Hong Kong Christians in Britain: a research journey
After graduating from the University of Edinburgh with a MA (Hons) in English Language, Dr Gillian Chu worked and studied in Hong Kong and Vancouver, Canada, before returning to St Andrews to complete her PhD at the School of Divinity. Here, she shares her experience of coming to St Andrews and describes her research, which explores how contemporary Hong Kong Christians are wrestling with the ideas of liberal democracy, decoloniality and authoritarianism.
To Scotland and back
I had never expected to come back to Scotland for a final degree. Once I had completed my undergraduate degree in Edinburgh I went on to work as a chartered accountant for about a decade – first at KPMG (one of the ‘big four’ accounting firms) – and then in the Treasury Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government.
The idea to study at St Andrews took shape while I was working as a research assistant for Professor Ross Hastings at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. He had completed his PhD in St Andrews under the supervision of Professor Emeritus Alan Torrance and he told me about his experiences here. Then in the final year of my Master of Divinity Programme at Regent College I met Dr John Perry from the University of St Andrews School of Divinity. I had a conversation with him about doing a PhD here and he eventually became my doctoral supervisor.
I had already visited St Andrews several times while I was studying in Edinburgh and it has proved to be a superb choice – both academically and socially.
My PhD thesis – ‘A Democracy by Any Other Name: Christian Perspectives of Civic and Faith Identity under Non-Democratic Governments Based on Church Discussions in Post-Umbrella Movement Hong Kong’ – explores how Hong Kong Christians conceptualise democracy and rights as well as faith and civic identity in light of the protest movements from 2013 onwards.
I really enjoyed working with Dr Perry on this thesis: he took the time to understand my vision for my project and gave me a lot of support. In addition, the relatively small scale of St Andrews allowed for flexibility and one-on-one time with him that would not have been possible at a university with a larger student population.
From a social perspective, I had never lived in a small town before, and I found the thought of moving here quite daunting. However, after I arrived, I really enjoyed the intimacy of the St Andrews community. It is nice to bump into friends and have unexpected conversations whenever I am out and about.
Research findings
Through my research, I have found that contemporary Hong Kong Christians are wrestling with reconciling the ideas of liberal democracy, decoloniality and authoritarianism, which are issues of increasing global importance.
They creatively imagine a decentralised, collaborative, bottom-up, Protestant Christian community as a ‘priesthood of all believers’ through a hashtag movement: #deltaδmovement.
This movement emerged on Instagram in April 2020 and continues today without organised leadership—everyone can post whatever they want, whenever they want. The #deltaδmovement is composed of posts with several critical elements: a captivating image, a scripture, long chunks of text under the image, and multiple hashtags. Due to social media’s easy accessibility and wide reach, posts can become lost in a sea of information. This reflects the mindset of Hong Kongers involved in recent decentralised protest movements and allows those who consider themselves to be ‘nobodies’ to have a platform where they can be thought leaders.
Journey after the PhD
After graduating from St Andrews in November 2022, I became Assistant Professor at the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Hong Kong Baptist University in January 2023 where I am responsible for courses related to the social scientific study of religion and transdisciplinary studies.
I am also planning a project, researching the lived experiences of elderly parents of Hong Kong migrants, who decided to remain in Hong Kong while their adult children migrated via British Nationals (Overseas) Passport visas. This project also explores how Hong Kong Christian organisations support these senior citizens as they transition into split families.
My latest research project is an interdisciplinary, international collaboration with the University of Leeds, where I am currently a Visiting Research Fellow with the Centre for Religion and Public Life. For this project, I will be working with Dr Vincent Lee from the Department of Social Work in Hong Kong Baptist University, Dr Caroline Starkey from the School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science in the University of Leeds, and Dr Caroline Fielder from the School of Languages, Cultures, and Societies in the University of Leeds.
Feedback
I would welcome feedback from alumni who are interested in finding out more about my work. Dr Perry and I co-authored a journal article based on the findings from my doctoral thesis, which you can find here (open-access). I have also written a journal article based on the findings from my masters and doctoral theses, which you can find here (open-access).
Find out more about Gillian’s research at http://gillianchu.com or follow her on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.