Justin Chun-Yin Cheng

Justin Cheng (鄭雋言) is a PhD candidate in History program and the Graduate Certificate Program in Museum Studies at the University of Michigan, specializing in colonial Hong Kong and Taiwan. Prior coming to UMich, his research focuses on Hong Kong, and he is particularly interested in the relationships between the government and other socio-political actors in the early twentieth century. By examining a wide range of materials in connection to the typhoon of 1906, and by focusing on the relationships between the Colonial Office, the Governor, the Legislative Council, as well as the local mercantile elites, his MA thesis, “Everyday Colonialism: The 1906 Typhoon and Governance in Early Twentieth-Century Hong Kong," demonstrates the fundamentally delicate nature of Hong Kong’s colonial governance. In addition to working as a teaching assistant, Justin was also a Student Associate at Hong Kong Studies Initiative (HKSI). At HKSI, he organized events to raise the awareness of Hong Kong studies on campus and in the community.

A Hong Kong native, Justin received his BA in History from the University of California, Berkeley (where he also completed an undergraduate thesis on the identities of Chinese merchants in Hong Kong during the Canton-Hong Kong Strike of 1925–1926). At Berkeley, Justin had the opportunity to work with a variety of scholars in the field of Chinese studies, which helped develop his interest in an interdisciplinary approach to the study of Hong Kong.

Besides conducting historical research, Justin is also interested in museum and archival management. He co-founded the history museum of Queen’s College, the oldest government secondary school in Hong Kong. He has also worked and volunteered at several museums, including Santa Monica History Museum, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology at UC Berkeley, and Chinatown Storytelling Centre in Vancouver, Canada. In his spare time, he loves to play volleyball and music, and watch movies.