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The Self-Strengthening Movement in the late Qing period paved the way for the modernization and industrialization in China. It also shaped the Chinese commercial development and government finances in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

To enable the public to get a better understanding of the economic and financial development in modern China, the Department of History, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and the Museum of Shares of Listed Companies, PRC, have collaborated for the first time in organizing the “Exhibition of Securities Certificates in Modern China”. Sponsored by the Bank of China (Hong Kong) and organized in association with the Hong Kong Public Libraries, LCSD, the exhibition will be held at Exhibition Gallery 5, Hong Kong Central Library from tomorrow (27 February) to 4 March 2008.

An opening ceremony of the exhibition was held today (26 February 2008). Mr. Gao Yingxin, Executive Director and Deputy Chief Executive of the Bank of China (Hong Kong); Mr. Zhao Shanrong of the Museum of Shares of Listed Companies, PRC; Prof. Kenneth Young, Acting Vice-Chancellor, CUHK; Dr. Anthony Neoh, Senior Counsel, Council Member of CUHK and Advisor to the Exhibition; and Prof. Leung Yuen Sang, Chairman of History Department, CUHK, officiated at the ceremony.

There are approximately 80 replicas of share and bond certificates from late Qing to Republican China on display. The exhibits are generously provided by Mr. Zhao Shanrong, Mr. Wang Zhigang, Mr. Chen Weiguo, Mr. Wang Zhigang, Mr. Wu Zhian, Mr. Zhou Zicheng and Mr. Yu Jianzhong. It is hoped that the exhibition will enhance public understanding on the development and evolution of the commercial sector and government finances in China during the late 19th and the early 20th centuries.

The exhibition is part of the “Public Lectures of History and Business in China: Capitalist Market in Modern and Contemporary China”. Sponsored by the Bank of China (Hong Kong), the programme is presented by the Department of History, CUHK, the Asia-Pacific Institute of Business, CUHK and the Hong Kong Public Libraries, LCSD. It consists of four public lectures, three held on 19, 21 and 26 February, and another one to be held on 28 February.

Detailed information of the Public Lectures is available on the webpage of the History Department, CUHK (www.cuhk.edu.hk/his).