UNDERGRADUATE COURSES

Courses Offered in 2025-2026 (Updated July 22, 2025) | Timetable (Updated July 22, 2025)

First Year Courses
Second to Fourth Year Survey Courses
Second to Fourth Year Seminar Courses
Capstone Experience Courses
Survey and Seminar Courses offered by other departments
Common Core Courses
Asian history courses are indicated with the icons  and Western history ones the icons
On Reference, Footnotes and Plagiarism

YEAR 1 COURSES

Semester 1Course TitleInstructor
HIST1016The Modern World  Pavel Krejci
HIST1023Modern East AsiaGhassan Moazzin
Semester 2Course TitleInstructor
HIST1017Modern Hong KongBobby Tam
HIST1021Introduction to Modern Legal History  Alastair McClure

YEAR 2-4 COURSES

In their second to fourth years students may take all their courses in history, or they may combine some history courses with courses from the departments and programmes in the Faculty of Arts or the Faculty of Social Sciences. Different modes of learning are reflected in the structuring of the History curriculum into ‘Survey’ and ‘Seminar’ courses.

Survey Courses

Survey courses are intended to introduce the history of a geographical area or a specific period.

Semester 1Course TitleInstructor
HIST2031History through Film   Crystal Kwok
HIST2127Qing China in the World William R. Kelson
HIST2142The German Empire, 1871-1918 Bert Becker
HIST2178Trials of History: The courtroom from historical perspective Alastair McClure
HIST2203The Philippines and the Asia-Pacific World Claudia Montero
HIST2214Death and the Dead in Modern History, 1800-2000  Bobby Tam
HIST2215Global Environmental History: From Columbus to the Climate Crisis  Devika Shankar
HIST2218Medieval and Early Modern Korea   Javier Cha
Semester 2Course TitleInstructor
HIST2016The United States Since 1900 Staci Ford
HIST2091The British Empire John Carroll
HIST2107The Second World War in Asia and the Pacific, 1931-1952   Charles Schencking
HIST2144Second World War in the West Pavel Krejci
HIST2147Germany’s Weimar Republic, 1918-1933 Bert Becker
HIST2154American Capitalism in the Long Nineteenth Century Otis Edwards
HIST2158Women in Hong Kong History: Private Lives and Public Voices  Alison So
HIST2161Making Race Matthew Wong Foreman
HIST2181A Sea of Stuff: Commerce and Colonialism in the Indian Ocean Devika Shankar
HIST2202Christianity in Asia Tim Yung
HIST2207Printer, Typesetter, Reader, Scribe: A Global History of Books Sarah Bramao-Ramos
HIST2216History of European Socialism, 1850-2000 Pavel Krejci

Seminar Courses

Seminar courses involve more advanced study of special topics in history and a higher level of training in the use of primary documents or historiography.

Semester 1Course TitleInstructor
HIST2070Stories of self: History through autobiography  Staci Ford
HIST2212Performing History Crystal Kwok
HIST3075Directed Reading   History Staff
Semester 2Course TitleInstructor
HIST2118Chinese and Americans: A cultural and international history Guoqi Xu
HIST2217Modern Transformations: Nature and Technology in Asian History Devika Shankar
HIST3075Directed Reading   History Staff
HIST3077Gandhi: A global history Alastair McClure

Capstone Experience Courses

Semester 1Course TitleInstructor
HIST4015***The theory and practice of history***Christine Walker
HIST4023History Research Project*History Staff
HIST4033Museum and HistoryJohn Carroll
HIST4028History without borders: Special field project **David Pomfret
HIST4037Automating the Past: Artificial Intelligence and the Historian’s CraftJavier Cha
Semester 2Course TitleInstructor
HIST4023History Research Project*History Staff
HIST4028History without borders: Special field project **David Pomfret
HIST4035History applied: Internship in historical studiesDavid Pomfret
HIST4036World War III: A HistoryCharles Schencking
Whole Year
HIST4017Dissertation Elective*History Staff

*For final year students who wish to take HIST4017 “Dissertation Elective” or HIST4023 “History Research Project”, please reach out to potential supervisors and seek their agreement to supervise your research project. After you have secured the supervisor’s agreement, please write to history@hku.hk to initiate the approval process.

**HIST4028 “History without Borders: Special Field Project” is by invitation only.

***HIST4015 “The theory and practice of history” is open to students in Year 3 and 4.

Common Core Courses

Semester 1Course TitleInstructor
CCHU9002Battles for Bodies: The Birth of Surveillance SocietyAlison So
CCCH5054Mothering China: From the Womb to the NationCarol Tsang
CCCH9061Herstory in Motion: Chinese Womanhood through the LensAlison So
CCCH9067Man Up: Masculinities in the MakingCarol Tsang
Semester 2Course TitleInstructor
CCAI9026Programmed to Love: Reimagining Gender, Sexuality and Intimacy in the Age of AIAlison So
CCGL9070The Birth of the City and the Shaping of SocietiesSamuel Chen
CCGL9077Education as Solution?: Debating Education Round the GlobeAlison So
CCHU9043Rethinking Women: The Big Debates Carol Tsang
CCHU5088We are Family: Myths, Realities and the Future of an IdeaCarol Tsang
CCCH9032Sports and Chinese SocietyGuoqi Xu