Co-organisers:
Faith and Global Engagement
Center for Faith and Public Values, China Graduate School of Theology
Lumina College
regenerating a city:
the future of hong kong
a faculty roundtable series 2025-26
There seems to be four scenarios of a city’s future: decline, restoration, elevation, or new role. The city of Alexandria resembled the decline of an intellectual hub of the past. After fall of the Berlin Wall, Prague was restored to her former glory. Shenzhen grew into a technological incubator in the opening of China. Berlin played a new role after the unification of Germany.
What will be the future of Hong Kong? When the US-China tension escalates, AI redefines humanity and work, and ecological hazards interrupt human progress, what will be the outlook for Hong Kong? How should we frame this uncertain prospect from faith perspectives?
In this series of faculty roundtable, we suggest four topics to explore:
- 4 October 2025: “Beyond optimism and pessimism”
- 8 November 2025: “From hybridity to mediator”
- 6 December 2025: “Urban decline and rebirth”
- 3 January 2026: “Community of love
scroll down to read more details
BEYOND OPTIMISM & PESSIMISM:
A BIBLICAL LOOK AT THE "CITY"
04 OCT 2025
09:30 - 12:30
Venue: China Graduate School of Theology
Speaker:
Dr. Celine YEUNG
Assistant Professor, Theological Studies, China Graduate School of Theology
Synopsis:
How does the Bible view the city? The Hebrew Bible seems to display immense suspicion regarding the city, from portraying the murderous Cain as its first founder, to the persistent reminders of the dire destruction of Jerusalem among the prophets. Yet paradoxically, the city also enjoys divine presence, and receives divine reassurance of restoration amidst judgment. What does this paradox teach us about the dichotomy of optimism vs. pessimism with regard to our own city?
FUTURE OF HONG KONG:
FROM HYBRIDITY TO MEDIATOR
08 NOV 2025
09:30 - 12:30
Venue: Lumina College
Speaker:
Dr. LEUNG Wing Tai
President, Lumina College
Synopsis:
Western dominance of the global economy for the past two hundred years is balanced with the rise of the Global South. Cultural diversity is expanding with anticipated tensions and conflicts initiated by the incumbent West and the rising East.
Hong Kong, as a hybrid of Chinese culture and Western colonization, resulted in a blending between the East and the West. Is she suffering as the Clash of the Titans, or can she serve as a mediator of global conflicts?
Jesus Christ, as deemed by the Council of Chalcedon, is fully human and divine at the same time. Will this theological notion shed some light on the future role of Hong Kong as fully Chinese, Hong Kong, and Western? Can HK folks share the suffering heritage of the Chinese and the West and serve as mediators for a new world of unity and diversity?
HISTORICAL LESSONS AND
PRINCIPLES:
A CITY’S DYING AND
REBIRTH
06 DEC 2025
09:30 - 12:30
Venue: Rm 4.36, 4/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, University of Hong Kong
Speakers:
Dr. NG Mee Kam
Emerita Professor, Department of Geography and Resources Management, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dr. Yi Samuel CHEN
Associate Professor of Practice (Urban Heritage and Sustainability), University of Hong Kong
Synopsis:
This session will start by exploring the use of biological metaphors, such as organisms, metabolism, and life cycles, in sociology and urban studies for understanding cities, their development and historical processes. It will then provide a couple of case studies on the decline and regeneration of cities from different regions of the globe in the historical and contemporary world before it focuses on Hong Kong and the ups and downs it has gone through in its urban history. It seeks to explore what roles faith and religious traditions have played and could play in urban sustainability and resilience.
COMMUNITY OF LOVE
03 JAN 2026
09:30 - 12:30
Venue: China Graduate School of Theology
Speaker:
Rev. Dr. Kin Yip LOUIE
Heavenly Blessings Professor in Theological Studies, China Graduate School of Theology
Synopsis:
A polis is more than a collection of people. The people of a polis are bound together by common objects of love, as Augustine. How are these common objects formed? What is the role of religion, traditional or civic, in bonding the polis together? How can a polis maintain a balance between stability and vitality? We’ll take some theoretical and theological explorations into these questions.
