Theme: The year, 2025, marks the 80th Anniversary of the Victory in the War of Resistance in China and the world. Sponsored by the Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory of the Department of Government and International Affairs, Lingnan University, this workshop series examines war commemoration as a critical lens for understanding international affairs, state-society relations, and public welfare. Bringing together scholars, filmmakers, NGO leaders and volunteers, we explore how state and society collectively recover the narratives of war veterans. This series offers insights for faculty members’ research while providing students with real-world perspectives on public policymaking, collective memory, and the politics of recognition. It also explores civil-military relations and veteran politics from historical and crossnational comparative perspectives. 

Acknowledgement: 

1). This workshop series is part of my General Research Fund (GRF) project (no. 13609724) entitled "How State Concessions Impact the Dynamics of Contention? Institutional Accommodation and the Changing Landscape of Veterans' Activism in China," and was also funded by the Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory, Department of Government and International Affairs, Lingnan University. I thank Richard M. Walker, Director of the Lab, for his advice and unwavering support of this series.  

2). The term "uncovering forgotten heroes" was first used by Dr. Jacqueline Zhenru Lin from the Department of Religion and Philosophy, Hong Kong Baptist University. Starting from January 2026, this workshop series will be renamed "Military and Veteran Governance Workshop Series" to capture the evolving focus of the series. 

3). I also want to thank all the colleagues and students at Lingnan University who supported the activities, the admin staff (Ivy and Sandy for admin services such as poster-making, accommodation et al), and last but not the least, the speakers and discussants who made these events possible and successful.     

16. Book Talk: Mobilising China’s One-Child Generation: Education, Nationalism and Youth Militarisation in the PRC

• 3:30- 5:00 pm, May 28, 2026 (Thursday) 

• Speaker: Prof. Orna Naftali, Associate Professor & Abraham Miller Chair in Chinese Studies, Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

15. Public Lecture: Soldiers and Cellphones: The Cold War Roots of Electronics Industry in Shenzhen, China

• 2:30-4:00 pm, May 22, 2026 (Friday) 

• Speaker: Prof. Taomo ZHOU, Associate Professor and Dean’s Chair in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore 

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

14. Documentary Screening: War Veterans’ Mental Health from Psychological and Policy Perspectives: “Almost Sunrise” (2016) and Post-Screening Discussions 

• 2:30-4:30 pm, May 19, 2026 (Tuesday) 

• Co-host: Dr. Heidi Y. L. Chan, Assistant Lecturer,  Department of Psychology, Lingnan University

• Co-organizers: Wofoo Joseph Lee Consulting and Counselling Psychology Research Centre (WJLCCPRC) & Fong Sum Wood Library

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

13. Book Talk: Grains of Conflict: The Struggle for Food in China's Total War, 1937-1945

• 2:30-4:00 pm, May 15, 2026 (Friday) 

• Speaker: Prof. Jennifer Yip, Department of History, National University of Singapore 

• Co-organizer: Department of History, Lingnan University 

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

12. Public Lecture: Veterans' Evolving Needs and Institutional Responses in China: Evidence from Hundreds of Letters

• 1:30-3:00 pm, April 9, 2026 (Thursday)

• Speaker: Dr. Liu Zhengqiang, Associate Reserach Fellow, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences 

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

11. Book Talk: Reorganizing Empires into Nation-States: Political and Military Transition in Early 20th Century China and Russia

• 2:30-4:00 pm, March 31, 2026 (Tuesday)

• Speaker: Prof. Zhou Luyang, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University 

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

10. Book Talk: The Rise of General Staff Headquarters in Modern China: An Institutional Analysis

• 2:00-3:45 pm, March 5, 2026 (Thursday)

• Speaker: Dr. Su Sheng-hsiung, Associate Research Fellow & Director of IMH Archives, Academia Sinica, Taiwan

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

9. Invited Talk (Xiamen University): The Origins and Evolution of Veterans' Governance Institutions in China (1949-2025)

• Host Institution: School of Public Affairs, Xiamen University, Fujian Province, China

• December 13, 2025 (Saturday)

• Funder: General Research Fund (GRF, no. 13609724), Research Grants Council, HKSAR

8. Memorial Visit (Melbourne, Australia): Shrine of Remembrance: Victoria's national memorial honouring the service and sacrifice of Australians in war and peacekeeping

• December 4, 2025 (Thursday)

• Funder: Lingnan Conference Grant for the Chinese Studies Association of Australia 19th Biennial Conference 2025 (CSAA 2025)

7. Public Lecture: The Guardian of Memory: A Non-State Museum's Journey in Preserving China's Wartime History 

• 2:30-4:00 pm, November 21, 2025 (Friday)

• Speaker: Mr. PEI Yuan, Curator at Jianchuan War History Museum (Chengdu City, Sichuan Province)

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

6. Public Lecture: The Operational Landscape of Veterans' Advocacy: An Analysis of Structure, Financing, and Operational Challenges

• 2:30-4:00 pm, November 14, 2025 (Friday)

• Speaker: Mr. YU Hao, Secretary-General, Hunan Longyue Peace and Development Center

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

5. Public Lecture: The Collector of Bones: A Non-State Museum’s Mission to Bring China’s War Heroes Home

• 2:30-4:00 pm, November 7, 2025 (Friday)

• Speaker: Mr. YIN Guangliao, Manager of the “Veterans Returning Home” Story Museum (Hengyang City, Hunan Province)

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

4. Documentary Screening: “The General’s Guard” (將軍的衛士) and A Conversation with the Director

• 2:30-5:00 pm, October 24, 2025 (Friday)

• Speaker: Mr. JIANG Nengjie, Independent Documentary Filmmaker

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

3.  Book Talk: “Making National Heroes” (HKU Press) and A Conversation with the Author

• 2:30-4:00 pm, October 17, 2025 (Friday)

• Speaker: Dr. Jacqueline Zhenru LIN, Author and Research Assistant Professor at CUHK (Ph.D., University of Cambridge)

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

2. Museum Visit (Hong Kong): Field Trip to the Hong Kong Museum of War of Resistance and Coastal Defence

• 2:30-3:30 pm, October 14, 2025 (Tuesday) 

• Quota: 24 (open to the public: first come, first served)

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR

1. Public Lecture: Bringing the Remains of Fallen Soldiers Home: Reflections on 20 Years of Volunteer Service

• 2:30-4:00 pm, September 19, 2025 (Friday)

• Speaker: Mr. SUN Chunlong, Founder of the “Peace & Love” Welfare Institution

• Funder: Governance and Bureaucracy Laboratory (GovBur), Lingnan University, HKSAR