, Matthew Hurst explores Hong Kong’s colonial history and ongoing challenges accessing archives. This post is written in conversation with two previous posts by June Chow.

Hong Kong diaspora communities are inhibited in accessing their city’s colonial history, I argue in my blog post for @activehist.bsky.social activehistory.ca/blog/2025/11... Based on my paper in @jich.bsky.social (open access) doi.org/10.1080/0308...

1,000+ views in less than 4 weeks! Delighted to see that my paper ‘Hong Kong Colonial Government Migrated Archives at Hanslope Park’ has reached over 1,000 views just 26 days after its publication. Published open access in @jich.bsky.social doi.org/10.1080/0308...

“What’s the Trump Administration’s End Game for the National Parks?” This and other stories—on succession questions in China, the accessibility of Hong Kong's colonial archives, an Indonesian national cookbook, and more—in today's Weekly Wanderings post.

In 2011 the British Government was forced to release tens of thousands of secretly held colonial documents from its archives. But 88,000 files on Britain's last colony remain withheld from the public. Matthew Hurst (@mrmhurst.bsky.social) on Hong Kong's colonial archive.

My piece for @historyworkshop.org.uk reflects on the politics of forgetting, detailing how Hong Kong’s displaced colonial archives have exiled memory to the metropole www.historyworkshop.org.uk/empire-decol... Based on my paper in @jich.bsky.social (open access) www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

“officials often destroyed or doctored countless files in an effort to uphold the Empire’s glorious image…. One former British colony has, however, remained absent from the literature: Hong Kong” - @mrmhurst.bsky.social @jich.bsky.social imperialglobalexeter.com/2025/10/16/d...

In my post for Imperial & Global Forum (@exeter.ac.uk), I compare how different colonial governments handled records towards the end of the British Empire imperialglobalexeter.com/2025/10/16/d... Based on my paper in 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩 𝘏𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 (OA) doi.org/10.1080/0308...