Most of us think of the Renaissance as something that happened in Europe. Not so, says Professor Stuart M. McManus from CUHK’s Department of History. His work, which has scooped him the Dan David Prize, the world’s leading history award, represents a highly ambitious attempt to set the record straight, yoking together different regions and eras to understand how cultures influence and reflect each other across the globe.

Dragons are intimately intertwined with Chinese culture – so much so that we’re not even sure of these mythological creatures’ origins. Whether they be an offshoot of ancient religious worship, a composite of animals like alligators, snakes or something else, they have long fascinated scholars. As a recent CUHK exhibition demonstrated, ancient Chinese artefacts with dragon designs can profoundly illuminate socio-cultural attitudes of people across different times.