HEC UK Geopolitics Club: The Chinese in North America from 1850 to WW2, the prelude to a fraught relationship
The HEC UK Geopolitics Club is delighted to invite you to a panel and breakfast with Hugo Wong (H.93) on the inspiring story of Chinese migrant workers, rejected by the USA and determinted to build a new community in Mexico:
HEC UK Geopolitics Club
The Chinese in North America from 1850 to WW2,
the prelude to a fraught relationship
Tuesday 11th February 2025 at 8:30am
HEC UK House, 43 Parker Street WC2B 5PS
About the book
A social and political history from 1860 to World War II, America’s Lost Chinese sheds light on a turbulent period of China, the U.S. and Mexico’s past, one little known in the West. The narration weaves together the fall of the Qing dynasty, the U.S. Exclusion Act, the Mexican Revolution, and the Sino-Japanese war, showing the similar forces behind those four events. This story is influenced by various cross currents including decolonization, imperialism, and state racism. This is history told through the unusual and momentous lives of two migrants, the author’s great grandparents, who became amongst the first Chinese magnates in the New World. They built a Chinese colony like no other one before, with the help of courageous Americans and in partnership with a famous Chinese political reformer and dissident. Highlighting multiple connections to the present, America’s Lost Chinese should be relevant and insightful in deciphering the important relationships today between those three countries, or simply in gaining a deeper understanding of Chinese culture and its interrelation with the West. Unlike most non-fiction China books, this one offers a deeply human narrative, one of resilience, belonging, and friendship.
About the author
 | Hugo Wong (H.93) grew up between Paris and Mexico City. From the early 1990s, he has lived fifteen years in Greater China, including in Beijing, where he has helped to found various Sino–foreign joint ventures, such as China’s first investment bank. he has built his career in emerging markets investments at major financial institutions in Hong Kong, London and New York. He has been featured in the BBC’s History Extra Podcasts, the Asian Review of Books’ Highlights of a Year in Podcasts, the China History Podcast, the Latin America History Podcast, TEDx, the South China Morning Post and The Guardian. He is fellow of the Royal Historical Society. |
EVENT SUMMARY
- Date: Tuesday 11th February 2025
- Time: 8:30 to 9;30am
- Address: HEC UK House 43 Parker Street, London WC2B 5PS Map here
- Format: Panel discussion & breakfast
- Tickets: Infinity Pass and fee-paying members £7/ Alumni £12 / External £18
