Ka-Kin Cheuk
University of Southampton, Archaeology and Anthropology, Faculty Member
- City University of Hong Kong, Chinese and History, Faculty MemberRice University, Chao Center for Asian Studies, Faculty MemberUniversiteit Leiden, Leiden Institute for Area Studies; School of Asian Studies, Post-Docadd
- Economic Sociology, Hong Kong Society, Migration Studies, Diaspora and transnationalism, Sikh diaspora, Ethnography, and 22 moreChina studies, China, India, Transnational migration, Hong Kong, Anthropology, Sociology, Contemporary China, Arabian Gulf, Immigration Status & Nationality, Ethnographic Methods, South Asian Studies, Urban Anthropology, Migration, Indian Diaspora (Migration and Ethnicity), Globalization and International Trade, Sindhi Diaspora, International Trade, Trust, Textiles/Fiber Markets, Covid-19, and Ethnographic field methodsedit
- Ka-Kin Cheuk is a Lecturer in Anthropology in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Southampton. He was ... moreKa-Kin Cheuk is a Lecturer in Anthropology in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Southampton. He was previously an Assistant Professor in Anthropology in the Department of Chinese and History at the City University of Hong Kong and an Annette and Hugh Gragg Postdoctoral Fellow in Transnational Asian Studies in the Chao Center for Asian Studies at Rice University. Trained as a social and cultural anthropologist (DPhil, University of Oxford), his research revolves around the study of migration, transnationalism, and inter-Asian connections, with trans-regional focuses on China, Hong Kong, India, the Middle East, Europe, as well as the US and the UK. His recent publications include “Transient Migrants at the Crossroads of China’s Global Future” (a special issue in Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration 3:1, 2019), “Teaching Ethnographic Research Methods in the time of COVID-19” (Teaching and Learning Anthropology 4:1, 2021), “Funny Money Circulation and Fabric Exports From China to Dubai Through Indian Trading Networks” (American Behavioral Scientist 2022), “Diasporic Convergence, Sustained Transience and Indifferent Survival: Indian Traders in China” (History and Anthropology 2022) and “Making Mumbai (in China)” (in Lisa Björkman ed., Bombay Brokers, Duke University Press, 2021). At Rice University, he received three teaching grants, including Inquiry-based Learning Teaching Grant and Course Development Grant, for developing new, alternative, and de-colonizing teaching methods in Asian Studies, Chinese Studies, and anthropology. Having conducted fieldwork over the past decade on Sikh diaspora in Hong Kong and on Indian traders in southeast China, he is currently developing a new project on flower industries and Scotland-China circuits of environmental ethics.edit
one morning in august 2017, in the Chinese city of Keqiao, I visited the office of an Indian fabric trader named Deepak, who had been born and brought up in the Mumbai suburb of Ulhasnagar.1 In Deepak’s office that morning, a fabric... more
one morning in august 2017, in the Chinese city of Keqiao, I visited the office of an Indian fabric trader named Deepak, who had been born and brought up in the Mumbai suburb of Ulhasnagar.1 In Deepak’s office that morning, a fabric sample caught my attention: with a shining orange as the background color, the fabric was printed with a cartoonish, sari- wearing female figure who pressed her hands together, an image of woman in traditional “Indian” dress. I told Deepak that I was impressed by the beautiful and colorful design and asked about the fabric. Deepak told me that it was his own designer work. He has no professional training in fabric design but became knowledgeable after having worked in textile industries for more than twenty years. Deepak explained that this fabric— like all other fabrics in the city—is manufactured in the Chinese factories nearby. These factories, which are regarded by Deepak as highly efficient, are run on what can be called a make- to- order model: should a Chinese factory accept an order from Deepak, it will quickly make the fabrics based on what Deepak’s sample looks like. Within a span of just a few weeks, hundreds of thousands of meters of Deepak’s fabrics can be produced, which will certainly fill up a few shipping containers.
Research Interests:
Cheuk, Ka-Kin. 2017. “China, including Hong Kong.” In Knut A. Jacobsen, Gurinder S. Mann, Eleanor Nesbitt, and Kristina Myrvold, eds, Brill’s Encyclopedia of Sikhism, 473–479. Leiden: Brill. This article will explore the relationship... more
Cheuk, Ka-Kin. 2017. “China, including Hong Kong.” In Knut A. Jacobsen, Gurinder S. Mann, Eleanor Nesbitt, and Kristina Myrvold, eds, Brill’s Encyclopedia of Sikhism, 473–479. Leiden: Brill.
This article will explore the relationship between the historical Chinese-Sikh encounters and its impact on the representation of Sikhs in today’s China including Hong Kong. By looking at their early and colonial encounters in China, particularly those that Sikhs and Chinese have perceived as genuine and significant, this article aims to unpack the historical discourse that has shaped the contemporary Sikh representations in China and across the Sino-Indian borders.
This article will explore the relationship between the historical Chinese-Sikh encounters and its impact on the representation of Sikhs in today’s China including Hong Kong. By looking at their early and colonial encounters in China, particularly those that Sikhs and Chinese have perceived as genuine and significant, this article aims to unpack the historical discourse that has shaped the contemporary Sikh representations in China and across the Sino-Indian borders.
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In this chapter, I present an ethnographic study of business practices among the Sikhs crossing the Hong Kong-China border. I examine the interaction between Sikh merchants and the Chinese business environment in their economic and... more
In this chapter, I present an ethnographic study of business practices among the Sikhs crossing the Hong Kong-China border. I examine the interaction between Sikh merchants and the Chinese business environment in their economic and cultural contexts. Of particular concern is to examine how Sikh merchants do cross-border business in Hong Kong and China. The first part of this analysis identifies a scholarly gap when it comes to Sikh entrepreneurship in Hong Kong. It shows that Sikh merchants, despite the fact that a number of them have successfully become capitalist traders after the Second World War, have received little attention in the studies of South Asians in Hong Kong. While the number of extremely successful Sikh merchants is small compared with the other South Asian mercantile groups, this chapter argues that a thematic discussion of Sikh entrepreneurship in general provides a good departure point for examining the process of emerging Sikh business enterprises in a region in which a high rate of economic growth is taking place. The second part of this chapter offers three case studies to illustrate the cultural politics and risk management among the Sikh merchants. these cases shed preliminary light on the larger issues of identity and translocal mobility among the Sikh mercantile diaspora in today’s South China.
本文以香港錫克家庭回訪印度為例，探討回鄉探親這類活動，如何反映香港印度人與他們故鄉之間的跨國聯繫，以及他們如何運用這種聯繫去維持本身的宗教信仰及進行各項經濟活動。根據筆者自2005年在香港錫克教廟長期持續的田野調查，以及伴隨香港錫克家庭到印度旁遮普邦的探訪，本文考察香港錫克人回印探親對當地錫克家族跨國網路整合及本地日常活動的影響。以參與觀察所得的資料為基礎，本文分析香港錫克家庭回訪印度這一行為背後一系列的歷史及社會文化因素，並藉此展望在回鄉探親中展現的跨國聯繫，在全球疫情漸緩... more
本文以香港錫克家庭回訪印度為例，探討回鄉探親這類活動，如何反映香港印度人與他們故鄉之間的跨國聯繫，以及他們如何運用這種聯繫去維持本身的宗教信仰及進行各項經濟活動。根據筆者自2005年在香港錫克教廟長期持續的田野調查，以及伴隨香港錫克家庭到印度旁遮普邦的探訪，本文考察香港錫克人回印探親對當地錫克家族跨國網路整合及本地日常活動的影響。以參與觀察所得的資料為基礎，本文分析香港錫克家庭回訪印度這一行為背後一系列的歷史及社會文化因素，並藉此展望在回鄉探親中展現的跨國聯繫，在全球疫情漸緩之後或會發生的轉變。
Open-accessed at https://cup.cuhk.edu.hk/image/catalog/journal/jpreview/HKS3.2.06.pdf
An English version of the paper is available in this talk https://youtu.be/wRkJXrKq2Eg that I gave at Rice University in 2021.
Open-accessed at https://cup.cuhk.edu.hk/image/catalog/journal/jpreview/HKS3.2.06.pdf
An English version of the paper is available in this talk https://youtu.be/wRkJXrKq2Eg that I gave at Rice University in 2021.
Research Interests:
This paper analyses the way in which Sindhi tradersone of the largest Indian diasporic populations in Asiahave managed to live and work in China as de facto migrants despite their inability to be granted settled immigration status by the... more
This paper analyses the way in which Sindhi tradersone of the largest Indian diasporic populations in Asiahave managed to live and work in China as de facto migrants despite their inability to be granted settled immigration status by the Chinese state. Drawing on long-term fieldwork that started in 2010, the paper offers a China-centric ethnographic perspective on how Indian traders, particularly Sindhis in the Chinese county of Keqiao, have been dealing with the incongruence between immigration policies that largely preclude the possibility of their permanent residency and their long-term entrepreneurial engagement in China. I argue that this incongruence, despite the tensions and uncertainties it continues to generate, has in fact become a crucial factor in stabilizing the diasporic convergence upon Keqiao by Sindhi traders. The eventual consequence is what I call 'indifferent survival': that is, the Sindhi traders, a group of nonwhite foreigners, are managing to stay together and even expand the size of their diasporic community in China despite their vast internal differences in class, local knowledge, and wealth.
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Chiefly drawing on my ethnographic fieldwork in the district of Keqiao in Zhejiang Province since 2009, I argue that irregular financial transactions—conceptualized as “funny money” in this article—play a significant role in the... more
Chiefly drawing on my ethnographic fieldwork in the district of Keqiao in Zhejiang Province since 2009, I argue that irregular financial transactions—conceptualized as “funny money” in this article—play a significant role in the sustenance of otherwise tenuous business relations between Indian traders and Chinese suppliers in the China–Dubai fabric trade. Much of the fabric exported from Keqiao to Dubai relies on intertwined formal and informal transactions operated by Indian trading networks. These labyrinthine transnational funny money transactions aim to circumvent institutional hurdles and overcome deficiencies in operating capital, yet inherent to this system is a cycle of payment lags that cause tense relations between payers and payees. Funny money transactions facilitate eventual payment in most cases most of the time and maintain enough trust to keep the trade network alive. Furthermore, the interlocking circuits of funny money also prevent the overaccumulation of wealth and power by any particular stakeholder involved in the international trade and defy or at least circumvent the formal political authority of state and financial institutions that seek to curtail such practices. These transactions thereby create a larger space for business survival among the grassroots players, especially Indian traders who may not have enough capital available when they initiate a deal with a Chinese supplier.
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This article presents a detailed description of how I adapted an undergraduate ethnographic research methods course to a fully online format during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on my recent experience designing and teaching a new course... more
This article presents a detailed description of how I adapted an undergraduate ethnographic research methods course to a fully online format during the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on my recent experience designing and teaching a new course titled Ethnographic Research in/of Houston Asia in Fall 2020 at Rice University, I illustrate the virtual learning environment I maintained in this course through ongoing collaboration with members of the Zoroastrian, Sikh, and Chinese Buddhist communities in Houston, Texas. Specifically, this article describes how I incorporated virtual field trips and a web symposium – two activities that I organized with the support of Rice University’s Course Development Grant – into my teaching of ethnography on Zoom. Such online activities, which are by necessity intensively interactive and community-oriented, enabled the course to cultivate a deep level of public engagement that arguably would not have been possible in the pre-COVID-19 period.
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This paper provides an overview of the history of Sikh migration to Hong Kong. It will explore the Sikhs' experiences in migration, settlement, and remigration. Cheuk, Ka-Kin. 2008. "Migration, Settlement, and Remigration: A Study of... more
This paper provides an overview of the history of Sikh migration to Hong Kong. It will explore the Sikhs' experiences in migration, settlement, and remigration.
Cheuk, Ka-Kin. 2008. "Migration, Settlement, and Remigration: A Study of the Sikhs in Hong Kong." East Asia Forum - Mediation and Critique: Perspective on East Asia 11: 47 - 81.
Cheuk, Ka-Kin. 2008. "Migration, Settlement, and Remigration: A Study of the Sikhs in Hong Kong." East Asia Forum - Mediation and Critique: Perspective on East Asia 11: 47 - 81.
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Located in eastern Zhejiang Province as a district under Shaoxing municipality, Keqiao is not only a global trading hub, but also a ‘Little India’ in China. Its wholesale market accounts for one-third annual turnover of a bewildering... more
Located in eastern Zhejiang Province as a district under Shaoxing municipality, Keqiao is not only a global trading hub, but also a ‘Little India’ in China. Its wholesale market accounts for one-third annual turnover of a bewildering variety of fabrics: the semi-finished, lightweight textiles that are industrially weaved, knitted, dyed, and printed in China before being exported to over 180 ports around the world. In the local market, around 5000 Indians have established intermediary trade businesses in Keqiao. Together with other foreign traders, these traders have brokered a large amount of fabric trade for their buyers in different parts of the world, mostly in the Global South.
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Through an ethnographic study of Indian traders in Keqiao, a municipal Chinese district in Zhejiang Province where China's largest fabric trade market is located, this article seeks to unpack the ways in which negative stereotypes of... more
Through an ethnographic study of Indian traders in Keqiao, a municipal Chinese district in Zhejiang Province where China's largest fabric trade market is located, this article seeks to unpack the ways in which negative stereotypes of Indian traders in China have been historically sustained, culturally represented and, to a significant degree, socially tolerated and justified in a local Chinese market. By invoking the notion of 'everyday diplomacy' , it illustrates the ways in which the diplomatic capabilities of the Indian traders – a group often denounced in the city for having questionable business ethics – are incorporated into the commonly-held 'evil Indian' image. It also considers why, despite such condemnation, these Indians continue to be recognized, albeit reluctantly, as potential business partners by most Chinese suppliers in Keqiao.
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Research Interests: Psychology, Health Promotion, Health Behavior, Addiction, Mental Health, and 27 moreChina, Risk Taking, Adolescent Health, Public Health, Adolescent, Hong Kong, Students, Computers, Prospective studies, Humans, Adolescence, Female, Male, Sleep, Exercise, Universities, Internet Use, Medical Care, Chine, Questionnaires, Sleep Disorder, Health risk, Physical Exercise, Risk Behavior, University Student, Internet, and Health Outcome
Research Interests: Adolescent, Hong Kong, Humans, Correlation, Coping, and 20 moreFemale, Classification, Alcohol Drinking, Male, Young Adult, American, Universities, Second Year, Alcohol Consumption, Undergraduate Student, Alcohol dependence, Questionnaires, Random sampling, Binge drinking, Public health systems and services research, First Year, Alcohol Abuse, Asian Continental Ancestry Group, University Student, and Alcohol Use
The COVID-19 pandemic has raided the whole world, abruptly disrupting the cross-country, long-distance travels in an unprecedented scale. In Hong Kong, we do not know when and how international travels would resume to the pre-pandemic... more
The COVID-19 pandemic has raided the whole world, abruptly disrupting the cross-country, long-distance travels in an unprecedented scale. In Hong Kong, we do not know when and how international travels would resume to the pre-pandemic level. While we are still largely stuck in our own places, it may be a good time to rethink what human mobility really means to us and many others, especially people whose communal lives have been largely defined by ongoing mobility and transregional networks. Sindhis in Hong Kong are one such group of people, having formed what one may call 'a transnational community' in Hong Kong since the early 20th century. This article, based on author's research on several Sindhis in Hong Kong, reveals some valuable information about this century-old South Asian diaspora.
Full citation: Cheuk, Ka-Kin. 2021. "Sindhi community in Hong Kong: A century-long tale of a South Asian diaspora." VIRSA The Culture, 8, 35–37.
Full citation: Cheuk, Ka-Kin. 2021. "Sindhi community in Hong Kong: A century-long tale of a South Asian diaspora." VIRSA The Culture, 8, 35–37.
Research Interests:
Interview for Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (interviewer: Ms. Lynn Huang) 【系友分享•人類學家在田野】「這可能是有史以來香港第一次以『邊緣性』來認識國家主義和全球化；而邊緣性，是很有生命力的。」 卓嘉健對跨國網絡的研究，始於他的本科畢業習作。因緣際會、誤打誤撞之下，嘉健去了香港的印度錫克教廟... #跨國網絡 #印度 #紹興... more
Interview for Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (interviewer: Ms. Lynn Huang)
【系友分享•人類學家在田野】「這可能是有史以來香港第一次以『邊緣性』來認識國家主義和全球化；而邊緣性，是很有生命力的。」
卓嘉健對跨國網絡的研究，始於他的本科畢業習作。因緣際會、誤打誤撞之下，嘉健去了香港的印度錫克教廟...
#跨國網絡 #印度 #紹興 #香港 #本土人類學 #邊緣性批判
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3iNx9u9kowA_iFFZOSJfFw
【系友分享•人類學家在田野】「這可能是有史以來香港第一次以『邊緣性』來認識國家主義和全球化；而邊緣性，是很有生命力的。」
卓嘉健對跨國網絡的研究，始於他的本科畢業習作。因緣際會、誤打誤撞之下，嘉健去了香港的印度錫克教廟...
#跨國網絡 #印度 #紹興 #香港 #本土人類學 #邊緣性批判
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/3iNx9u9kowA_iFFZOSJfFw
Research Interests:
'China-Dubai Textile Trade through Indian Connections' By Ka-Kin Cheuk 24 Jul 2018 Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore... more
'China-Dubai Textile Trade through Indian Connections' By Ka-Kin Cheuk
24 Jul 2018
Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore
https://mei.nus.edu.sg/publication/insight-188-china-dubai-textile-trade-through-indian-connections/
The textile trade has contributed remarkably to Dubai’s non-oil economy for years, and it is well known that China has been Dubai’s most significant partner in this trade since the early 2000s. What is less well known is that much of this trade involves the work of the Indian diasporas in China and Dubai. In this short essay, Ka-Kin Cheuk highlights the role played by the Indian diaspora network in the development of the China-Dubai textile trade.
24 Jul 2018
Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore
https://mei.nus.edu.sg/publication/insight-188-china-dubai-textile-trade-through-indian-connections/
The textile trade has contributed remarkably to Dubai’s non-oil economy for years, and it is well known that China has been Dubai’s most significant partner in this trade since the early 2000s. What is less well known is that much of this trade involves the work of the Indian diasporas in China and Dubai. In this short essay, Ka-Kin Cheuk highlights the role played by the Indian diaspora network in the development of the China-Dubai textile trade.
Research Interests:
Interview on Shaoxing Daily News, 23 November 2016
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This article charts my first bus journey in search of Indians in a Chinese market, the targeted informants for my research on their business activities in China. The bus journey traversed two “Shaoxings” - Shaoxing City (also known as... more
This article charts my first bus journey in search of Indians in a Chinese market, the targeted informants for my research on their business activities in China. The bus journey traversed two “Shaoxings” - Shaoxing City (also known as Yuecheng District) and Shaoxing County (renamed as Keqiao District in 2013) respectively. Despite the same name, Shaoxing City is different from Shaoxing County. The City is largely an idyllic Chinese old town, whilst the County is a rigourous hub for global fabric trade. The County’s flourishing fabric economy has attracted a large number of foreign traders to do local business. Many of them are Indians. The official figure shows there are thousands of Indians living in the two Shaoxings. The article tells a story of how I accidentally discovered a dense cluster of Indian trading companies after the bus journey. These Indian companies are hidden behind the facade of the office buildings in Shaoxing County. This discovery helps me to see new questions about the local Indians…
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當香港各大學沒入考試期、步向學期完結，傳聞正在悄悄進行的文科重組事件陸續曝光。據知，中文大學一些微型人文學科，包括新亞書院的藝術系、人類學系、崇基書院的音樂系、神學系等將面臨「亦組亦拆」的命運：... more
當香港各大學沒入考試期、步向學期完結，傳聞正在悄悄進行的文科重組事件陸續曝光。據知，中文大學一些微型人文學科，包括新亞書院的藝術系、人類學系、崇基書院的音樂系、神學系等將面臨「亦組亦拆」的命運： 既實行文學院統一收生，又將最具系性、最親密、最緊扣書院精神的「一院學系」學生，未來分散至多個書院當中。持守傳統的學系尚且面對碎片式的、由上而下的教學政令，年輕的浸大視覺藝術學院有傳被合併至該校傳理學院，校方的動作似乎更是「利落」。有中大和浸大學生鮮明抗議，而今天中大人類學系舊生撰文回應事件，冷靜分析此番重組對學系學術發展的影響。
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Cheuk, Ka-Kin. 2015. Global Fabric Bazaar: An Indian Trading Economy in a Chinese County. DPhil Thesis, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography and St. Antony's College, University of Oxford. This thesis is primarily based on... more
Cheuk, Ka-Kin. 2015. Global Fabric Bazaar: An Indian Trading Economy in a Chinese County. DPhil Thesis, School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography and St. Antony's College, University of Oxford.
This thesis is primarily based on ethnographic fieldwork that lasted fifteen months, between 2010 and 2012, in Keqiao, a municipal county in eastern Zhejiang Province, China. Despite its inferior administrative status and rather inland location...
ISBN: 0000 0004 6498 2015
This thesis is primarily based on ethnographic fieldwork that lasted fifteen months, between 2010 and 2012, in Keqiao, a municipal county in eastern Zhejiang Province, China. Despite its inferior administrative status and rather inland location...
ISBN: 0000 0004 6498 2015
Research Interests:
This thesis is an ethnographic study of the Sikhs in Hong Kong. Based on three-year multi-sited fieldwork in Hong Kong and India, it examines their local livelihood and cultural identities - that is, to be Indian Sikhs in a Chinese... more
This thesis is an ethnographic study of the Sikhs in Hong Kong. Based on three-year multi-sited fieldwork in Hong Kong and India, it examines their local livelihood and cultural identities - that is, to be Indian Sikhs in a Chinese metropolis. It also examines how these aspects of lives are also shaped by their transnational connections, particularly the connection structured by their frequent return visit to Punjab - the homeland of Sikhs in India.
Dr. Ka-Kin Cheuk is a post-doctoral researcher at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS). Among other things, he specializes in the anthropology of migration and transnationalism, ethnic entrepreneurship and business... more
Dr. Ka-Kin Cheuk is a post-doctoral researcher at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS). Among other things, he specializes in the anthropology of migration and transnationalism, ethnic entrepreneurship and business studies, and immigrants in China. Much of Dr. Cheuk’s work has been informed by his fieldwork in China where he conducted ethnographic research on Indian traders in Zhejiang. He was previously a Swire Cathay Pacific Scholar at St. Antony’s College at the University of Oxford, where he attained a D.Phil in Social and Cultural Anthropology.
Young China Watchers (YCW) http://www.youngchinawatchers.com/speaker-interview-ka-kin-cheuk-little-india-in-china/
Young China Watchers (YCW) http://www.youngchinawatchers.com/speaker-interview-ka-kin-cheuk-little-india-in-china/
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Book Reviews: Transnational Migration and Asia: the Question of Return, Michiel Baas (Ed.) (2015) Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press and IIAS, 201 Pp.
2017. Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration. Volume 1(2), pp. 271 - 273.
2017. Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration. Volume 1(2), pp. 271 - 273.
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Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Volume26, Issue2. June 2020. Pages 447-448
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13271
https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13271
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Author: Cheuk, Ka-Kin
Source: Pacific Affairs, Volume 93, Number 2, June 2020, pp. 415-417(3)
Source: Pacific Affairs, Volume 93, Number 2, June 2020, pp. 415-417(3)